MARTIN LUTHER KING'S NON-VIOLENT PROTESTING TACTICS
First of all, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., assassinated on
April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee, drew most of his inspiration for non-
violent protests from the life of Mahatmas Ghandi of India who like King
was also assassinated and from the teachings of Jesus Christ as found in
the New Testament. As a non-violent protester against American segregation
and racism, King consistently advocated and practiced the doctrine of non-
violence in the pursuit of his objectives and was deeply committed
philosophically to the ideals of non-violent protest. Two examples related
to King's non-violent protest tactics were the Montgomery, Alabama, bus
boycott in 1955 and the non-violent protests in Birmingham, Alabama,
related to ending this city's civil policies on segregation and economic
discrimination. Clearly, King's non-violent methods did in the end help to
achieve his overall goals to end segregation and racial discrimination in
the American South which obviously saved thousands of people's lives which
otherwise would have ended up killed by either the military or by the
police. Of course, there were some African-Americans like Malcolm X, an
outspoken champion of black activism, who felt that King's non-violent
ideals would never work and thus supported the use of violence or at least
the threat of violence in order to win the concessions they demanded.
Ironically, Dr. King was assassinated in 1968 and in the weeks and months
that followed his death, the American Civil Rights movement seemed to
flounder in futility while the militants like Malcolm X gained new
influence and new followers among younger African-Americans living in
urban/city ghettos and on college campuses across the country. But King's
legacy lived on and by the end of the 1960's, segregation had been outlawed
and all African-Americans achieved equal rights related to employment,
voting and the ability to run for public office at the state and federal
levels.
