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To what extent was the emergence of MLK the most important development in black civil rights

between 1860 and 1970?

African-American poet Sonia Sanchez cherishes Martin Luther King as a “fisherman of tongues
untangling our wings”1: a man with words capable of bringing freedom to the oppressed. King is
undeniably known for his superb oratory skills but he was not the sole factor in achieving rights for
black American citizens. Perhaps King was unique in his ability to voice the concerns of thousands of
ordinary citizens. However, historians such as Carson, question his personal importance: “If King had
never lived, the black struggle would have followed a course of development similar to the one it
did”2.

Although the ‘King years’ in the 1950s and 60s were the most active, the struggle for racial equality
began in 1862 with the Proclamation of Emancipation. The subsequent extreme Southern violence,
witnessing lynchings, the rise of the Klu Klux Klan (KKK) and economic intimidation halted “the power
of blackness that had briefly appeared in the land during reconstruction” 3. Public protest was
sparked and a pattern of civil rights figureheads emerged. In the late 1800s Frederick Douglass
campaigned as a black symbol of power, using radical methods which influenced Malcolm X in the
1950s. Post Douglass’ death, Booker T. Washington attempted to command the nation’s attention.
His voice “carried a different message which seemed to discourage bold, direct, open challenges to
white power”4. These non-violent methods bear uncanny resemblance to those adopted by King fifty
years later. Therefore, as debated by Verney, “Martin Luther King has become so inter-linked with the
struggle for racial equality that his emergence...1955 and his death thirteen years later in 1968 are
usually seen as marking the beginning and the end of the post-war civil rights movement” 5; yet
similar methods had been utilized years earlier. King emerged in a liberalised social climate which
played a significant role in enabling his influence to create change in the movement. Consequently,
the achievements in civil rights in the 1950s-60s are as a result of the interaction between protest
methods and external conditions and not solely due to changes in tactics.

According to Verney, “King’s mesmerizing oratorical ability, and the aura of martyrdom that has
surrounded him...makes an objective assessment of his contribution as a civil rights leader difficult,
bordering on irreverent”6. However, King was a man who emerged into the movement somewhat
reluctantly. At the age of twenty-six, he was approached by Montgomery’s local black community
and unwillingly agreed to lead a bus boycott. In actuality, the campaign had been initiated by the
National Association of the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP). The NAACP had been
founded in 1909, using non-violent strategies which were being utilized years before King by civil
rights organisations such as the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). In fact Meier stresses that “the
real credit for developing and projecting the techniques and philosophy of non-violent direct action
in the civil rights arena must be given to the Congress of Racial Equality which was founded in 1942,
more than a dozen years before the Montgomery bus boycott projected King into international
fame”7.

King did not invent the non-violent protests with which he became identified, but he utilized the
method skilfully to gain publicity for the movement. As Carson states, King is “‘representative’ of
local, grassroots African American leadership”8. Nevertheless, by the time the boycott reached a

1 Sonia Sanchez http://www.beaconbroadside.com/broadside/2012/01/martin-luther-king-day.html


2 Clayborne Carson from Kevern Verney from “The Debate on Black Civil Rights in America”- page 96.
3 Prologue from “The Eyes on the Prize Civil Rights Reader” Vincent Harding- page 4.
4 Prologue from “The Eyes on the Prize Civil Rights Reader” Vincent Harding-page 4.
5 Kevern Verney from “Black Civil Right in America”-page 52.
6 Kevern Verney from “The Debate on Black Civil Rights in America”-page 52.
7 August Meier from John A. Kirk “Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement”-page 19.
8 Clayborne Carson from John A. Kirk “Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement”- page 15.

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successful conclusion with the US Supreme Court declaring Alabama’s state and city public transport
segregation laws unconstitutional, King had been propelled to the status of a national celebrity.
Although historian Kirk argues “Civil rights organisations such as the NAACP...and CORE...paved the
way for the later emergence of King”9, there is no denying that King’s particular skills brought the
movement to the forefront of national attention.

