Is Martin Luther King Jr's Role In The Civil Rights Movement

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Martin Luther King Jr. was the most influential civil rights leader of all time. He fought for the rights of African-Americans in the US from the mid 1950’s to the late 1960’s. He was a Baptist minister and Through his work & efforts in activism he played a pivotal role in ending the legal segregation of African-Americans in the south and many other states in the U.S. Dr King received the Nobel Peace prize in 1964 for his nonviolent resistance to racial prejudice in America. Source 1 reflects Dr King’s role in the struggle for rights and freedoms as it indicates that Martin Luther King Jr was organising and running a march for sanitation workers and equality. He invited everyone to participate and join in the march for justice and jobs. In February 1964, over 700 sanitation workers, with the help of the NAACP, peacefully …show more content…

It is a powerful and angry speech that raged against the war. The speech was important because it was the most controversial speech he ever gave. Martin Luther was upset about how the government year by year was spending more money on military defense rather than programs of social uplift. After he presented his speech he was frowned upon and even disinvited to visit the white house. This speech put martin in more trouble than anything he’d ever done before. Newspapers said that he had dishonored himself and that he will no longer be respected. He suggested the government should stop all bombings in north and South Vietnam to get the troops home safely. Martin king was amazed at the fact that young black and white men were killing and dying together for a nation that does not even allow them to sit next to each other at the same schools. This goes to show Dr kings concern for young black youths in the war who were dying for a country that didn’t even allow them essential human rights and how even his methods of peaceful protest were seen as inappropriate & controversial in his fight for rights and