...Martin Luther King Jr wrote a powerful letter from Birmingham regarding the great injustices present in society, which the black community faced every day. Although present in other communities it was worse for those who resided in Birmingham (King, 1963). Mr. King was asked to Birmingham in case there was a need to engage in a nonviolent direct action due to the injustices in Birmingham. These injustices included racism, inequality with blacks as they were unable to vote making it not really a democracy, the outrageous brutality taking place in Birmingham like the bombings and the burning of black homes and churches. King used his religious beliefs to support his actions in helping his black brother and sisters trying to right the injustices. He quoted St. Thomas Aquinas saying “an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law”, he states that by helping out he is doing the right and just thing by his religion and the moral thing unlike what was happening in Birmingham. He goes on to say that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere because whatever affects one directly effects all indirectly which is how Birmingham was tied to all of the other communities in the south (King, 1963). King uses the four steps to nonviolent campaigns which were thee collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist, negotiation, self-purification, and direct action. King uses these steps in regards to his Christian ethics by stressing...
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...The best source to understand the personal experiences is of civil rights activist is “1963 Birmingham Civil Rights Campaign” because it is a primary source so like you are hearing it from someone who has actually experienced it, and someone who has a memory of it and can tell their story of being in the civil rights movement. Also it shows neighbor brutality because a woman named Barbara Sylvia Shores. She had two dogs and her neighbor was white and didn’t like black people, so while she was gone out of her house and came her one of her dogs was missing, and the other one was blown into pieces in a bag. You can tell this real because when she was talking about it she had sadness in her voice, and if you wanna get more into her story and look...
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...The Birmingham movement was a culmination of King’s ideas, theology, experiences and civil rights tactics’. How far do you agree with this statement? Martin Luther King undoubtedly played a key role in helping black people win civil rights through the Birmingham movement in 1963. However it can be argued that his leadership though effective was only partly responsible for the gains made by the campaign; as the opposition changed their tactics, Martin Luther King’s ideas and theologies were tested and therefore he was made to harness alternative strategies that had been initiated by other civil rights activists. Essentially the Birmingham movement was crafted to allow the best possible outcome. King preached a distinctive philosophy based on the teachings of Jesus and the example of Mohandas Gandhi. He believed that all Christians should love their enemies and never retaliate. Nonetheless, he also taught that Christians should stand up to injustice. Consequently, he advocated civil disobedience and direct action, insisting that protest should always be peaceful. The perseverance shown through peaceful protest won mass support from both the public and media making it difficult for Federal government to ignore demands. King involved in provoking the authorities but it can be said that the brutality stimulated from such protests was what gave King the upper hand; it provided him with the driving force to challenge the system. Peaceful protest was applied to the Birmingham movement...
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...How important was the contribution of Martin Luther King to the civil rights movement in the years 1955-68? The civil rights movement was aimed to give African Americans Social, Political and Economic equality after President Abraham Lincoln declared the freedom of all American slaves in 1862 Emancipation Proclamation and the thirteenth amendment was passed to the American constitution which announced slavery illegal. Despite the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments being passed to the US constitution they were never fully enforced since there was segregation in housing, voting, and education. Was Martin Luther Kings contribution to the civil rights movement the most significant in achieving equality for African Americans between 1955-68, or were other factors such as the Vietnam war, increasing political activists like Malcolm X and changes in the political climate as important? Gandhi’s peaceful protest methods was a big inspiration to Martin Luther King as this was also his main and only method of protest, he showed this in the Montgomery bus boycott since he highlighted the injustice of segregation on interstate buses in America only by persuading black people to boycott the buses. This protest lasted 13 months and was one of Martin Luther Kings most prominent role as a civil rights leader. The NAACP which turned to long standing member Rosa Parks to take action by challenging segregation on the Montgomery buses. When Rosa parks was arrested and fined $14 Martin Luther...
