Martin Luther King Assignment

MLK Assignment

1. – Even though slavery had ended over 100 years ago in the 1960s black people still lived in conditions that could have still been considered slavery. There 2 ½ times as many as jobless Negros as whites and their median income was half that of a white man. The children attended mostly black schools and black went to all-Negro hospitals. Basically blacks had things but they were separate from white people and they were not in the best conditions.

• Dred Scott decision was landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on U.S. labor law and constitutional law. It said that a negro, whose ancestors were imported into, and sold as slaves, whether enslaved or free, could not be an American citizen and therefore had no standing to sue in federal court
• 13, 14, and 15 amendments -Having separate things and schools, playgrounds etc., from whites than blacks. They used these amendments to end slavery and ensure equality.
• Jim Crow laws
• Separate but equal
• KKK

1. – Direct action- sit-ins and marches

• Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such as tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue.
• It came from tension in the mind by using nonviolent gadflies to help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood
• The Negros had many pent up resentments and latent frustration and he need to refuse them,  so let them march

1. –Preparation- They first began by assessing Albany and trying to learn from it errors. They had weekly mass meeting at various churches. Small groups mainted a serious of sit-ins at lunch counters in downtown department stores and drug stores. Arrest were made but no one expected these quiet beginning to turn to a large-scale operation.

-Demonstrations- The demonstrations included lunch counter sit-ins, marches on City Hall and boycotts in downtown merchants. During those peaceful demonstrations they endured violent attacks using high-pressure fire hoses and police dogs.

-Ended- The beginning if the end started, when the peace pact was signed. Then the Alabama Supreme Court ruled Eugene “Bull” Connor and his fellow commissioners out of office once and for all.  Local officials removed "White only" and "Black Only" signs from restrooms and drinking fountains in downtown Birmingham; desegregate lunch counters; deploy a "Negro job improvement plan"; release demonstrators from jail.

4.Birmingham was so important because it forced America to stop and see the horrible live that African American were living even after slavery had been abolished years ago. But the protest were done in a way that it left America no choice but to respond..