Martin Luther King was arguably the most influential civil rights activist in the United States during the twentieth century. He was a man who did more for the Africa-American race than anyone else in this nation's history. King had his own unique political and social theories regarding how his people should go about obtaining their freedoms and rights. Martin Luther King embodied the civil rights movement, he was the single greatest motivator behind this quest for equality. When King died, many of the dreams and the hopes of the civil rights movement passed along with him. Martin Luther symbolized the campaign for racial harmony and equality by non-violent means. King possessed a quality that every great theorist must have if he is to ever sell his ideas to the masses, the ability to inspire his people. No other black leader has ever been able to match King's ability to rally large numbers of people from both races to actively participate in the cause of civil rights. Above all, King preached nonviolence as the heart and soul of his theories and ideas. That theme runs through his career and legacy. He left a decisive mark on American political and social history and his ideas and theories are an extraordinary example of American political theory.

Martin Luther King's theories were molded and formed during his early studies by the works of two men, Walter Rauschenbusch and Mohandes Ghandi. Rauschenbusch called for an activist church that focused on remedying social injustices and Ghandi's work championed the resistance of oppression by nonviolent means, as in his native India. (p.500, "Encyclopedia of Civil Rights in America.") The blend of these two philosophies together became the basis for King's ideas and theories, an activist church that called for nonviolent resistance. This theory was a new and unique approach to attacking the problems of social injustice in the United States.

Martin Luther received his first chance to utilize his philosophies and bring his theory to life when he took his first pastoral job at a Baptist church in Montgomery, Alabama. After NAACP official Rosa Parks was jailed for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger, King accepted the post of president of the Montgomery Improvement Organization. (p.432, "The Sixties in America.") In his role as the primary spokesman of the boycott, King gradually forged a distinctive protest strategy that involved the mobilization of black churches, utilization of Gandhian methods of nonviolent protest, and skillful appeals for white support. (p.433 "The Sixties in America.") King's election to the Montgomery Improvement Organization marked the beginning of his career as a civil rights activist. King vowed that members of his association would not resort to the violence that civil rights opponents used as their chief weapon. He encouraged his followers to never degrade themselves by hating. (p.667 "Notable Black Men in America.")

During the months of the boycott, officials from the bus company who met with black leaders refused to compromise. Spurred by the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown .vs. Board of Education, which demolished the separate-but-equal principle by which southern politicians justified segregation, black leaders in Montgomery challenged the constitutionality of laws mandating segregation on buses. (P.57 "The Civil Rights Movement.") The Supreme Court finally ruled on the subject, and the ruling was a tremendous step in the right direction for King, his ideals, and the civil rights movement itself. The court ruled that segregation on Montgomery buses was unconstitutional and ordered it discontinued. (p.58 "The Civil Rights Movement.")

The success of the Montgomery boycott helped black people throughout the nation. King's theories were finally beginning to amass some believers within the black community. African Americans began to understand that there is a moral superiority in nonviolence and that suffering can become a badge of courage and conscience in times of racial strife. (p.200 "The Civil Rights Movement: An Eyewitness History.") The people began to realize that personal sacrifice, if consistent and sustained, will lead to desirable social outcomes. (p.200 "The Civil Rights Movement: An Eyewitness History.")

As president of the Montgomery Improvement Organization, King realized that the grassroots techniques that had led to the resolution of the Montgomery boycott were the keys to effecting social change and gaining racial equality. In 1957, Martin Luther King organized the SCLC, which he viewed as essential to gaining the visibility that the blossoming equal rights movement required. (p.205 "The Civil Rights Movement: An Eyewitness History.") The SCLC, composed largely of black ministers, aimed to teach blacks how to organize into effective protest groups and to show them how to coordinate the activities of their groups with those of other organizations. (p.205 "The Civil Rights Movement: An Eyewitness History.")

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