Civil Rights Movement Dbq Essay

Dr Martin Luther King Jr was responsible for the success of the Civil Rights Movement which occurred during the 1960’s to a small extent. Although King played a significant role in the movement of achieving desegregation, he wasn’t the fundamental cause of change in the United States of America. The movement didn’t only take its cue from King’s leadership, however, his leadership per se predominantly relied on a vast network of local leaders, hence he had little to zero direct involvement. Rather, organisations such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee directed vast majority of the voter registration which ultimately contributed to desegregation.

Black Americans were denied certain of their civil rights and were expected to use

The Civil Rights Movement was guided by local leaders who had occasionally called on King’s oratorical skills to galvanise protestors at mass meetings to prevent repercussions from occurring whilst refusing to depend on his presence. Thus, King was certainly not the only significant leader of the Civil Rights

King, however, was out of touch with younger African Americans, hence the movement hadn’t made expeditious progress. Accordingly, locally formed organisation, Student Nonviolent Coordination Committee, had viewed Kings philosophy of nonviolence as a political tactic as opposed to a way of life (Source E). Owing to this tactic, the SNCC directed much of the voter registration drives in the South, thus resulting in great involvement in the Freedom Rides. Freedom Rides aimed to desegregate interstate transport as well as bus terminals. By 1966, SNCC had popularised the term “black power” which characterised the new tactics and goals, demonstrating the influence the SNCC had on the CRM and ultimately became one of their most radical branches.

Segregation had also occurred amongst lunch counters, hence young black people protested. This protest was referred to as Sit-ins (Source D). Sit-ins had been initiated and sustained by students. Having successfully achieved desegregation without relying on adult leadership had allowed King hope that they would decide to become the student wing of his organisation, however, the students had zero interest in doing so. They had decided against this