Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement
...d the South. He said he wouldn’t send in federal troops as long as they made sure there was no violence against the riders. On 28th August 1963 a march was taken on Washington. There were worries that few people would attend however despite that the civil rights organisers went on with this historic event that symbolises the civil rights movement. This was where Martin Luther King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech. On 2nd July 1964, in his first speech to Congress and the American public Johnson called for passage of the civil rights bill. The House of Representatives passed the measure. So the civil rights leaders mounted a massive lobbying campaign to convince the Senate. The strategy paid off, and in June the Senate voted to close debate. A few weeks later, the Senate passed the most important piece of civil rights legislation in America’s history, and on 2nd July 1964, President Johnson signed it into law. The law said that African Americans could no longer be excluded from restaurants, toilets and other public services. Another moment in Black Americans’ Civil Rights history was when the black community of Marion, angry about a demonstrator being killed by a state trooper, decided to hold a march which Martin Luther King Martin Luther King. It was set for Sunday, March 7, from Selma to Montgomery, the state capital, where they would appeal directly to governor Wallace to stop police violence and call attention to their right to vote. When Governor Wallace refused to allow the march, Martin Luther. King went to Washington to speak with President Johnson, delaying the demonstration until March 8. However, the marchers didn’t want to wait and they began the march on Sunday. When the marchers reached the city line, they found a group of state troopers waiting for them. As the demonstrators crossed the bridge leading out of Selma the troopers immediately attacked the crowd of people who had bowed their h...