Civil rights include equal access to public accommodations and facilities and no discrimination in housing, education, and employment. For many years, Blacks were deprived of their civil rights. As a result, the early 1950's saw the organization of a strong civil rights movement that had as its goal the elimination of discrimination and the guarantee of equal rights and opportunities for all people.
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life was spent in pursuit of these unalienable rights for all people. He believed that to deny, limit, or withhold any person's rights was to deny these rights to all. Dr. King demonstrated his commitment to the attainment of civil rights in 1955. Historically, Blacks had been denied the right to equal access to public accommodations and facilities, including transportation. On December 1, 1955, Miss Rosa Parks, a Black seamstress, was jailed for refusing to yield a bus seat to a white male in accordance with the laws and customs of the state of Alabama. Dr. King and others realized that Miss Parks had been denied her civil right to sit anywhere on that bus, and that all Blacks who were expected to sit in the back of public buses in most Southern cities were being denied their civil rights as well. As a result of this incident, Dr. King led a bus boycott in Montgomery to protest discrimination against Black passengers. The boycott which lasted for 381 days, was successful. On December 20, 1956, Montgomery ended segregation on its buses.
In the next few years, using nonviolent techniques, Dr. King led many civil rights struggles in the South and a few in the North. Dr. King attracted many supporters in his fight for civil rights. At the same time he realized that to have a right also meant having a responsibility, obligation, or duty. This unit focuses on the civil rights and responsibilities of each citizen.