During the years prior to the Montgomery bus boycott, developments in the media had rocketed.
King became exposed to this media limelight, his respectable reputation as an educated Christian
Baptist minister, with a PHD from Boston University and superior oratory skills, driving him to
national prominence. King was unique through “his ability to articulate the grievances of diverse
groups of black protestors...in a way that elicited sympathy rather than fear” 10. King’s commitment to
religion and his church roots enabled easy communication with Southern blacks through the church
network. In 1957 King became president of an all black, Baptist minister organisation, the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). It has been argued that it is hard to salvage “exactly what
SCLC did before the 1960s except to advance the image and personality of King” 11. Yet the
organisation filled a void in the movement in the 1950s and had major impact by adding the moral
authority of the church to the campaign.

The church had occupied a significant role in the movement since the early 1900s. After the passing
of the segregation legislation known as the Jim Crow Laws in the South, an influx of institution
building was witnessed. The church was a place where oppression and racism could be discussed
peacefully, years before King emerged. However, arguably King was the first leader to use the church
as a vehicle to express views beyond its own four walls. King’s first public speech was made in his
very own church, using biblical references to stun his congregation to silence. Dionne argues this
“oratory had just made him forever a public person” 12. Yet as Morris argues, with its invaluable
network across the South, “the black church function(ed) as the institutional center of the modern
civil rights movement”13. Nevertheless, King has often been praised for making “the non-violent
direct action movement respectable”14. King not only headed SCLC but gave public praise and
recognition to the achievements of all the major Civil Rights Groups, including the NAACP, the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and CORE.

One of King’s greatest achievements was to harness together the separate strengths of these
movements into a coalition. This gave him the image of the campaign’s public leader. One of King’s
most famous events was the Washington March in August 1963 where King presented his ‘I Have a
Dream Speech’ to a crowd of 250,000 supporters. The event was jointly sponsored by all the major
civil rights organisations, revealing the unity and strength of the campaign. This was heightened by
the presence of white supporters, including students and representatives of the Christian and Jewish
faiths. Congressman Alcee Hastings highlighted the march’s significance, "In many ways, this singular
event redefined the American experience and, to this day, Dr. Martin Luther King's dream of an
America without the burdens of prejudice and discrimination remains an unparalleled vision of our
county's potential."15

However, it can be argued that there was a mutual dependence between King and the Civil Rights
organizations. Meier argues that “Without CORE and especially SNCC King would appear ‘radical’ and

9 John A. Kirk from “Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement”-page 20.
10 August Meier from Kevern Verney “The Debate on Black Civil Rights”-page 98.
11 August Meier from John A. Kirk “Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement”-page 24.
12 E. J. Dionne from “What's God Got to Do with the American Experiment?”- page 50.
13 Raymond D’Angelo from “The American Civil Rights Movement”- page 149.
14 John A. Kirk from “Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement”-page 23.
15 Alcee Hasting http://bigstory.ap.org/article/quotes-reaction-march-washington

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‘irresponsible’ rather than ‘moderate’ and ‘respectable’” 16. As a figurehead, King was in actuality, not
involved in all of the events which utilized non-violent methods. The Freedom Rides, of 1961 were
student initiated and run, challenging unconstitutional segregation on public buses, devoid of King’s
assistance. Kirk contends that “it was the 1960 Sit-In Movement and the founding of SNCC and the
1961 Freedom Rides, rather than King that gave the civil rights movement impetus and direction in
the early 1960s.” 17 Arguably, King effectively adopted the non-violent tactics of other groups and
promoted them. Although such protest events could and did take place without King, his emergence
in the movement brought an invaluable quality which singular grassroots protests lacked: the ability
to communicate successfully to whites. Carson stresses that “King understood the black world from a
privileged position, having grown up in a stable family within a major black urban community; yet he
also learned how to speak persuasively to the surrounding white world” 18.

Yet the motivation of historians in stressing the importance of King’s role must be considered. In
King’s death, veneration enables historians to assume he was the main reason for the developments
in civil rights. This is despite the reality of the culmination of grassroots level protests succeeding
with King as a media figurehead. Historical biographers can empathise easily with their chosen
subject. The sustained motivation needed to research, has often resulted from passion for the
chosen subject. Verney, talks of Biographers on King seeking “to find mitigation for King’s actions” 19
merely to justify any of his flaws and failures. Burns discovered that King related documents revealed
“only part of the epic story of the Montgomery movement, presenting a particular and incomplete
perspective on events”20. He attempted to remedy this through publishing “Daybreak of Freedom:
The Montgomery Bus Boycott” which highlighted the involvement of less well known individuals and
ordinary black citizens. In evaluating King’s role, we need to be aware of the possible bias arising
from historical biography.

