The most important person to have made a significant change in the
rights of Blacks was Martin Luther King. He had great courage and passion
to defeat segregation and racism that existed in the United States, and it
was his influence to all the Blacks to defy white supremacy and his belief
in nonviolence that lead to the success of the Civil Rights movement.
Martin Luther King was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia
where the city suffered most of the racial discrimination in the South,
and, in addition, the Ku Klux Klan had one of it's headquarters there. But
it was his father, Martin Luther King Sr. who played an important role in
shaping the personality of his son. M.L. Sr. helped to advocate the idea
that Blacks should vote. He was involved with the National Association for
the Advancement of Coloured People, an important Civil Rights group. These
efforts to improve the way of life for Blacks could be seen by his son.
In December 5, 1955 King began to be significant in the changing of
the Black man's way of life. The boycott of the Montgomery Bus was begun
when Rosa Parks refused to surrender her seat on a bus to a white man on
December 1st. Two Patrolmen took her away to the police station where she
was booked. He and 50 other ministered held a meeting and agreed to start a
boycott on December 5th, the day of Rosa Parks's hearing. This boycott
would probably be successful since 70% of the riders were black. The bus
company did not take them seriously, because if there was bad weather, they
would have to take the bus. The Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA)
was established to co-ordinate the boycott. They had a special agreement
with black cab companies, in which they were allowed to get a ride for a
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