Transcript MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

MARTIN
LUTHER
KING, JR.
His reaction to the
Montgomery Bus Crisis
http://www.life.com/Life/mlk/mlk09.html
THE LEADER
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. was the son of a
pastor. He hadn’t planned
on being a minister, but
changed his mind while at
Morehouse College. He
was influenced by the
teachings of Ghandi,
Jesus and Reinhold
Niebuhr, who wrote about
the concept of social evil.
http://www.africanamericans.com/martin%20luth
er%20king%201.jpg
THE LEADER
He became a minister
in Montgomery,
Alabama and was a
civic leader.
He later led marches
in several cities,
including
Washington, to bring
attention to the need
for equal Civil Rights
for AfricanAmericans
http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96jan/96jangifs/king2.gif
THE SITUATION
He became upset when the
town’s buses refused to
integrate
“On December 1, 1955,
Rosa Parks, a black
seamstress, was arrested
for refusing to obey a
Montgomery bus driver's
order to give her seat up for
a boarding white passenger
as required by city
ordinance.”
Information from: http://www.archives.state.al.us/teacher/rights/rights1.html
THE SITUATION
The U.S. Supreme Court
decision in Brown v. Board
of Education, Topeka
struck down legal barriers
to school integration in
1954, and many black
leaders saw this as a
chance to get rid of other
segregation laws. The
arrest of Rosa Parks
started the idea a boycott
against the city's bus line - the Montgomery Bus
Boycott.
-from http://www.archives.state.al.us/teacher/rights/rights1.html
THE SITUATION
These segregation codes were increasingly
onerous to African Americans, especially after
the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v.
Board of Education, Topeka struck down legal
barriers to school integration in 1954. Outrage in
Montgomery's black community over the arrest
of Rosa Parks sparked a boycott against the
city's bus line -- the Montgomery Bus Boycott,
the beginning of the modern Civil Rights
Movement.
BELIEFS OF THE LEADER
Dr. King believed that all people were equal,
regardless of their color.
King believed a social system of racial
segregation was not only demeaning of
African-Americans, also had lost its moral
legitimacy.
As he wrote, “I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta
and not be concerned about what happens
in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a
threat to justice everywhere.” (Letter from
Birmingham Jail)
INFO FROM: http://www.wfu.edu/~matthetl/perspectives/twentysix.html
BELIEFS OF THE LEADER
Dr. King would want the
buses to be integrated.
He didn’t believe in
segregation, and would
demand that the buses
serve whites and
blacks equally.
http://www.kodak.com/US/images/en/corp/features/moore/p
ic13.jpg
He would take many actions to make sure
they were integrated, including…
GOAL OF THE LEADER
Dr. King would
want the city to
change its racist
laws and stop
segregating on
city buses. He
would want black
riders to have the
same rights to sit
where they
wished that
whites had.
http://www.geocities.com/malcolm_b_johnson/images/boycott1.jpg
ACTIONS OF THE LEADER
1. He would file a lawsuit to get the buses
integrated. Not integrating the buses was
violating the decision in Brown vs. Board of
Ed, which said “separate but equal” was not
constitutionally acceptable.
He would ask that the courts force the town
to make the buses integrated.
ACTIONS OF THE LEADER
2. He would start a nonviolent campaign to get
the buses integrated. As he said, “In any
nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps:
collection of the facts to determine whether
injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification;
and direct action.” The direct action would be a
BOYCOTT, where blacks would refuse to ride
the buses, depriving the city of most of its bus
customers.
http://www.wfu.edu/~matthetl/perspectives/twentysix.html
ACTIONS OF THE LEADER
http://www.africanaonline.com/Graphic/rosa_parks_bus.gif
He would ask the blacks in Montgomery to
stop riding the buses. Since most riders were
black, this would hurt the city financially, and
help spur them toward negotiations with
King.
ACTIONS OF THE LEADER
3. He would hold
marches to call
attention to the
boycott and the
unjust laws.He
wanted to force city
leaders into talking
with the Black
leaders.
http://home.att.net/~reniqua/bus12.jpg
QUOTES OF THE LEADER
“You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sitins, 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. It
seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no
longer be ignored.”
-Letter from Birmingham Jail
RESOURCES USED
All photos and text resources are noted on the bottom of each page used.
Here’s the l;ist of what I used:
http://www.life.com/Life/mlk/mlk09.html
http://www.africanamericans.com/martin%20luther%20king%201.jpg
http://www.archives.state.al.us/teacher/rights/rights1.html
http://www.wfu.edu/~matthetl/perspectives/twentysix.html
http://www.kodak.com/US/images/en/corp/features/moore/pic13.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/malcolm_b_johnson/images/boycott1.jpg
http://www.africanaonline.com/Graphic/rosa_parks_bus.gif
http://home.att.net/~reniqua/bus12.jpg
http://www.ai.mit.edu/~isbell/HFh/black/events_and_people/008.letter_from
_jail
http://www.wfu.edu/~matthetl/perspectives/twentysix.html