martin luther king jr.
..., and they held them wherever blacks were denied entrance. Also, in May of 1961, the freedom bus movement began that brought about change throughout the South. Thirteen students, white and black, boarded a bus in Washington D.C. and headed south. Wherever the bus stopped, they got out to use “whites only” facilities. They were met with strong opposition wherever they stopped. The situation became so bad that Martin and a thousand people became prisoners at First Baptist Church. Soldiers had to use tear gas to break up the crowd. The more violence the police used the more people joined the movement. Finally the cause was won and laws changed to allow blacks the same privileges they had before been for “whites only”. Blacks could ride the same buses, sit where they wanted in restaurants, they could use the same bus and train station, and the public facilities were for all to use. In 1962 Martin and the SCLC were looking for full freedom, justice, and dignity for all blacks across the nation. On April 12, 1963, Dr. King, defying K-9 dogs and a writ of injuction of Eugene “Bull” Connor, led a march through downtown Birmingham. On May 2, nearly 1,000 marchers were arrested. The following day, Bull Connor decided to put an end to the problems. Connor ordered the police to use fire hoses, dogs, and clubs on the marchers. On May 7, 2,500 Negros left church and surged through downtown through police lines. Connor ordered that fire hoses be turned on. Armed with clubs, cops beat their way through the crowd. Like a bulldozer, an armored car swept through the marchers. In August of 1963, to mark the 100th anniversary of the freeing of the slaves, Martin Luther King Jr. planned a large, peaceful march to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D. C.. Some 250,000 Americans, one in every four of them white, came to the nation’s capital from every state. In this march King gave his most famous speech. He had a dream “that people will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” He also said that he dreamed of all God’s children would be able to join hands and live in freedom. After this peaceful protest in Washington, President Johnson made a strong plea to Congress to pass the civil rights bill. Perhaps its passage would heal some of the wounds in America’s civil rights war. In 1955, Martin gave 200 speeches urging the government to back civil rights. He journeyed across the U.S. to speak and preach to huge audiences. He traveled about 275,000 miles in 1963 and made more than 350 speeches. Between January 16 and March 29, he broke out in a whirlwind speaking tour. He made 28 speeches in 16 cities across the nation. On August 28, 1963, he astonished his Afro-American audience with his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the colored community must not lead to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. . . . Here King set forth values, which were basically independent of the rights guaranteed by the Constitution. These values centered on what might be called the public relations aspect of the struggle. Altogether, in an eleven-year period between 1957 and 1968, Martin traveled 6 million miles and spoke 2500 times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action. Martin Luther King Jr. was awarded 5 honorary degrees. In 1963 he was received the Man of the Year by Time magazine. He became a symbolic leader of all African Americans, and he was also called a “man of his people”. He was also given the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway on December 10, 1964. The Nobel ...