Martin Luther Kingborn in Atlanta in 1929 and murdered in Memphis in 1968 from James Earl Ray (a affiliated with the American Cosa Nostra), was a Protestant pastor and the leader best known of the blacks of the United States of America. He fought against the racial segregation applied until the 1960s in a vast sector of the USA (his speech is very famous I have a dream), and was one of the most prominent leaders of civil rights movement. King, unlike other leaders, proposed the non-violent strugglebased on boycotts and peaceful demonstrations, like the famous one March on Washington 1963. Segregation was abolished between 1964 and 1965 but the African-American population continued to live for a long time (and in part still today) in more disadvantaged conditions than those of whites. King, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, continued his battles to guarantee effective equality for blacks until his death.
Racial segregation in the United States
In the southern United States (Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and other states in the area) racial segregation was in force until the 1960s: African American population she could not go to the same places as whites (including schools and public buildings) and was discriminated against in many ways. Furthermore, from a socioeconomic point of view, blacks belonged to the poorer sections of the population. Segregation had developed since the end of the nineteenth century, when slavery was abolished.
A vast campaign developed against segregation civil rights movementanimated not only by blacks, but also by white anti-racist citizens. The movement was made up of one plurality of associations and in the ’50s and ’60s he achieved very significant results. Martin Luther King was one of the most popular, if not the most popular, leaders of the movement.
Who was Martin Luther King
King was born in 1929 in Atlanta (Georgia) with the name Michael. His father was a Protestant pastor who decided to change his name and that of his son to Martin Luther in 1934, after being fascinated by the figure of Martin Luther. As a young man, King decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a pastor. After graduating and receiving a doctorate in theology, he was hired by one Montgomery church (capital of Alabama), one of the places where racism was most widespread. King soon became interested in black rights and joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peopleone of the most important anti-segregationist organizations.
The case of Rosa Parks and King’s rise as a leader of African Americans
Between 1955 and 1956 King was one of the promoters of the bus boycott, proclaimed by the black community of Montgomery after the famous Rosa Parks episodean African-American woman who refused to give up her seat to a white man and was therefore arrested. The black community boycotted the buses for over a year, until the Supreme Court ruled segregation on means of transport is illegal. King became one of the most prominent African American leaders and in 1957 he founded a new organization, the South Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)Congress of Southern Christian leaders, of which he remained president until his death.
King proposed a non-violent approachbased on peaceful protests, boycotts and strikes, on the model of the struggle led by Gandhi in India. Its battles were therefore different from those conducted by other African American organizations, which did not exclude violence.
The March on Washington and Bloody Sunday
King continued his campaigns, although he was under constant surveillance by the FBI and suffered several arrests. In 1963 the civil rights campaign reached a turning point. On May 3rd one demonstration in Birminghamin Alabama, was dispersed by the police with brutal methods. The episode sparked outrage across the country. On August 28, King and other leaders organized the March for jobs and freedomone of the most famous civil rights demonstrations in United States history. About 250,000 people participated, mostly African Americans. King was one of the speakers who spoke at the Lincoln Memorialwhere the march ended, and he delivered his best-known speech, known as “I have a dream”, “I have a dream”. He declared:
I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by what is in their person. I have a dream today.
Political victories and personal recognitions
The March on Washington accelerated the enactment of the Civil Rights Acta 1964 law that banned segregation in all public places, dealing a serious blow to racial legislation. In the same year King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his anti-racist battles.
Segregation, however, was not yet defeated. In many Southern states, the African-American population was denied, through some tricks, the right to vote. King, the SCLC and other associations organized various protests to demand the extension of suffrage. A demonstration on March 7, 1965, the march from Selma to Montgomerywas attacked by racist gangs and the Alabama State Police, causing widespread outrage. A few days later President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Actwhich extended the right to vote to all citizens.
The last battles and the assassination of Martin Luther King
The laws of 1964 and 1965 had put an end to legalized segregation, but had not guaranteed effective equality for African American citizens, who lived in social and economic conditions worse than those of whites (a situation which in many respects still persists today). After 1965 King, now very popular, took part in new marches and new campaigns.
In 1968 it was murdered in Memphis: looking out from a hotel balcony, he was shot with a sniper rifle. The culprit was arrested two months later: James Earl Rayan affiliate of the US Cosa Nostra. The reasons for the murder have never been fully clarified.
