action provoked violent responses from whites
             community that forced the federal government to address the issues of
             racial injustice and racial discrimination in the South. (Badger)
             King formed strategic alliances with whites in the North that greatly
             helped influencing public opinion in the United States. King's closest
             adviser at times was Stanley Levison, a Jewish activist and former member
             of the American Communist Party. King also developed strong ties with
             leading white Protestant ministers in the North sharing theological and
             In 1959, King visited India and improved his understanding of Satyagraha,
             Gandhi's principle of nonviolent persuasion.
             SCLC Protests
             In the early 1960s, King staged a series of protest campaigns from the
             platform of SCLC that gave national attention to his cause. He started from
             Albany, Georgia, where the SCLC joined local demonstrations against
             segregated restaurants, hotels, transit, and housing but the demonstrations
             created so much disorder in the city that the police had to arrest and send
             to prison hundreds of demonstrators without visible police violence.
             The SCLC joined a local protest in Birmingham, Alabama during the spring of
             1963. King and his SCLC staff escalated anti-segregation marches in
             Birmingham by encouraging teenagers and schoolchildren to join. Hundreds of
             singing children filled the streets of downtown Birmingham provoking
             violent response from police officers who used attack dogs and firefighters
             against the marchers. That created uproar in the newspapers and television
             broadcasts around the world. The demonstrations compelled white leaders to
             end some forms of segregation in Birmingham. (Badger)
             King and other black leaders organized a massive protest march in
             Washington, D.C. in 1963 for jobs and civil rights. King delivered the
             keynote address called "I Have a Dream" to an audience of more than 20...