American History - 11 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 2

American History - 11 - Essay Example In December 1965 King was chosen by NAACP to spearhead the Montgomery Bus Boycott. His inspirational oratory energized the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama. The campaign succeeded after 382 days: Montgomery repealed the law mandating segregated public transportation. In January 1957, in the aftermath of this victory, Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph Abernathy, and 60 ministers and civil rights activists founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which adopted a campaign of non-violent protests to promote civil rights reform. The SCLC conducted meetings on enfranchisement and King gave nation-wide talks on racism. Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, King made non-violent activism the keystone of his policy. In 1960, King encouraged the student â€Å"sit-in† movement in several Southern cities, and coordinated the formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. King was now a national celebrity and the symbol of the Civil Rights Movement.   On August 28, 1963, King led the mammoth ‘March on Washington’ which drew more than 200,000 people to the Lincoln Memorial. It was here that King made his famous â€Å"I Have a Dream† speech, asserting his belief in the brotherhood of all men. He played a pivotal role in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 mandating desegregation of public accommodations and in publicly owned facilities and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.He received the Nobel Peace Prize for 1964. He was assassinated by  James Earl Ray, a former convict, in Memphis on April 4, 1968. Martin Luther King Jr. may be considered one of the greatest personalities who shaped the American Civil Rights Movement. 1. 27-3 Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka served as the turning point in the constitutional battle against segregation. Plessy v. Ferguson  (1896) legalized separate but equal school systems for blacks and whites. By rejecting the contention of the School Board that the