Early Life In 1954, Martin Luther King becomes a Pastor at the Baptist church in Montgomery Alabama. He also heads a committee to promote African American rights and to look into arrests.

Montgomery Bus Boycott March 1955 – Claudette Colvin December 1955 – Rosa Parks refuses to take a seat at the back of the bus. Results in arrest.

Montgomery Martin Luther King organizes a boycott which lasts a year. Takes the Parks case to Supreme Court where it is ruled that Alabama law is unconstitutional.

He was arrested and chose to spend two weeks in Jail. This brought national awareness to the Boycott. “I was proud of my crime. It was the crime of joining my people in a nonviolent protest against injustice.”

In the end, African Americans won the right to sit anywhere on public transit. Boycott ended on Dec 20, Martin Luther King jr becomes a national hero.

Sit ins Restaurants were also segregated Many would not serve African Americans. The sit in movement was led by students that would occupy resturants and refuse to leave. This led to many arrests

Birmingham Highly segregated city African Americans could not have jobs that involved contact with whites. To protest, a boycott of those stores was enacted and sit ins were used to disrupt business.

Birmingham Use of Children in protest Eugene “the bull” Connor orders use of fire hoses and dogs to quell protesters including children. "The Civil Rights movement should thank God for Bull Connor. He's helped it as much as Abraham Lincoln." JFK

To gather more attention for the movement, Martin Luther King led a March on Good Friday and was also arrested. After pressure from the media and the president, King was released. May 8 th, business removed segregation policies and Jim Crow laws signs.

March on Washington On August 28 th 1963, 250,000 protestors converged on Washington D.C They wanted to ensure that Kennedy's new civil rights act was passed They also wanted equality in law and employment. Martin Luther King delivered the “I have a Dream Speech.”