Burns’ unearthing of the importance of ordinary individuals is helpful in assessing King’s value.
Harding claims that momentum came in the 50s and 60s because “the post World War II generation
of men and women were the first African-Americans who grew to their maturity...they knew a new
time had come...all over the nonwhites’ world, and that they were related to it all” 21. In fact Carson
describes the movement as “a locally based mass movement, rather than simply a reform movement
led by national civil rights leaders”22. Perhaps one leader like Martin Luther King wasn’t needed.
Together individuals could create an unyielding black force. The great migrations from the South had
resulted in millions of black voters beginning to influence urban Northern politics. Their strength
could not be dismissed. Harding argues “the black presence and its insistent questions about ‘we the
people of the United States’ were part of the reason for the momentum.” 23

The growing vision of individuals who were ready to fight for freedom was central to the
achievements of the 50s and 60s. The brave Rosa Parks was just an ordinary citizen. Yet she sparked
the Montgomery boycotts which catalysed King’s emergence. Rosa Parks stated that “People need to
work together”24. Barack Obama doesn’t credit his political position to King, but to this incredibly
brave individual, “Were it not for that quiet moment of courage by Mrs Parks, I would not be
standing here today.”25

16 August Meier from John A. Kirk “Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement”-page 23.
17 John A. Kirk from “Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement”-page 7.
18 Clayborne Carson from John A. Kirk “Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement”-page 31.
19 Kevern Verney from “The Debate on Black Civil Rights in America”-page 95.
20 Stewart Burns from Kevern Verney “The Debate on Black Civil Rights in America”- page 97.
21 Prologue from “The Eyes on the Prize Civil Rights Reader” Vincent Harding- page 33.
22 Clayborne Carson from John A. Kirk “Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement”-page 30.
23 Prologue from “The Eyes on the Prize Civil Rights Reader” Vincent Harding- page 33.
24 Rosa Parks http://obamaspeeches.com/034-Death-of-Rosa-Parks-Obama-Speech.htm
25 Barack Obama http://obamaspeeches.com/034-Death-of-Rosa-Parks-Obama-Speech.htm

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The role of women like Rosa Parks is often understated, overshadowed by the strengths of male
leaders like King. The women’s liberation movement in the United States did not develop until the
late sixties and prior to that, women were excluded from formal leadership positions. King displayed
sexist views, expecting his wife Coretta to play the dutiful role of domestic housewife whilst he was
away despite her willingness to become involved with the movement. Yet many women were
significant in the movement and as Robnett argues “the exclusion women faced within male-
dominated organisations led them to carve out their own separate and distinctive niche of
movement activism...and looked to exercise influence in grassroots community-based organizing” 26.

Jo Ann Robinson was a key figure in founding the Montgomery Bus boycott, which is often thought of
as the start of the civil rights movement, sparking King’s emergence. A white anti-lynching
campaigner Jessie Ames founded a non-violent Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of
Lynching in 1930, years before King. Ida Wells, arguably one of the most important civil rights
advocates of the 19th century bravely published documents against the lynching campaign. A
founding member of the NAACP, Wells was one of the first black women ever to run for public office
in Illinois. Similarly sheer courage can be seen in Elizabeth Eckford, the first of the nine students to
enter Little Rock High School in 1957 who described feeling upon her entrance to the high school
“just a little bit nervous...I still wasn’t afraid” 27. Furthermore, Robnett argues that “the effect of
gender exclusion...produced a remarkably capable tier of leadership that strengthened the
mobilization of and recruitment to the movement” 28. By contrast, the work of women, particularly at
understated grassroots level, may well have contributed to the significance of King as a leader.

However, many historians stress the need for a leader figure. Meier states that “it would be more
appropriate to congratulate the civil rights movement for its good fortune in having as its symbolic
leader a man like King”29. Though the movement saw many figureheads rise to the forefront, King
was one of the few whose close connection to the government, particularly Kennedy and
subsequently Johnson, brought a unique political stance to the movement. Kennedy played an
important role, presenting a government bill before Congress in 1963 to abolish segregation in
housing and ‘public accommodations’. Hodgson stresses Kennedy’s importance in presenting the
legislation, “since Lincoln’s death almost a hundred years earlier...there had not been much
competition”30. Arguably, Kennedy may be seen as equally important to King as he had the power to
present invaluable legislation. Even before becoming President, Kennedy showed support for civil
rights when he personally telephoned King’s pregnant wife, Coretta, to give her support when King
had been jailed for a lunch counter sit-in in Atlanta.

