How significant was Martin Luther King Jr. in shaping the methods of protest in the African American civil rights movement between 1955-1968?

King’s non-violent ideology led to direct successes within the African American civil rights movement, positively shaping the methods of protest from 1955-1968. The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasting from December 1955- December 1956 was his first major success as president of the SCLC and was used to prove the benefits of non-violent protest. The impact it had on public and state opinion can be seen when contrasting newspaper articles regarding the events before and after the boycott. Initially considering the article in the Montgomery Advertiser published in December 1955, only 8 days after Rosa Parks was arrested, it highlights the rigidity in which the council treated the boycott; ‘On all but the “courtesy” proposal, Atty. Jack Crenshaw, counsel for the bus lines, demurred’ which emphasises that the council were not prepared to even compromise. This is further shown by the Attorney describing it as ‘impossible to accept the proposed seating arrangement’ , trying to convince the public in his statement that the council would not give in to King’s proposals. This ‘impossibility’ strikes quite differently to the New York Times article just over a year later stating ‘the Negroes and the whites for the first time sat where both chose to sit…the stiffness gradually disappeared’ documenting the first day in which white and black passengers rode together equally whilst demonstrating the lack of problems resulting from this. The positive way in which the integration of the buses is depicted in the New York Times article further exaggerates the success of the boycott describing how ‘despite alarms by city officials and members of the White Citizens Council during the last year that bus desegregation in Montgomery would bring riots and bloodshed; only one minor incident marred today’s changeover’ . This shows how through the success of the boycott beliefs have changed from those expressed in the Montgomery Advertiser’s article a year before. Both newspapers, while perhaps slightly left wing, were well established and through providing factual and balanced accounts of the progression of beliefs and events can be seen as reliable sources. Therefore through the change of opinions expressed in the media it is clear that King’s non-violent protest successfully impacted the civil rights movement through it leading to the integration of the Montgomery bus services after the year of boycotting.

After 1965 however, there was a steady rise in violent protest and criticism of his non-violent ideology hindering his overall impact. King himself acknowledged this saying ‘the year 1966 brought with it the first public challenge to the philosophy and strategy of nonviolence from within the ranks of the civil rights movement’ in his 1966 ‘Ebony’ article, highlighting not only that he was aware of the growth of non-violence but further saw it threatening the nonviolent movement as ‘It was the talk of fearful men, saying that they would not join the non-violent movement’ which highlights how the option of violent protest detracts from the efforts of non-violent. Nevertheless in his article King maintains, almost naively, that ‘Violence as a strategy for social change in America is non-existent’ , arguing that violent protest wasn’t a threat nor an immediate alternative. This was clearly not the case, particularly considering violent protest movements like the Watt riots in 1965, and while this source is significant in highlighting King’s continuing faith in non-violent protest, can be seen as credulously ignoring the rising violence within the civil rights movement in favour of advocating wholly his own methods. In turn, the rise of groups like ‘The Black Panthers’ which formed in 1966 and wider support within the black community for opposing leaders like Malcolm X, show that King did not completely shape the protest within the civil rights movement. Malcolm X heavily criticised King in a 1963 interview with Kenneth Clark calling him an ‘Uncle Tom’ and saying ‘The white man pays Reverend Martin Luther King…to teach the Negroes to be defenceless. That's what you mean by non-violent: be defenceless.’ As an influential civil rights leader, Malcolm X’s criticism of King’s methods would have had significant impact on the population’s belief in them, particularly within the African American community. While as an opposition leader Malcolm X was bound to criticise King, in a period when non-violent protest was becoming less stable this source is significant in showing how through the campaigns of other leaders the civil rights movement moved away from King’s ‘defenceless’ non-violent protest. Perhaps a key example of King’s fading impact can be seen from the employment of the ‘black power’ phrase by leaders like Stokely Carmichael of the SNCC, and in turn the repudiation of non-violence in favour of more militant ‘Black Power’ objectives by the SNCC and CORE. While King tried to manipulate the meaning of black power his ‘interpretation faded into obscurity’ in contrast to the use of the slogan for militant protest. Therefore through the rise of other leaders advocating methods of protest contrary to King’s non-violent ideology, his significance in shaping the methods of protest in the civil rights movement can be seen as limited.