Discuss The Impact Of Martin Luther King In The Civil Rights Movement

When someone thinks of the civil rights period of the united states they already have some associations or connotations. Many people think of what the times were like, or who was present and fighting for their rights. Rosa Parks and the bus driver or Brown v. Board of Education are among the most popular and most recognizable . These are great people with brilliant ideas and beliefs that changed the United states for the better. The only thing is that they are not as popular as Martin Luther King Jr. .

3) Civil Disobedience is the disagreement to follow the laws and stand against them through peaceful demonstrations. In the early 1900’s women were treated lower than men, they were abused, and were not given the right to vote. Women’s rights to own property, and take part in politics were violated. Nellie McClung, a social activist voiced her opinion and stood up against the government to give women equal rights as men; provide them with the right to vote. Civil disobedience was used by Nellie McClung to attain her goals.

African Americans, when enslaved, attempted several times to rebel and overpower their White masters but ultimately failed each time. Many rebellions did succeed in killing their masters in addition to other Whites, but did not achieve any sort of change that would result in any sort of significant change. Furthermore, after their killing, often those responsible would simply be executed having served no purpose to their cause. One rebellion, however, defied the common outcome. The Haitian Revolution, a massive slave-led revolt that successfully resisted all forces from the French, Spanish, and English.

Sometimes, I sit and wonder what life would be like if we hadn’t been influenced by the wise guidance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Would we be in the middle of an all out war right now? What would’ve happened if we hadn’t had his amazing influence to stand up for the equal rights of all people? We will never know because of his power and influence over civil rights. Michael Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929. He was born a middle child Michael King Sr. and Alberta Williams King.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested for protesting the treatment of blacks in Birmingham, Alabama. The court had issued an order that King wasn’t allowed to hold protest in Birmingham. Everything was separated between the blacks and whites. The blacks were only allowed to sit in certain areas from businesses, churches, libraries; they weren’t even allowed to use public restrooms. Everywhere that the blacks went they were at a constant discrimination and a threat of violence.

The Importance of Action John Ruskin was a famous artist and critic who composed multiple works including The Crown of Wild Olive in which the quote, “What we think, or what we know, or what we believe is, in the end of little consequence. The only consequence is what we do,” is found. Ruskin is saying that thoughts, knowledge, or beliefs do not have very much significance and only action can lead to tangible results. The ideas in this statement have been shown to be correct throughout literature and history in To Kill a Mockingbird, “The Gettysburg Address,” and “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”

I believe peaceful resistance to laws positively impacts a free society. As citizens of the United States, we are born with certain natural rights. According to John Locke, an eighteenth century philosopher, natural rights are not bestowed by the government, but inherited by birth by virtue of the fact that we are human beings. These natural rights include life, liberty, and property. He theorized that the purpose of government was to protect those rights; and if it did not, it would lose its legitimacy and need not be obeyed.

In order to achieve true freedom one must discover that you can break unjust laws through peaceful protest. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and “The Speech at The March Washington” by Josephine Baker each article passionately argues about the disadvantages of the black community, the equality and power of education. We must learn to act with patients and not guns we must protect are self’s with a pen and paper not violence. Dr. King once4 said “Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. It is unique in history which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it.

Civil disobedience has always been a positive impact on a free society. It is a necessary freedom. We have seen in the past that it has made nothing but great changes. It has given me, and millions of other people countless opportunities. All of the people who have practiced civil disobedience have made revolutionary changes to our government.

What would a free society be like without peaceful resistance to laws? Would it be better or worse? The question itself is paradoxical; because it is based on the hypothetical negation of an analytic proposition, it makes no more sense than asking what polygons would be like without sides. Polygons, by definition, have sides, just as free society, by definition, has civil disobedience. As Adlai Stevenson explains it, “a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.”