USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Both “morally and practically” committed to nonviolence, King believed that “the Christian doctrine of love operating through the Gandhian method of nonviolence was one of the most potent weapons available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom” (King, Stride, 79; Papers 5:422).

Detailed explanation-2: -In 1963, King and the SCLC worked with NAACP and other civil rights groups to organize the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which attracted 250, 000 people to rally for the civil and economic rights of Black Americans in the nation’s capital. There, King delivered his majestic 17-minute “I Have a Dream” speech.

Detailed explanation-3: -King sought equality and human rights for African Americans, the economically disadvantaged and all victims of injustice through peaceful protest.

Detailed explanation-4: -King believed that the age-old tradition of hating one’s opponents was not only immoral, but bad strategy which perpetuated the cycle of revenge and retaliation. Only nonviolence, he believed, had the power to break the cycle of retributive violence and create lasting peace through reconciliation.

Detailed explanation-5: -While others were advocating for freedom by “any means necessary, ” including violence, Martin Luther King, Jr. used the power of words and acts of nonviolent resistance, such as protests, grassroots organizing, and civil disobedience to achieve seemingly-impossible goals.