Posted: December 9th, 2022

Reflection on Non Violence Civil Rights Actions

Martin Luther King preferred to achieve Civil Rights for African Americans through non-violent actions. He believed violence would only lead to more problems and conflicts as whites would want to find a way to get revenge for the problems caused by African Americans. Martin Luther King displays success through his non-violent action with the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The Montgomery Bus Boycott is a prime example of a non-violent boycott. Rosa Parks, a member of the NAACP, decides to not give up her seat to a white man when the bus runs out of seats.
After violating the bus rules, Parks was arrested. As a result, the Montgomery Bus Boycott began. African Americans across Montgomery, Alabama, stopped using bus services in order to damage the business financially. According to the Article “Martin Luther King Jr. , Remembers the Montgomery Boycott,” Martin Luther King believed if the protest was done “courageously, and yet with dignity,” the “walls of segregation [would] finally [be] battered by the forces of justice. By boycotting the bus, the company lost a tremendous amount of money because it lost many of its customers. Eventually, as a result, the bus company had to desegregate the buses and begin seating in a “first-come, first-served” basis. This economic win by Martin Luther King showed that violence is not always needed to solve problems. Even in the Deep South, the “Cradle of Confederacy” can be transformed into “Montgomery, the cradle of freedom and justice” through nonviolent actions.
Martin Luther King made an Economic change by sparking a boycott in Montgomery, Alabama. He began a change in the way Civil Rights were going to be achieved for African Americans. Instead of getting their equality through violence and possibly another civil war, African Americans damaged segregated businesses through boycotts making non-violent action more effective.

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