The Pride and Power of Non-violence

By Margaret FlowersMargaret Flowers - Posted on 26 August 2011

by Ranger Nathan King

In early May, 1963, Birmingham, Alabama firefighters turned high pressure fire hoses on blacks; police used dogs, tear gas, and clubs to harass civilians; and thousands –

including children – were arrested, filling the jails to capacity. The images and film from the

event shocked the nation. Why did such a scandalous event occur? This episode of violence

was not by chance. Instead, it was a highly successful non-violent protest: a group of peaceful

citizens invoking their right to freedom of speech while seeking to bring an end to segregationist

laws. This was the genius of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s brand of “creative protest” that sought to bring an end to centuries of inequality.

Following the end of the Civil War in 1865, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the

Constitution of the United States of America granted freedom, citizenship, and equal voting

rights to African-Americans, millions of whom were slaves at the outset of the war. However,

after the Plessy V. Ferguson ruling in 1896, which established the “separate but equal” doctrine,

discrimination against blacks and systematic disenfranchisement of black voters persisted in the South. Blacks and whites may have had equal opportunities to use public restrooms or eat in restaurants in the eyes of the law, but the quality, comfort, convenience, and dignity

of the separate facilities were clearly unequal

In Kansas, once the bulwark of abolitionism and liberalism, state law allowed for segregated

schools in the larger cities. In 1951, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) spearheaded an effort to desegregate schools through the courts. In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled on Brown V. Board Education, determining that separate facilities are inherently unequal. This ruling opened the door for desegregation efforts throughout the country, and other communities saw similar court battles.

Although Martin Luther King, Jr. saw victories such as Brown V. Board of Education as

positive steps, he believed this method of attacking injustice