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The Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), was a civil rights group. Led by MLK, the MIA was responsible for the Montgomery bus boycotts, and is what brought MLK into the spotlight.
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/montgomery-improvement-association-mia -
Thanks to MLK and the MIA, the Supreme Court rules that the bus segregation laws in Montgomery and Alabama are unconstitutional.
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-resources/major-king-events-chronology-1929-1968 -
MLK and other black civil rights activists found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. This organization fought for desegregation in schools throughout the south, and played key roles in the March on Washington, among other events.
https://www.nps.gov/subjects/civilrights/sclc.htm -
MLK's first national address is given at the Lincoln Monument in Washington, D.C. In his speech, King sought to hold the government accountable as he ensures voting rights.
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/give-us-ballot-address-delivered-prayer-pilgrimage-freedom -
MLK among other civil rights leaders meet with president Eisenhower in Washington to discuss discrimination.
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/king-and-other-civil-rights-leaders-meet-president-eisenhower-hold-press-conference -
King was arrested for participating in a sit-in in an Atlanta department store lunch counter. He is sentenced to 6 months of hard labor before being helped set free by John F. Kennedy.
https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/oct/19 -
Martin Luther King Jr. meets with President Kennedy in a plea for him to issue a 2nd emancipation proclamation.
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-resources/major-king-events-chronology-1929-1968 -
Following the March on Washington, Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
Afterwards, King and other civil rights leaders meet with president Kennedy at the White House.
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-resources/major-king-events-chronology-1929-1968