King, Martin Luther (1929–1968)

Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King remains the most famous leader of the Civil Rights Movement, although scholars argue his pre‐eminence can be overstated. His religious background and charismatic oratory enabled him to articulate movement demands in ways that resonated with African American audiences and a broader liberal audience. He deployed nonviolence throughout his career, with particular effectiveness in Birmingham in 1963 and Selma in 1965. He was awarded the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize. Journalists contrasted his advocacy of racial integration and nonviolence to the views of Malcolm X in the early 1960s and this prefigured a wider media attempt to position King as hostile to the Black Power movement. Between 1966 and 1968, King refocused on economic justice and ending the Vietnam War, and lost popularity. His murder in April 1968 and the mass disturbances that followed cemented the view that the champion of peaceful change had been lost

Black Power · Champion · Charisma · Civil rights · Economic Justice · Martin luther king · Political science · Popularity · Power (physics · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Academic Freedom and Politics · American Political and Social Dynamics · History · Law · Philosophy · Race, History, and American Society · Religious studies

• Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Peter Ling, Peter J Ling•Martin Luther King, Jr•2015

  Add to list