Conversely, historians such as Colaiaco reveal that initially, “President Kennedy was determined to
proceed with the utmost caution in the field of civil rights” 31. It was exposed after King’s
assassination that Kennedy had been distrustful of King, having condoned FBI wiretapping of King’s
telephone calls. Branch states that in 1972 “congressional investigations reveal(ed) voluminous
evidence of the FBI’s clandestine hostility to King and the larger Civil Rights Movement- wiretaps,
bugs, propaganda”32. King had been afflicted with claims of plagiarism across the years, allegations
that the FBI disclosed. This evidence casts doubt on the government’s apparent commitment to the
movement. Yet historian Thelen argues that “ the realization that King was not some divine being,
but vulnerable to the same weaknesses to which all human flesh is heir, arguably made his

26 Belinda Robnett from John A. Kirk “Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement”-page 143.
27 Elizabeth Eckford “Dont let them see you cry” from Raymond D’Angelo “The American Civil Rights
Movement”- page 270.
28 Belinda Robnett from John A. Kirk “Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement”-page 155.
29 August Meier from John A. Kirk “Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement”-page 27.
30 Godfrey Hodgson from “Martin Luther King”-page 117.
31 James A. Colaiaco from John A. Kirk “Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement”-page 104.
32 Taylor Branch from “The King Years”-page 104.

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accomplishments all the more impressive” 33. Thus, the FBI’s disclosures may not have been entirely
negative for King.

Although Kennedy did not want to lose support of white Southern Democrats in congress, he needed
the support of black voters primarily in the North. Subsequently, Kennedy was reluctant to act until
placed under pressure and King successfully exploited this. Colaiaco draws attention to a successful
pattern utilized by King: “the provocation of a crisis- accompanied by racist violence against
nonviolent protests- followed by federal intervention” 34. The height of this pattern was illustrated
through the Birmingham March ‘crisis’, resulting in the creation of the bill that would become the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 under Johnson. The 1964 Act emphasises the importance of the
Government’s role in passing legislation. However Verney argues, “Although these measures
reflected a genuine commitment by Johnson to greater racial equality, it should be noted that the
climate for action was more favourable in these years” 35. It thus can be questioned as to whether it
took Kennedy’s assassination for the Act to be passed in sympathy.

Conversely it can be argued that government intervention would not have occurred without pressure
that was enforced by the media. As Colaiaco emphasises “King had learned that capturing media
attention was necessary for victory”36. During the Birmingham marches, the media internationally
broadcasted shocking images of peaceful protesters facing extreme violence from water hoses and
police dogs. Images of law enforcers using weapons like electric cattleprods shocked the world.
Hodgson states that these images “transformed American public opinion...causing many in the North
to demand robust action from an administration that had claimed to be unable to act effectively to
give Southern Negroes their rights as American citizens” 37. These media images were crucial in
putting pressure on the federal government to act.

Media pressure was particularly important in the international context of the Cold War. Verney
argues that “the domestic impact of the Cold War, more than any other single factor, helps to explain
why the civil rights movement in its most widely recognized form did not emerge until the mid-
1950s”38. America, in vying for world supremacy against the Soviet Union, espoused democratic
rights over communist practices. The failure of America to ensure the civil rights of its own citizens
was an embarrassment on the world stage. King himself was raising the profile of American blacks
internationally by visiting post colonial leaders like Nkrumah in Ghana and Nehru in India. Meier
stresses the importance of the media’s emergence and role in the campaign, “without publicity it is
hard to conceive that much progress would have been made” 39. Meier alternatively infers that King’s
own emergence in the movement was reliant upon the media and as a result “certain important civil
rights leaders have dismissed King’s position as the product of publicity generated by the mass
communications media”40. Whilst the stature that King achieved would not have been possible
without the media, he cannot be considered merely a media creation because of the genuine work
he did in the movement.

