Why Was Martin Luther King Important

How important was Martin Luther King in bringing about civil rights for black people in the USA? (50)

Martin Luther King was instrumental and pivotal; in the civil rights for black people, and arguably the most important person.
King was critical for the civil rights movement; he was massively proactive. This is evident from King’s first significant role, the 1955 Bus boycott - King put forward his method of non-violent protest as for correcting the inequalities of the American Society. Already from this first act we see King’s ‘pure’ intentions, his ideal of non-violent protest which he would continue to use throughout his civil rights campaign, King persuaded local people to boycott, without them it would be unsuccessful. The value of this one event is key to understanding the importance of King; this one event set the tone for the rest of
Media involved pictures, posters in the news, papers..etc . Media was important as it publicised the cause, pictures of racial hate and abuse were useful in conveying Racism as true and emotions such as sympathy and guilt. The picture of ‘whites pour sugar and ketchup over the heads of sit-in protestors at the lunch counter in Jackson.’ The source is taken to show racism to black people and the reaction to peaceful protest and the feeling of sympathy. This Source also shows that black people aren’t violent or reinforcing negative stereotypes. The source is important in understanding that ordinary people were also important in achieving civil rights. This photo links to King as he supported these events and got support for them. However, the limitation of this source is that the photo was biased taken when the reaction happened, but we know that white people did react violently to these people and that the Black people did nothing. Media also links to the pictures of ‘Black power and