Martin Luther King e il Movimento per i Diritti Civili Afroamericani

Abstract

The present dissertation investigates the African-Americans Civil Rights Movement, from its origin to its development in the 1950s and ‘60s. Dr. Martin Luther King is the key figure of the two decades analyzed in this survey: the non-violent theory inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, led King and his fellow activists into pursuing a new concept of social equality. The core of the non-violent concept is love and justice. Rosa Parks and her refusal to let a white man sitting on her spot on the bus in Montgomery, AL, gave the kick start to the boycott of buses and the consequent request of equality between White and Black people in public transport. After this core event, the Civil Right Movement gained public echo and became a central issue for US Government. In 1963, Dr King assembled thousands people in Washington DC: the famous I Have a Dream speech focused on the importance to stand up together and boost the non-violent opposition to the dis-equality in the American society. The aim is to promote fraternity, whereas the destruction of the white counterpart is highly rejected. After President J.F. Kennedy’s assassin, Lyndon D. Johnson issued the Civil Right Act, which gave birth to riots in the ghettoes and gave power to the anti civil rights equality parties, such as the KKK and those promoting the white supremacy. MLK moved to Chicago in order to delve into the core of the social discomforts, realizing that Blacks could not compete with the White counterpart in terms of education, health assistance and work opportunities. He had been criticized a lot, since his non-violence ideal of fight could not apply to the ghetto life-style. The dissertation continue till the murder of MLK and with my personal point of view.