MCR - Martin Luther King, Jr. (Lesson)

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Introduction

Martin Luther King, Jr. icon The Civil Rights era took a turn when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. became a strong advocate for equality. With a slow start and many politicians turning a deaf ear, the movement needed a strong leader to bring attention to the needs of the African American people. Martin Luther King, Jr. vocalized the concerns of the African American people and made great strides in the success of the Civil Rights agenda. 

 

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Background

  • Dr. King attends Booker T. Washington High School.
  • He passes the entrance examination to Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia without graduating from high school.
  • In 1948, Dr. King graduates from Morehouse College with a BA degree in Sociology.
  • He then enters Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania.
  • After attending a lecture on the life and teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, he begins to study Gandhi's message.

Legacy

  • Led Montgomery Bus Boycott 1955
  • Founded Southern Christian Leadership Conference
  • Led March on Washington for jobs and freedom August 1963
  • Because of his persistence and diligence, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed
  • Received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964

Collage of photos from Martin Luther King's life. 

March on Washington

  • August 28, 1963
  • This march brought attention at the need for jobs, freedom, passage of civil rights bill
  • MLK gave his famous speech “I have a dream…” from the Lincoln Memorial
  • Approximately 250,000 people participated

 

Southern Christian Leadership Conference, SCLC

In 1957, Martin Luther King Jr., helped create a new civil rights organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The headquarters of the SCLC were in Atlanta. King became its first president and his friend and fellow pastor from Montgomery, Ralph Abernathy, became the treasurer. Andrew Young, who had worked as a minister in Thomasville, Georgia, began directing voter registration projects for the SCLC. Young, like Abernathy, became one of King's top aides in the country. The organization's strategy to end segregation was based on non-violence. Its work included peaceful marches and protests, boycotts, and sit-ins. Sit-ins are organized protests in which participates sit peaceably in a racially segregated place, such as a restaurant or movie theater, to integrate it. 

 

Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, SNCC

SNCC was founded in 1960 and King and others hoped it would serve as the youth arm of SCLC. The two organizations worked side by side on many issues during the early years of the civil rights movement, though they remained independent organizations.

From the MLK , Jr Research and Education Institute at Stanford:

"The idea for a locally based, student-run organization was conceived when Ella Baker Links to an external site., a veteran civil rights organizer and an SCLC official, invited black college students who had participated in the early 1960 Links to an external site.sit-ins to an April 1960 gathering at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina. . . King called on the students to form “some type of continuing organization” and “to delve deeper into the philosophy of nonviolence,” advising: “Our ultimate end must be the creation of the beloved community” ...SNCC’s emergence as a force in the southern civil rights movement came largely through the involvement of students in the 1961 Freedom RIdes, Links to an external site. designed to test a 1960 Supreme Court ruling that declared segregation in interstate travel facilities unconstitutional." Links to an external site.

Photograph of John Lewis John Lewis

John Lewis was Georgia’s 5th District Congressman for 17 terms and served from 1987 until his death in July 2020.

He was instrumental in the civil rights movement of the 1960s and served as the chairman of SNCC from 19963-1966. He was one of the original thirteen Freedom Riders, a group of young people made up of 7 blacks and 6 whites, who rode interstate buses from Washington, D.C. through the southern states to New Orleans, Louisiana. They rode the buses in the summer of 1963 to challenge the southern states’ violation of federal policy against segregating seating and to pressure the federal government to enforce the Supreme Court decision that declared segregated seating unconstitutional.

Later he served in Jimmy Carter’s administration after Carter was elected president and then resigned in 1980 to run for the Atlanta City Council where he served for 6 years. In 1986 Lewis ran for Congress and won 17 times; he served from 1987 until his death in July 2020.

 

 

Review

Review what you've learned by completing the activity below.

 

 

Think About This

 

 

Martin Luther King, Jr. has a lasting legacy not only on Georgia, but also on the entire United States. His goal of peaceful demonstrations, using tactics such as boycotts and sit-ins, brought great attention to the cause of racial injustice. After his death, the mission of the Civil Rights continued. The legacy of his life can be seen through the acts of legislations passed by Congress to ensure equality for all. 

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