The following are some of the significant events of the nonviolent Civil Rights Movement led by Dr. King.
Montgomery Bus Boycott
__ On December
1, 1955,
Rosa Parks was arrested after disobeying bus segregation laws. With Dr. King in the lead, the Montgomery Improvement Association would head the city into 381 day boycott.
With the combined help of the over 40,000-some African Americans, the Montgomery public transit system's revenue decreased by a total of 80%--pressuring the federal district court to rule that racial segregation laws on buses were unconstitutional on June 4th, 1956.
The boycott served as the first step Dr. King took to become the face of the Civil Rights Movement. Through this, he showed the validity of nonviolence, proving many critics, like Reinhold Niebuhr and Friedrich Nietzsche, wrong.
With the combined help of the over 40,000-some African Americans, the Montgomery public transit system's revenue decreased by a total of 80%--pressuring the federal district court to rule that racial segregation laws on buses were unconstitutional on June 4th, 1956.
The boycott served as the first step Dr. King took to become the face of the Civil Rights Movement. Through this, he showed the validity of nonviolence, proving many critics, like Reinhold Niebuhr and Friedrich Nietzsche, wrong.
Sit-Ins
_"The student sit-ins of 1960 are a classic illustration of [nonviolent resistance]. Students were denied the right to eat at a lunch counter, so
they deliberately sat down to protest their denial. They were arrested,
but this made their parents mad and so they began to close their charge
accounts. The students continued to sit in, and this further
embarrassed the city, scared away many white shoppers and soon produced
an economic threat to the business life of the city. Amid this type of
pressure, it is not hard to get people to agree to change."
- Dr. King (May 4, 1966)
- Dr. King (May 4, 1966)
Marches
_"Marching feet announce that time has come for a given idea. When the
idea is a sound one, the cause is a just one, and the demonstration a
righteous one, change will be forthcoming." This quote from Dr. King summarizes the essential points of a march. Although he calls the power of nonviolent marching a "mystery", Dr. King led many successful marches throughout the Civil Rights Movement.
The Selma to Montgomery Marches, a set of three marches over voting rights, displayed a great deal of police brutality. This changed public opinion of the entire Civil Rights Movement. Police appeared to be more like state-endorsed terrorism rather than a force protecting order and safety.
The Selma to Montgomery Marches, a set of three marches over voting rights, displayed a great deal of police brutality. This changed public opinion of the entire Civil Rights Movement. Police appeared to be more like state-endorsed terrorism rather than a force protecting order and safety.
Freedom Rides
Many civil rights activists boarded a bus in Washington D.C. headed for New Orleans. They planned to test the Supreme Court's ruling in Boynton v. Virginia, a case that stated segregation in interstate bus and rail stations unconstitutional. At the time, the Kennedy administration was dealing with things overseas, like the Soviet Union, the Cold War, and nuclear threats. The main goal of the Freedom Riders was to check if their constitutional rights were protected by this new administration, as they attempted push into the Deep South.
They received horrific beatings frequently and were jailed often. Riders further south, where their actions received more publicity and invoked more Freedom Rides. Within the next few months, these nonviolent protests spread to train stations and airports.
Under a photo by Paul Schutzer with Time Life Pictures, the quote, "National Guardsmen accompany two Freedom Riders on a bus from Montgomery to Jackson, Mississippi. The violence and necessity for federal intervention propelled the protesters to national prominence" is a perfect example of the use of the media in publicizing the injustices.
This interactive Google Map below shows the route of the first Freedom Ride. They left Washington D.C. on May 4th, 1961 and were scheduled to arrive in New Orleans on May 17th.
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They received horrific beatings frequently and were jailed often. Riders further south, where their actions received more publicity and invoked more Freedom Rides. Within the next few months, these nonviolent protests spread to train stations and airports.
Under a photo by Paul Schutzer with Time Life Pictures, the quote, "National Guardsmen accompany two Freedom Riders on a bus from Montgomery to Jackson, Mississippi. The violence and necessity for federal intervention propelled the protesters to national prominence" is a perfect example of the use of the media in publicizing the injustices.
This interactive Google Map below shows the route of the first Freedom Ride. They left Washington D.C. on May 4th, 1961 and were scheduled to arrive in New Orleans on May 17th.
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