Martin Luther King Jr. - Biography

Civil Rights Movement 1955-1965: Freedom Rides [Previous Topic] [Next Topic] [Up] [Table of Contents] [Citation Guide] [Feedback] [Search] [Home] [Help!] "At our first stop in Virginia . . . I [was] confronted with what the Southern white has called `separate but equal.' A modern rest station with gleaming counters and picture windows was labelled `White,' and a small wooden shack beside it was tagged `Colored.'"-- Freedom Rider William Mahoney[26] In 1947, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) planned a "Journey of Reconciliation," designed to test the Supreme Court's 1946 decision in the Irene Morgan case, which declared segregated seating of interstate passengers unconstitutional.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Advertisement. EnchantedLearning.com is a user-supported site. As a bonus, site members have access to a banner-ad-free version of the site, with print-friendly pages.Click here to learn more. (Already a member? Click here.) Martin Luther King, Jr., was a great man who worked for racial equality and civil rights in the United States of America.

The Supreme Court . Expanding Civil Rights . Landmark Cases . Brown v. Board of Education (1954) Mother (Nettie Hunt) and daughter (Nickie) sit on steps of the Supreme Court building on May 18, 1954, the day following the Court's historic decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Nettie is holding a newspaper with the headline "High Court Bans Segregation in Public Schools." Reproduction courtesy of Corbis Images Brown v. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957, serving as its first president. With the SCLC, King led an unsuccessful 1962 struggle against segregation in Albany, Georgia (the Albany Movement), and helped organize the 1963 nonviolent protests in Birmingham, Alabama that attracted national attention following television news coverage of the brutal police response. King also helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. There, he established his reputation as one of the greatest orators in American history.

A Brief History of Jim Crow “I can ride in first-class cars on the railroads and in the streets,” wrote journalist T. McCants Stewart. “I can stop in and drink a glass of soda and be more politely waited upon than in some parts of New England.” Perhaps Stewart’s comments don’t seem newsworthy. Consider that he was reporting from South Carolina in 1885 and he was black. Stewart had decided to tour the South because he feared for freedmen’s liberties. What is Racism? Racism has existed throughout human history. It may be defined as the hatred of one person by another -- or the belief that another person is less than human -- because of skin color, language, customs, place of birth or any factor that supposedly reveals the basic nature of that person. It has influenced wars, slavery, the formation of nations, and legal codes. During the past 500-1000 years, racism on the part of Western powers toward non-Westerners has had a far more significant impact on history than any other form of racism (such as racism among Western groups or among Easterners, such as Asians, Africans, and others). The most notorious example of racism by the West has been slavery, particularly the enslavement of Africans in the New World (slavery itself dates back thousands of years).

The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow. Resources The History of Jim Crow www.jimcrowhistory.org/home.htm This site for educators explores the segregation of African Americans from the 1870s through the 1950s. African American World www.pbs.org/wnet/aaworld/ Peruse this detailed, comprehensive Web site on African Americans to learn more about their historic struggles from the civil rights movement to the Jim Crow era. Behind The Veil: Documenting African American Life in the Jim Crow Era Housed at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, this research effort attempts to correct historical inaccuracies of African American experiences during the period of legal segregation through the voices of those who lived it. Virtual Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia www.ferris.edu/news/jimcrow/index.htm Visit the museum that houses a 4,000-piece collection of racist artifacts that Dr. David Pilgrim, professor of Sociology at Ferris State University, created to educate people about race relations in the United States.

The History of Racism QUESTION: The History of Racism – What is the state of race relations in 21st Century America? America has had a long history of racism. Racism has infiltrated every aspect of American society and shows no sign of decreasing. Civil Rights Movement 1955-1965: The Montgomery Bus Boycott [Previous Topic] [Next Topic] [Up] [Table of Contents] [Citation Guide] [Feedback] [Search] [Home] [Help!] "My feets is weary, but my soul is rested."-- Mother Pollard[1] The Montgomery Bus Boycott officially started on December 1, 1955.

Martin Luther King Martin Luther King is probably the most famous person associated with the civil rights movement. King was active from the start of the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955 to 1956 until his murder in April 1968. To many Martin Luther King epitomised what the civil rights campaign was all about and he brought massive international cover to the movement. Martin Luther King was born in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15th, 1929. The church was very much a part of his life as both his father and grandfather had been Baptist preachers. They themselves were involved in the civil rights movement. Early Civil Rights Struggles: The Murder of Emmett Till [Previous Topic] [Next Topic] [Up] [Table of Contents] [Citation Guide] [Feedback] [Search] [Home] [Help!] "Have you ever sent a loved son on vacation and had him returned to you in a pine box, so horribly battered and water-logged that someone needs to tell you this sickening sight is your son -- lynched?" -- Mamie Bradley, mother of Emmett Till[14] In August 1955, a fourteen year old boy went to visit relatives near Money, Mississippi.