Martin Luther King Accomplishments

Martin Luther King Jr, was born January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. He was one of the most popular and effective leader of the African American struggle for civil rights in the United States and to this day his words are having a great impact in our society. “He was known for his philosophy of nonviolent direct action to galvanized thousands of Americans, both black and whites, to press for granting the full measure of human and political rights to African Americans”( “Martin Luther King, Jr.” ).

He had some of his biggest accomplishments during the Civil Rights Movement, however his leadership was the key to the movement’s success in ending the legal segregation of African Americans in the South and other parts of the United States by

King lectured in all parts of the country and discussed race-related issues with religious and civil rights leaders at home and around the country. King became increasingly convinced that nonviolent resistance was the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom and the fight for equality. In Birmingham, Alabama, in the spring of 1963 King’s campaign to end segregation at lunch counters and in hiring practices drew nationwide attention when police turned their dogs and fire hoses on the demonstrators and protesters. King was jailed along with large numbers of his supporters, including hundreds of schoolchildren and hard working citizens. Although behind bars king refused to be silenced, while he was in the Birmingham jail he wrote a letter of eloquence in which spoke his reasoning of nonviolence: ¨You may well ask: “Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn’t negotiation a better path?” You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue.¨ ("Martin Luther King, Jr.."