Highlights:

Buses are integrated after a year-long protest led by Dr. King.

Dr. King is inspired by Gandhi's teachings and considers this trip a pilgrimage.

Public facilities are integrated after protest marches.  Thousands of children participate along with adults, using Dr. King's non-violent methods.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

Not all civil rights leaders agree with Dr. King's non-violent policies. Some begin to advocate violence.

Stronger laws are enacted after the press publicizes segregationist violence against protesters in Birmingham.

Dr. King  is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and is named "Man of the Year" by Time Magazine.

Following this march, a strong voting rights bill was passed by Congress. 

Segregationists in the North react with great protest to the idea of integration.

April 4, 1968
Dr. King Assassinated:

While in Memphis, Tennessee,  supporting striking sanitation workers, Dr. King is killed.

1983
Dr. King Honored with National Holiday:

After the successful bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, Black Americans gained new hope and confidence.  Dr. King discusses this development in a 1957 television interview:

     
Parts 1, 2, and 3 of "Open Mind" television program interview.

The American public reacted with horror to the violence that greeted the civil rights demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama.  As a result, President Kennedy introduced a new Civil Rights Act in 1963 and President Johnson signed it into law in 1964:

     

            Violence in                   Kennedy and              Civil Rights Act
           Birmingham                    Civil Rights                 Becomes Law

After his famous successes in the Civil Rights movement, Dr. King was asked to talk about his non-violent methods.  Some emerging Black Civil Rights leaders, including Malcolm X at the time of this interview, opposed King's non-violent philosophy:

     

Dr. King reiterated his views on non-violence a year later in St. Augustine, Florida:

One of Dr. King's most famous speeches was "I Have a Dream," given at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, in 1963:

I Have a Dream

Voting rights initiatives had begun in the South, when Dr. King, despite threats and intimidation tactics, led a voting rights march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, Alabama:

How Long?  Not Long.

Bricks and bottles pelted demonstrators and cherry bombs exploded as they marched in support of open housing in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois:

  
   Dr. King in Chicago

Dr. King's opposition to the Vietnam War triggered opposition to his stand even within the civil rights movement, and lost him the support of President Johnson:

     
     Why I am                     On His Morals
                Opposed to the                                                     
 War in Vietnam                                      

Dr. King saw the war in Vietnam as a crime against the poor:

Dr. King at Local 1199

Dr. King believed that it is important to oppose injustice even when such opposition is contrary to prevailing norms:

Is It Maladjustment?

On the night before he died, Dr. King was called to give a speech at a mass meeting at Mason Temple, in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was helping lead demonstrations of striking AFSCME sanitation workers.  Since he was not feeling well he initially sent Rev. Ralph Abernathy in his stead, but he later relented when the people requested that he personally come and speak:

     
Three Excerpts from Dr. King's "Mountain Top" Speech

Shock, outrage, and sorrow followed Dr. King's murder in Memphis, Tennessee:

      
       1968 King                 Robert Kennedy                 Dr. King's      
   Assassination Report             Announces                      Funeral            
by Walter Cronkite           Dr. King's Death                                    

In 1963, after John F. Kennedy's assassination, Dr. King shared his prophetic thoughts on living under the threat of violence:

Dr. King Reacts to Kennedy's Assassination

Throughout his career, Dr. King successfully fought against discouragement and self-doubt, and he encouraged others to do so:

A Knock at Midnight

This page last updated on 4/4/2018