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...The Freedom Rides in the U.S were one of the many events that further inspired Indigenous Australian activists and protesters to replicate events of their fellow activists in the U.S in Australia to bring equality to Indigenous Australian. . A major example of this are the Freedom Rides that took place in the segregated Southern States of the U.S that later took place in the rural state of NSW led by Charles Perkin and fellow student Jim Spiglem. He had led many peaceful protests around Australia for a push for recognition and equality for Indigenous Australians. Role of the media was a major one throughout the push for indigenous equality as well as for African Americans especially as the media gave large exposure of the injustices against the African-Americans and the Aborigines. This brought a big opportunity for the Indigenous Australians to surge in their cause for land rights and recognition of their ownership of the land. The freedom rides of the U.S were a enormous factor in bringing a push for activism, equality, recognition and peaceful protest for Indigenous Australians. This thesis will be further backed through the body paragraphs about the 1961 US Freedom Rides, the influence on Australian freedom rides and other peaceful protests and the influence on Aboriginal activism and Recognition. On May 4, 1961, a group of 13 African-American and white civil rights activists launched the Freedom Rides, a series of bus trips through the American South to protest segregation...
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...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...
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...In the 1960’s, a decade most known for its high level of civil rights and free speech reform activity, the Civil Rights Movement reached its peak as protests spread through the nation. Upon the late 50’s, many of America’s college youth had organized themselves into activist groups, promoting their rights to support off-campus causes. The University of California in Berkeley was one of the many that faced this student commotion. A minority of the university’s students actively engaged themselves in the Civil Rights cause. In an effort to lessen the student’s ability to promote causes such as these, Berkeley officials took legal precautions towards preventing on-campus political activities by initiating a ban. In the fall semester of 1964,...
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...kicked off the Birmingham campaign, a campaign that was designed to bring attention to the integration efforts of African Americans in Birmingham, Alabama. This campaign was led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a minster from Atlanta, Georgia that also served as the president of SCLC. Dr. King along with other SCLC volunteers and supporters were arrested on April12, 1963 after violating an anti-protest injection what was obtained by Birmingham’s police commissioner Bull Connor. This was Dr. King’s 13th arrest and during this time he was kept in solitary confinement where he pinned the famous “Letters from Birmingham Jail.” In this letter Dr. King addressed the criticism that had been published in the Birmingham News from a group of eight local white clergymen who codenamed his methods of using non-violent protests to eliminate racial injustice. In the open letter the eight clergymen felt that though injustice did exist in the American society that the battle against racial segregation should be addressed in the courts verses in the streets. They also felt as it the protest was unwise and untimely and seemed to take issue to the fact that the protest was organized and led by outsiders. In Dr. King’s response his aim was to defend the use of non-violent protests and also to appeal to the American society, both black and white. In the beginning of Dr. King’s letter, he responds to the criticism that he and his fellow activists were “outsiders” causing trouble in Birmingham. Dr. King...
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...2013 A Letter From a Birmingham Jail Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15 in the year 1929. He was born in Atlanta, Georgia. Martin Luther King Jr. had a tremendous impact on the desegregation of the United States, primarily the South, in the ‘60's. Many people believe that he in fact had one of if not the greatest and most influential impact of any civil rights leader in history. King Jr. began his civil rights activities in 1955 when he protested in Montgomery, Alabama against their horribly segregated public bus system. The protest was started after an African American lady on a bus by the name of Rosa Parks was arrested after she decided not to give up her seat to a white male passenger longing for a place to sit. After the arrest, African Americans gathered and encouraged others to boycott the Montgomery bus system. An underground society called the Montgomery Improvement Association was formed and with no surprise Martin Luther King Jr. was elected the president. The group’s methods were efficient and most importantly non violent. The group’s protests had success and soon after, the bus lines abandoned their segregated rules and African Americans no longer had to boycott the bus system. King dedicated his life to being a civil rights activist. Today he is most famously remembered for his non-violent protests in working toward racial equality. King was such an important figure and served as inspiration in so many people’s lives. The Birmingham Campaign began on...
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...Time in a Jail of Birmingham In the famous letter “Letter from Birmingham City Jail” or also known as “The Negro Is Your Brother” written by famous activist Martin Luther king Jr was written on April 16, 1963 as an open letter. Between the years of 1954–1968 the movement of American civil rights was going on. And during the movement of American civil rights African American people and non-colored people were treated very differently. Some examples would consist of colored people not being able to go to a certain amusement parks because of the color of their skin while non colored people were able to go to any amusement parks, another example where colored people were treated...
