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What Is The Role That The King Played In The Civil Rights Movement

Decent Essays

The Civil Rights Movement is often remembered in American history as an era of unity and struggle. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks are often the figures that get the most recognition from this period. However, there are many leaders from the Civil Rights Movement that get overlooked. Even MLK toward the end of his life is glossed over for the “version” that gave the famous “I have a dream” speech. In truth, there was a fair amount of division between the Black Power Movement and the Integration Movement. Two famous leaders of these movements include Stokely Carmichael from SNCC and King. These leaders also embodied their respective movements’ ideologies. The Black Power Movement fought to empower black communities around the United States and sought to provide racial uplift to all African-Americans. The Integration Movement largely fought for civil and voting rights for African-Americans. Structural racism ties the two movements together and is important to note its role in the Civil Rights Movement. This paper will focus on MLK and Stokely Carmichael and will argue that the two movements, while both intertwined and different, fought for the same general goals and that the memory of the Civil Rights Movement should include all aspects of it. The memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. is revered today. King created the SCLC and led many protests for the rights of African-Americans. King represented the older generation of African-Americans at the time of the Civil Rights

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