A man named Martin Luther King jr who was a Baptist minister, like his father, he later became a famous American Civil Rights leader. He wanted to end segregation in America and to be treated equally as the whites. He led the 1995 Montgomery Bus Boycott and became the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He gained popularity because of his method of using non-violent protests in achieving his goal. While studying theological seminary in Pennsylvania he learned about the non-violent methods used by Mahatma Gandhi, against the British in India. He was convinced that such methods would be necessary.
On December 1, 1995, a woman named Rosa Parks, who was the secretary of the NAACP refused to give up her seat and was arrested. The head of NAACP, Martin L. King and other civil rights leader met to plan a citywide bus boycott. The boycott applied to all public transports. King was elected to lead the boycott because he was young, well educated and new to the community, so he didn’t have many enemies.
Although they were willing to wait patiently till there were changes made to the rule. Along the way they struggled from harassment and violent, from the whites. It especially became hard for King because he was continuously threatened, his house was bombed and he was arrested but this it only strengthened his determination. In response to the violence of the white he gave a speech about peace to the angry black crowd. After the bus company suffered huge financial losses from the boycott the Supreme Court declared segregation on buses was unconstitutional, on December 1956.
Just after the end of the bus boycott the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was formed, in 1957. It was founded by King, Ralph Abernathy, 60 ministers and civil right activists. The president was Martin Luther King. The SCLC’s main aim was to advance the cause of civil rights in America in a non-violent manner. Their motto was “not one hair of one head of one white person shall be harmed.” In February 1958, the SCLC sponsored more than 20 mass meetings in key southern cities to register black voters, in the south.
In Albany, 1961, a group of students called the Student non-violent coordinating committee (SNCC) mobilised student to protest about the segregation in Albany’s bus centre. Martin Luther King supported and joined the protest but in his first march he got arrested. Everyone who was arrested was released so there would be less attraction. However in the end they still gained little national attraction, bus stations were desegregated and a few more blacks registered their right to vote.
In April 1963, Martin L. King conducted a demonstration in Birmingham, Alabama, against racial segregation and economic injustice. This was described as America’s worst city for racism. They decided that economic pressure on ~Birmingham businesses would be more effective than pressure on politicians. They focused on downtown shopping and government district. They wanted to desegregate Birmingham’s downtown stores, fair hiring practices in shops and city employment, the reopening of public parks. The campaign used lots of non-violent methods like sit-in, kneel-ins and marches. However, the peaceful
