Who do you think ended segregation? Well you maybe thinking of Abraham Lincoln or the amendments, but Martin Luther King Jr. played a big role in ending also. Even though Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t use governmental power to end segregation between whites and blacks, you should stand up in what you believe because if the “I have a Dream” speech really affected the blacks and whites then the efforts of Martin Luther King Jr. led to the end of segregation.

In 1953, a landmark case was heard by the Supreme Court of the United States . Brown v. The Board of Education led to the outlawing of separate but equal schools. One of the principle foundations of a segregated South began to not work. Two years later, the struggle to bring Jim Crow segregation to an end took another step when the Montgomery Bus boycotts were began by the actions on a woman which was Rosa Parks. The boycott lasted for 385 days, and it brought attention to every race, especially Martin Luther King, Jr…

During the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr. captured the attention of the nation with his philosophy and commitment to the method of nonviolent resistance. According to Dr. King, this was the only way that could end segregation. In 1948, Dr. King began to concentrate on discovering a solution to end social ills. He came to the conclusion that the while the power of love was a powerful force when applied to individual conflicts, it was not an effective solution that could resolve social problems. He believed the philosophy of "turn the other cheek" and "love your enemies" applied only to conflicts between individuals and not racial groups or nations but later changed his mind. Dr. King didn’t give up to find a perfect solution.

King’s strategy of civil disobedience and his philosophy of non-violence were shaped by four major influences. First, King was deeply influenced by Ghandi’s concept of true force. He was introduced to this concept while at Crozier. As he learned Ghandi’s teaching, he began to sense that there is in the natural order of things an eternal truth, and that once one has glimpsed that truth, one can never again be the same. For King the essence of this truth was non-violence. The second influence was the Sermon on the Mount. This served as the bedrock of King’s philosophy of non-violence. He believed that Christian love was valid not only for individual relationships, but social relationships as well. More importantly, Christian love could become the instrument for reforming the social order. The third influence on King was Reinhold Niebuhr’s idea of social evil. King studied Niebuhr in seminary and graduate school, and was impressed with his "Christian Realism." King, like Niebuhr, was not so naive to assume that love in simple terms would ever be sufficient to the reform social order. But this love could be expressed in real ways that would have a social and political impact. In the Montgomery Bus Boycott, for example, King had learned about the real impact of such measures on the finances of a community, and how that impact could be leveraged to bring out needed social reform. Fourth, King was shaped by Hegel’s dialectic. He learned from Hegel about the possibilities for growth through conflict and struggle.

The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom took place in Washington , D.C. , on August 28, 1963 . Attended by 250,000 people, (mostly blacks) it was the largest demonstration ever seen in the nation’s capital. This idea was opposed by many including President Kennedy because he feared that it might make the legislature vote against civil rights laws in reaction to a perceived threat. Once it became clear that the march would go on, however, he supported it. I Have a Dream speech remains one of the most famous speeches in American history. Dr King started with prepared remarks, saying he was there to "cash a check" for "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness," while warning fellow protesters not to "allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., delivered this speech on August 28, 1963 , on the steps of the Washington , D.C. , Lincoln Memorial during the march on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Dr. King has said “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi , a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

There was a white section and a black section of the bus. Rosa Parks, a hardworking woman, decided that she was too tired to give up her seat. She would have given it up to a child or an elderly person but she didn’t want to live, worked, and comfort the whites so she didn’t get up when she was told to. She was later arrested and fined for violating a city ordinance, but her lonely act of defiance began a movement that ended legal segregation in America , and made her an inspiration to freedom-loving people everywhere.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. received many awards including some Nobel peace prizes such as The Nobel Peace Prize, at age 35, the youngest man, second American, and the third black man to be so honored, 1964, Selected as one of the ten most outstanding personalities of the year by Time Magazine, 1957 and much more.

Dr. King was shot while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis , Tennessee on April 4, 1968 . Dr. King was in Memphis to help lead sanitation workers in a protest against low wages and intolerable working conditions. James Earl Ray was arrested in London , England on June 8, 1968 , and returned to Memphis , Tennessee on July 19, 1969 to stand trial for the assassination of Dr. King. On March 9, 1969 , before coming to trial, he entered a guilty plea and was sentenced to ninety-nine years in the Tennessee State Penitentiary.

In conclusion, Dr. King made a huge impact on segregation and the way of life between whites and blacks. Dr. King did exactly what his philosophy had said and has worked for the better.