The role of the media was one external factor among many, including the “Great Migration” of the
World War I era41. Colaiaco argues “the progress made against segregation in the South (had) also

33 Kevern Verney from “The Debate on Black Civil Rights in America”-page 95.
34 James A. Colaiaco from John A. Kirk “Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement”-page 100.
35 Kevern Verney from “Black Civil Rights in America”-page 51.
36 James A. Colaiaco from John A. Kirk “Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement”-page 101.
37 Godfrey Hodgson from “Martin Luther King”-page 99.
38 Kevern Verney from “Black Civil Rights in America”-page 43.
39 August Meier from John A. Kirk “Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement”-page 20.
40 August Meier from John A. Kirk “Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement”-page 20.
41 In 1915 to 1929 nearly one and a half million southern blacks moved north resulting in huge poverty in the
Northern Urban ghettos.

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awakened the blacks of the North”42 as whilst King’s nonviolent methods focused on Southern issues
like desegregation and voting rights, economic scarcity in the nation’s ghettos had been ignored. Yet
Colaiaco demonstrates that King’s attempts to deal with these Northern struggles with his non
violent methods, were “less effective” because “the oppressors were better prepared and more
sophisticated”43 as shown through his demonstrations in Chicago in 1965 which Hodgson argues
were “a defeat”44.

Thus saw the emergence of the ‘Black Power’ philosophy and with it the influential leader Malcolm
X. Malcolm X represented the contemporary militant counterpart to Martin Luther King, voicing the
anger of the overcrowded black ghettos and rejecting white integration. Malcolm X criticised King for
his disregard of real blacks’ problems claiming he was trying to alleviate whites’ guilt, “While King
was having a dream, the rest of us Negroes were having a nightmare” 45 . Malcolm X highlighted the
movement’s limitations particularly its inability to deal with economic deprivation in black northern
ghettos. But whilst activists like Malcolm X grew impatient with King’s non-violent methods, King
continued to stress the importance of persistent commitment, “The method of nonviolence will not
work overnight” but “the method of nonviolence (is)...the most potent weapons available to the
Negro in his struggle for freedom”46.

In comparison, Cone argues that “the two men were ultimately more alike than they were
different”47. The two leaders were fundamentally divided by their religious beliefs and in a
predominantly Christian based country, King’s faith would appeal more to the white masses. Despite
their differences Dyson stresses both men’s significance and equally invaluable work: “along with
Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm is a member of the pantheon of twentieth-century black saints” 48.
Furthermore, Cone argues that even their tactics grew to have similarities because “by the end of
their lives, their paths were converging, with King becoming increasingly radical and X becoming
more ‘moderate’ after his break with the NOI” 49.

King was forced to become more radical because the non-violent methods utilized in the South had
less impact in the North. The social climate was changing and “the moral weather was darkening” 50.
Even Kennedy argued that the times were changing, “nonviolent protest had become violent, and
civil rights legislation was the only way to...avert black violence” 51. This explains why King’s non-
violent methods had limited success in Northern cities like Chicago because, as Hodsgon states, black
northerners were “not prepared to do what would have been necessary to bring (it) about” 52 King’s
vision of racial harmony. Frustrated, the northerners did not see how non-violence could gain them
economic prosperity. Arguably, King’s importance waned as the social climate changed and new
leaders such as Malcolm X were necessary to maintain momentum. In fact, economic hardship in the
inner cities continued into the 1980s and 90s, proof that nonviolent and violent methods were
having little impact upon financial circumstances. This was exemplified by the racial outbursts in the

42 James A. Colaiaco from John A. Kirk “Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement”-page 107.
43 James A. Colaiaco from John A. Kirk “Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement”-page 107.
44 Godfrey Hodgson from “Martin Luther King”-page 186.
45 Malcolm X from “Martin and Malcolm and America: A Dream or a Nightmare”
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=PU_DdaFtYAMC&pg=PT37&dq=While+King+was+having+a+dream,
+the+rest+of+us+Negroes+were+having+a+nightmare&hl=en&sa=X&ei=w9LoUtzhLs2y7AbnnoCABQ&ved=0CD
EQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=While%20King%20was%20having%20a%20dream%2C%20the%20rest%20of%20us
%20Negroes%20were%20having%20a%20nightmare&f=false
46 Martin Luther King autobiography “Stride Toward Freedom”-page 71.
47 John A. Kirk from “Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement”-page 111.
48 Raymond D’Angelo from “The American Civil Rights Movement”-page 408.
49 John A. Kirk “Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement”-page 111.
50 Godfrey Hodgson from “Martin Luther King” page 178.
51 Lance Hill from John A. Kirk “Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement”-page 91.
52 Godfrey Hodgson from “Martin Luther King” page 185.