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...17, 1950 to Naomi Barber who conceived five children for him. King refused to follow his father ministries but begin to help a little later. King graduated from Morehouse College and decided to become a pastor at Mount Vernon First Baptist Church in Newnan, Ga. He and Martin Jr were arrested in 1960 for the lunch counter sit in that happened in Atlanta. A.D.King became a leader of the Birmingham Campaign while being a pastor in Ensley, Alabama. King residences was bombed on May 11, 1963. After the bombing of his house took place thousands of people wanted revenge and tried to riot Downtown Birmingham Alabama. A.D. King tried to stop rioting before someone is brutally harmed. He stated that they should “stand up for their rights but in a non-violent way. A.D.King was also a strong believer of the non-violent movement as well as Dr. King. He was able to stay behind the scenes unlike his brother. As one of the members stated “Not being in the limelight never seemed to affect him but because he stayed in the background, many people never knew that he was deeply involved also (Johnson, “A Rights Activist).King moved to Louisville, Kentucky where he became a pastor at Zion Baptist church in 1965. He continued to fight...
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...white travelers rode through the South deliberately entering segregated bus terminals and restaurants. Local mobs often attacked the “freedom riders. (Moss & Thomas, 2013) The CORE organized a dozen activists who were paired into two interracial sets of Freedom Riders which traveled by Greyhound and Trailways buses traveling from Washington D.C. to New Orleans, Louisiana. The Freedom Riders left Washington on May 4, 1961 and traveled without any problems across Virginia and North Carolina. They began encountering violence for the first time at a bus terminal in Rock Hill, South Carolina, several white males beat black riders whom attempted to use a “whites only” restroom. The Freedom Riders continued their travels and crossed into Georgia without incident. The activists reached Alabama on May 14th and the attacks worsen, a mob met the Greyhound riders in Anniston, rocks were thrown and bus tires were slashed. The bus driver managed to drive the bus a few miles out of town. While the bus was stopped for repair of the tires, white supremacists firebombed the bus which ended that groups Freedom Ride. Freedom Riders which were riding on the Trailways bus also encountered violence. They too were assaulted by Anniston whites. The Trailways bus continued on to Birmingham where they encountered an even larger mob which beat them with baseball bats, lead pipes and bicycle chains. “The whites and blacks were beaten alike” (Let Freedom Ring, 2008). “Diane Nash, a member...
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...In 1954 the American Civil Rights Movement ignited because of racial segregation and violence, which ended in 1968 (History.com Staff). During the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an activist for civil rights. Dr. King was negro, at the time of the civil rights movement people who were negro had few to no rights. On the 12th of April 1963, Dr. King receives a letter from eight clergymen. In the letter, the clergymen tell Dr. King to stop protesting and leave the segregation to the courts (Carpenter et al. 1). When Dr. King receives the letter, he is in jail for starting protests. In the letter Dr. King writes, he includes examples of logos. Dr. King explains that he is in Birmingham because injustice is present. In his letter, he explains that negros should be considered a native citizen because people are living on the grounds of the United...
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...supremacist group that heavily impacted the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s. The KKK’s attacks against African-Americans’ equality surprisingly benefitted the Civil Right Movement by gaining international attention and creating empathy for the African-Americans in the south. The KKK was a group made mostly of poor, white southerners. It began in 1866 in Pulaski, Tennessee, and spread massively into the south, covering...
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...Andrea Adams @02717441 HIST 0100 Prof. Tolbert April 21, 2017 The Life, Work, and Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a civil rights activist from the 1950 to 1968 with a strong religious background. A strong advocator for all minorities, King did all in his power to end barriers of community, poverty, racism and militarism. The principle he focused more on, however, was racism. King defined racism as prejudice, apartheid, ethnic conflict, anti-Semitism, sexism, colonialism, homophobia, ageism, or discrimination against disabled groups and stereotypes (Haskins). Later turning his efforts to poverty, King believed that the United States should have equal rights for all men, women and children. Martin Luther King Jr. had a strong philosophy of non-violent protests, called civil disobedience, to which he gained supporters, changing the jurisdictions of racism and poverty to create the American Dream for all. Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, to Michael King Sr. and Alberta Williams King. Born as Michael King Jr., King lived in Atlanta, Georgia (How Did Martin). However, in honor of minister and civil-rights activist Martin Luther Baptist, his parents gave him the name Martin. In 1931, King’s father became the lead pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, a very successful minister as his father and grandfather had been. A very intelligent man, King skipped ninth and eleventh grades, graduating from Booker T. Washington...
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