Premium Essay

Mlk and the Civilian Rights/Voting Acts

In:

Submitted By eddgoh
Words 1852
Pages 8
How important was Martin Luther King to the passing of the civil rights and voting acts 1964-65 The role of Martin Luther King Jr. in the passing of the Civil Rights/Voting Acts has been greatly disputed within the historical community. Some historians such as Anthony Badger argue that there was 'no person more important' than King, whilst others, such as Clayborne Carson believe the opposite: that even without King the civil rights movement would have 'followed a course of development similar to the one it did'. Differing from both these beliefs, there were factors more important than King in the passing of these acts, however, King was far from an inefficacious factor as Carson suggests. Rather he was an important political giant who was (along with his Southern Christian Leadership Conference) an instrumental aid to a number of vital incidents that massively helped catalyse the passage of the acts. Incidents such as the Selma march and the subsequent "Bloody Sunday" a well as his role in the Birmingham and Washington marches. His role as a prominent activist and talented orator added to King's importance as it allowed him to proliferate ideas of peaceful protest and civil disobedience to the masses. However, despite King's distribution of ideas to the masses, it is the masses themselves, or rather the local leaders of them, with whom the greatest credit for the passing of these acts must be placed due to the pressure they placed on the presidency to enact legislation. What's more the role of Presidents Johnson and to a lesser extent Kennedy play a highly important role in the passing of the bills. Notwithstanding, King's role as a medium for the precipitation of the important ideals of peaceful protest was undoubtedly an important contributing factor to the passing of the Acts. For instance, his widely publicised rhetoric regarding the effectiveness of

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Nr Pa; E

...Production  0 | World’s largest Number of Industrial workers2.7Mill (40% of entire U.S. Population )|13 mill (65% of U.S. Population) America As A world Power ( the 1890’s) >European “imperialism” v American Imperialism (trade economic advantage) >from 1870-1900 America’s New Empire {18 Million square miles (1/5 of the earth’s land)~ 150 million people} >The 1875 Economic Depression Overseas markets for American goods (unemployment) >Need to sell a broad 70 % U.S. cotton / 40% U.S. wheat /50% U.S. copper /15% U.S. iron steel / 16% U.S. agricultural equipment to find overseas buyers – U.S. State Dept – U.S. Army+Navy Mikenly allowed Cubans to get their own government Platt Amendment -Retains the right to allow us to maintain order -they gave us a 99 year lease on Guantanamo Bay -we would decide how much debt they would get into -also took Puerto Rico from Spain Asia 1895 Japan defeats china China “curved up” into zones (took over the Philippines, Spanish American...

Words: 2044 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Game Change

...GAME CHANGE OBAMA AND THE CLINTONS, MCCAIN AND PALIN, AND THE RACE OF A LIFETIME JOHN HEILEMANN AND MARK HALPERIN FOR DIANA AND KAREN Contents Cover Title Page Prologue Part I Chapter One – Her Time Chapter Two – The Alternative Chapter Three – The Ground Beneath Her Feet Chapter Four – Getting to Yes Chapter Five – The Inevitables Chapter Six – Barack in a Box Chapter Seven – “They Looooove Me!” Chapter Eight – The Turning Point Chapter Nine – The Fun Part Chapter Ten – Two For the Price of One Chapter Eleven – Fear and Loathing in the Lizard’s Thicket Chapter Twelve – Pulling Away and Falling Apart Chapter Thirteen – Obama Agonistes Chapter Fourteen – The Bitter End Game Part II Chapter Fifteen – The Maverick and His Meltdown Chapter Sixteen – Running Unopposed Chapter Seventeen – Slipping Nooses, Slaying Demons Part III Chapter Eighteen – Paris and Berlin Chapter Nineteen – The Mile-High Club Chapter Twenty – Sarahcuda Chapter Twenty-One – September Surprise Chapter Twenty-Two – Seconds in Command Chapter Twenty-Three – The Finish Line Epilogue – Together at Last Index Author’s Notes About the Authors Copyright About the Publisher Prologue BARACK OBAMA JERKED BOLT upright in bed at three o’clock in the morning. Darkness enveloped his low-rent room at the Des Moines Hampton Inn; the airport across the street was quiet in the hours before dawn. It was very late December 2007, a few days ahead of the Iowa caucuses. Obama had been sprinting flat out...

Words: 160589 - Pages: 643