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LA Watts riots of 1967 which foreshadowed the occurrence of many rebellions in ensuing years in
Detroit, Newark and other cities.

Verney argues that leaders “are the products of the age into which they are born. They are more
shaped by society than they are able to shape it” 53. After the failure of Chicago King realised a change
was needed to address class division and economic poverty rather than desegregation. His non-
violent methods would have limited impact on this concern and King confided more than once that “I
am still searching myself; I don’t have all the answers” 54. Garrow argues that King had become “a
sagacious, worn down realist who knew that the central injustice of American society lay...in its
entire economic structure”55. It seems hard to consider a man lacking such direction, to be the
movement’s most important leader. Stokely Carmichael, 1968 chairman of SNCC and associated with
the black power group Black Panthers, drove the issue of multi-racial class-based struggle to the
forefront of the movement. Although King felt Carmichael’s anti-white implications were a hindrance,
Carmichael focused on the issues which were ripe in society, advocating economic self help
programmes for blacks, tactics ignored by King in Chicago. Verney stresses that due to work by
Carmichael, “Black Power... won the enthusiastic backing of Republican candidate Richard Nixon in
his 1968 presidential election campaign”56 suggesting that by the late 60s King was not the most vital
figure in the movement and other leaders such as Carmichael were more instrumental.

However, violent tactics were not unique to Black Power leaders like Carmichael or X. Neither was
non-violence solely exclusive to King. King’s ideology was formerly used by Booker T. Washington in
the late 1800s and Meier stresses their similarities, “Like King, Washington had an extraordinary
following among whites. Like King, Washington symbolised for most whites the whole program of
Negro advancement”57. Conversely, the beliefs of Du Bois in the late 1800s, focusing on Black
Nationalism and internationalist traditions, were adopted by Black Power movements in the 1960s.
Interestingly, as Kirk states, Du Bois was also, “a founder member of the Niagara Movement, which
was a forerunner of the NAACP”58. Perhaps the line between Black Power and non-violence is finer
than appears at first sight.

Nevertheless, King, not previous non-violent or radical leaders, has been officially recognised by his
birthday becoming a national holiday. Colaico insists that “while King was not the first to employ the
nonviolent method...he was the most successful in mobilizing masses of blacks to protest nonviolent
for the fulfilment of their basic civil rights” 59. This is evidenced by King receiving the Nobel Peace
Prize. Upon accepting it, King stressed the importance of non-violence “This award which I receive on
behalf of that movement is a profound recognition that nonviolence is the answer to the crucial
political and moral question of our time”60.

In conclusion, there were a number of other factors playing just as important a role as King in civil
rights. King was a remarkable orator and motivator for the movement and his courage is extremely
admirable. Yet without the contemporaneous conditions such as the Cold War and the developments
in the media, the extent of King’s achievements may have been far less. Furthermore, were it not for
the developments of the non-violent methods and groups such as CORE in the early 1900s, King may
never have adopted the non-violent techniques for which he became celebrated. Similarly, the
NAACP’s legislative changes, which were vital to the movement, would have occurred independently

53 Kevern Verney from “Black Civil Rights in America”-page 116.


54 David J. Garrow from John A. Kirk “Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement”-page 179.
55 David J. Garrow from John A. Kirk “Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement”-page 176.
56 Kevern Verney from “Black Civil Rights in America”-page 77.
57 August Meier from John A. Kirk “Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement”-page 21.
58 John A. Kirk from “Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement”-page 112.
59 James A. Colaiaco from John A. Kirk “Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement”-page 96.
60 Martin Luther King http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/king-
acceptance_en.html

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of King’s leadership. King’s own statement summarises my view of the importance of his emergence,
“I am where I am because of the forces of history and because of the 50000 Negroes of Alabama
who will never get their names in the papers and in the headlines” 61.

61 Martin Luther King autobiography “Stride Toward Freedom”-page 23.

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