Show v. v 30 I. S 'S n 41 A A L Leader ea d er Of Peace i By Chris Hill Martin Luther King is noted as one of fh the principle lead leaders rs of the American meri n Civil Rights Movement and d for advocating nonviolent protests Kings King's beliefs were based on the works of the Indian Indian- nationalist Mohandas K Gandi a philosophy of nonviolent protest In 1955 he organized the Montgomery Bus Blis Boycott to protest segregation in p public transportation During the y year r that followed he wa arrested his home was bombed and many threats were made against his life The boycott ended with an o order der from the Supreme Court outlawing all segregation on public tion It was the victory that won him much respect as a leader for his theory of nonviolent protest After the boycott King organized the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with him as president Kings King's nonviolence approach was was was' not always popular with the other groups groups' ideas but his respect won out o setting s the pace for for forth th the Civil Civil Rights Movement In 1963 he organized a huge civil rights campaign in Birmingham Atlanta This was followed by pushes for black voter registration desegregation and better education and housing in the South During these nonviolent campaigns King was thrown in jail many times The next year he was awarded the 6 r- r I 4 U 9 c c i t I t. i V C. C V r L. L t IT yas t f 1 4 rv i- i J OUti JU JOng Nobel Peace P ace Prize for his dedication to t the Civil Rights Movement v i i i J. J Later King be became ame concerned about war and the different forms that violence could take He believed that some of it was rooted in politics Finally he believed the war in Vietnam threatened all possibilities possibilities in solving problems locally In Chicago where King started his first Northern campaign he was openly opposed by local black Baptists Most blacks felt that King should should have l. l been powers powers in so solving ving their injustices ices at at home In 1967 King became involved ed with the antiwar movement and with national white leaders King was assassinated by James Earl Ray a white man on April 4 1968 delivering a speech from a balcony in Memphis Tennessee His birthday is now honored as as' as asa a national holiday |