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Martin Luther King became a pivotal figure in the civil rights movement. His first engagement cam in 1955 with the Rosa Parks incident and the following Bus boycott that last through 1956. He was arrested numerous times during this boycott and became a devoted promoter of nonviolent protest. This was probably the time where his strong commitment to nonviolent action got engraved into his beliefs that he never deviated from it for the rest of his life. His role in this bus boycott lead to his appointment as president to the organization that later on became known as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He was their president from 1957 to 1968. He was also vice president of the national Sunday school and Baptist Teaching Union Congress of the National Baptist Convention. He was a member of several national and local boards of directors and served on the boards of trustees of several institutions and agencies. Dr. King was elected to membership in several learned societies including the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
King continued his non violent fight to bring more justice among the black and white communities and to eradicate racism. In 1963 he held his famous speech, which came to be known the "I have a dream" speech in front of 250,000 demonstrators that had marched onto Washington. One more time the eyes of the whole world were resting upon him.
During the 1960's he also tried to bring the black movement and his fight for more justice to the northern part of the US. Even so there was no racial segregation and open racism, the North still did not offer the same opportunities for black people as it did for white people. The segregation was not by law but by social dividers. He had less success to organize protests and movement here than in the south, partially because the segregation was not government mandated. However, he worked hard to make changes there as well.
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