Martin Luther King
•He first becomes prominent in 1955 organizing a boycott of the transit system over the jailing of Rosa Parks (The company went bankrupt)
•Becomes unofficial leader of the black protest movement
•Advocated peaceful demonstrations
•Blacks saw their cause gaining sympathy when they were shown to be beaten by police on T.V.
•Made famous, “I have a dream” speech in Washington in 1963
•Awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 1967
•Assassinated in 1968
•Becomes unofficial leader of the black protest movement
•Advocated peaceful demonstrations
•Blacks saw their cause gaining sympathy when they were shown to be beaten by police on T.V.
•Made famous, “I have a dream” speech in Washington in 1963
•Awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 1967
•Assassinated in 1968
Background to the Civil Rights Movement in the USA
•Blacks had been freed from slavery since the 1860s
• By the 1950s social, economic and political circumstances were still different:
•Segregated schools, transportation and restaurants
•Ghettos sprung up in the northern cities
•Ku Klux Klan harassed and murdered blacks•1954 the Supreme Court ruled to desegregate schools
•Shortly there after parks, public housing, buses and air terminals etc.
•John F. Kennedy gave many blacks hope
•The 1960s were a time of rebellion against the government (counterculture)
•Rosa Parks
•Professional sports personalities gave hope eg. Jackie Robinson and Mohammed Ali
• By the 1950s social, economic and political circumstances were still different:
•Segregated schools, transportation and restaurants
•Ghettos sprung up in the northern cities
•Ku Klux Klan harassed and murdered blacks•1954 the Supreme Court ruled to desegregate schools
•Shortly there after parks, public housing, buses and air terminals etc.
•John F. Kennedy gave many blacks hope
•The 1960s were a time of rebellion against the government (counterculture)
•Rosa Parks
•Professional sports personalities gave hope eg. Jackie Robinson and Mohammed Ali
Summary: Martin Luther King become the leader of the black protest movement after the Rosa Parks jailing. He showed black getting beaten by the police on the T.V gaining sympathy from the whites. The KKK murdered blacks and created the desegregation of schools. Mohammed Ali and Jackie Robinson gained white support through them being blacks in major league sport.
Question: Would have schools become segregated if the KKK did not exist?
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
-Martin Luther King, Jr.