Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

• The ultimate measure of a man is not where he
  stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but
  where he stands at times of challenge and
  controversy.
• - MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

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Objectives

• Identify the causes, consequences and effects of
  the Civil Rights Movement.
• Determine the impact of the Civil Rights Movement
  on the lives of African Americans in the past
  and today.
• Propose solutions to problems of racial and
  social justice
• Analyze Dr. Kings character, leadership,
  speeches/writings, and beliefs and their effects
  on history, the Civil Rights Movement, and the
  world.

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Background

• Born on January 15, 1929 at his family home in
  Atlanta, Georgia.
• Was an eloquent Baptist minister and leader of
  the civil-rights movement in America from the
  Mid-1950s
• Death by assassination in 1968.
• Promoted non-violent means to achieve
  civil-rights reform
• Awarded the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize for his
  efforts.

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Influences

• While at seminary King became acquainted with
  Mohandas Gandhi philosophy of nonviolent social
  protest.
• On a trip to India in 1959 King met with
  followers of Gandhi.
• Became increasingly convinced that nonviolent
  resistance was the most potent weapon available
  to oppressed people in their struggle for
  freedom

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Montgomery Bus Boycott

• Pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in
  Montgomery, Ala.
• The city's small group of civil rights advocates
  decided to contest racial segregation on that
  city's public bus system
• Chosen to lead the MIA
• New in town, well-respected, well educated

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Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

• Recognizing the need for a mass movement to
  capitalize on the successful Montgomery action
• Gave him a base of operation throughout the South
• a national platform from which to speak
• lectured in all parts of the country and
  discussed race-related issues with religious and
  civil rights leaders

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1963

• Was noted for racial unrest and civil rights
  demonstrations
• Nationwide outrage was sparked by media coverage
  of police actions in Birmingham, Alabama, where
  attack dogs and fire hoses were turned against
  protestors, many of whom were in their early
  teens or younger
• Dozens of additional demonstrations took place
  across the country, from California to New York,
  culminating in the March on Washington

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March on Washington

• Nobody was sure how many people would turn up for
  the demonstration in Washington, D.C.
• Some travelling from the South were harassed and
  threatened.
• August 28, 1963, an estimated quarter of a
  million peopleabout a quarter of whom were
  whitemarched from the Washington Monument to the
  Lincoln Memorial, in what turned out to be both a
  protest and a communal celebration.

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Kings Final Years

• The first signs of opposition to King's tactics
  from within the civil rights movement surfaced
  during the March 1965 demonstrations in Selma,
  Ala.,
• which were aimed at dramatizing the need for a
  federal voting-rights law that would provide
  legal support for the enfranchisement of African
  Americans in the South.
• The marchers were turned back by state troopers
  with nightsticks and tear gas
• The country was nevertheless aroused, resulting
  in the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965
• The strain and changing dynamics of the civil
  rights movement had taken a toll on King,
• Especially in the final months of his life. I'm
  frankly tired of marching. I'm tired of going to
  jail, he admitted in 1968

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Kings Final Days
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