Dr. King and another protester were arrested, and Jimmie Lee Jackson was killed. The first group of approximately 500 Civil Rights advocates left Brown Chapel on March 7 and attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge to march along US Rte. 80 to Montgomery, the State capital. Alabama State Police blocked the road and ordered the assembled marchers to disperse. When the marchers refused, the troopers attacked and beat them, and forced them back to Brown Chapel, this was called “Bloody Sunday.” A second march occurred on March 9, but only as far as the Pettis Bridge.
“It wasn't just that Martin Luther King became the leader of the civil rights movement that made him so extraordinary—it was the way in which he led the movement. King advocated civil disobedience, the non-violent resistance against unjust laws: "Non-violence is a powerful and just weapon which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it." Civil rights activists organized demonstrations, marches, boycotts, strikes, and voter-registration drives, and refused to obey laws that they knew were wrong and unjust. These peaceful forms of protest were often met with vicious threats, arrests, beatings, and worse. King emphasized how important it was that the civil rights movement did not sink to the level of the racists and hate mongers they fought against: "Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred," he urged.
In 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama, Martin Luther King Jr. launched a nonviolent march in the city to protest the unfair hiring in stores. The Police Commissioner Eugene Connor broke up the peaceful march with violence that included dogs attacking, fire hoses, cattle prods, and tear gas. Commissioner Conner had hundreds of protesters arrested and Martin Luther was one of them. In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. participated in the March on Washington D.C., which ended in front of the Lincoln Memorial and had more than 200,000 demonstrators. The March on Washington was where Martin Luther King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
Martin Luther King Jr.: Letter from Birmingham Jail This is a letter from Martin Luther King Jr. to the clergymen in response to their claim in a local newspaper that his protesting was “unwise and untimely.” This is an attempt to defend himself and his fellow protesters. He begins by explaining why he was in Birmingham and states that he is not an outsider. He was invited by the president of the Christian Leadership Conference to be there. [623] He stressed on the issue of injustice in this area and said he must “carry the gospel of freedom” wherever it is needed like Paul did in the Bible. He continues to say that while the protests were unfortunate, it is even more unfortunate that the black community was left with no other alternative action.
“We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends”, Martin Luther King Jr. was a man of civility and peace. Dr. King had a dream of changing the world, even if he didn’t have all mankind to back him up. He strongly believed in his moral beliefs, that all men are created equal. Martin was big on civility. He refused to accept the laws that he thought were unjust.
This created a riot in the immediate area, ultimately bringing about a more civil demonstration of over 200 attendees several days later protesting the raids. The protest was met by squadrons of armed policemen. It was from this event that the publication The Advocate and organization Metropolitan Community Church led by Pastor Troy Perry was
About two weeks later there was a march down the streets that consisted of children and teenagers, all of which were arrested in this peaceful protest where they sang “We Shall Overcome”. The jails were packed full and there was no more space to hold protesters, and knowing this they made sure to send out more the next day to make a statement. Over a thousand children and teenagers came to the parade the next day, although most were fearful of their lives and ran away. They were fearful because the local firefighters had taken out the water hoses and were blasting people who were trying to march. One particular group stood still and were thrown to the ground and rolled down the street by the pressure of the water hoses.
During this period from 1950- to early 1970s different reform movements took place to stop racial discrimination and racism against African Americans. This article describes the different ideas Martin Luther King Jr had to help Africans obtain justice without any violence. He proposed three different alternatives to violence. First, he states “this is not a method for cowards, it does resist.” The way King wanted to obtain equality was very passive and nonaggressive; he never wanted to be physically aggressive to his opponent. Moreover, on his second point, “nonviolence resistance does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent, but to win friendship and understanding.” King thought that if there were no offenses or put downs to the enemy everything was to flow better between blacks and whites.
He changes the laws of lunch counters, restrooms, fitting rooms, and drinking fountains. The main part he did was the massive march on Washington, D.C., and his “I Have a Dream” speech which were estimated 250,000 people. The difference between Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. was that Martin Luther King Jr. was a man, who delivered moving speeches about peace and goodness; he came from a family that was well known in Atlanta with loving parents. But Malcolm X was the complete opposite, he was about baring arms to fight for something, people didn’t know about him. He had a bad childhood by his house being burned, his father being murdered and his mother suffered a breakdown and it lead up to a family split up.
The black people believed that President Kennedy was feeling bad for the civil rights movement more than his opponent, Richard Nixon. The Freedom Riders was that an interracial group would board buses destined for the South. The white people sit at the back and the blacks at the front. When it was mother’s day on May 14, the Freedom Riders split up into two groups to travel through Alabama. The first groups met up with about 200 angry Mob in Anniston.