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Martin Luther King Jr. And The Civil Rights Movement

Decent Essays

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines courage as “the mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.” The countless people in the civil rights movement had to withstand bombings, attacks, and racial slurs. They had to persevere through their fear of police officers, the KKK, and anyone who held power over them. Many people lost their homes and jobs for participating in the protests. Martin Luther King Jr. received numerous death threats, and on one occasion his house was bombed. King had two choices; he could back down, or he could be courageous and continue fighting for civil rights. Obviously, King chose the latter. Martin Luther King Jr. was the front face of the civil rights movement. Many people don’t know, however, that he fought for equality and justice for many other people as well. M.L.K. Jr. fought for African Americans, the economically disadvantaged, and victims of injustice through peaceful protest. King was against war and openly spoke out against the Vietnam War. During the civil rights movement, King felt that if you couldn’t be nonviolent you had no place in the movement. Slavery was abolished in 1865. Many people felt this would end racism, but they were wrong. The Jim Crow laws came after the ending of legal slavery. The laws enforced segregation in the Southern United States. Segregation was especially bad in the bus system. The rule on buses was that if a white person needed a seat, the colored people had

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