How Did Martin Luther King Impact The Civil Rights Movement

790 Words4 Pages
“Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward. They may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.” Undoubtedly, the best ideas are created when the mind is able to wander and search through a person’s past experiences. The world is revolutionized by people who all start off with just a mere thought in their heads. Martin Luther King Jr. is a meritorious illustration of an individual who changed the course of history through his vision of society where racism did not exist. His famous “I Have A Dream” speech showcased the struggles of African Americans in the 1960s. Dr. King used intellectual facts and emotional events to touch the souls of his audience and supporters. His dream, his vision, and his goal became the forefront weapon that…show more content…
The state governments built “Jim Crow” laws for the sole purpose of eliminating any possibility of an African-American becoming a threat to their society. These laws extended all the way to the simple act of riding a bus with a different race. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a 42-year-old African American woman, boarded a Montgomery City bus. A white man entered the bus and the bus driver demanded Mrs. Parks to give up her seat for this man in accordance to the law. However, Mrs. Parks, with her pride and dignity, quietly refused to give up her seat. As a result of her actions, she was arrested and convicted of violating the segregation laws. Moreover, these laws created a powerful weapon for non-African Americans to use against African Americans. The playful deed of flirting with the opposite gender was strictly prohibited if the man was African American. On August 24, 1955 in Mississippi, a fourteen-year-old boy named Emmett Till reportedly flirted with a cashier, who was a white female. After this incident, two white men kidnapped Till, physically abused him, and shot him to death. The men were tried for murder, but were acquitted by an all-white
Open Document