activists formed the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) to.
boycott the transit system and chose King as their leader. He was chosen.
for several reasons; he was too new in town to have made any enemies, he.
was young as well as skilled, he was respected, and if the boycott should.
fail, his family and professional connections would enable him to find.
another pastorate somewhere else. Put on your marching shoes. Walk.
with me into a new dignity King said to the black citizens of Montgomery.
(Scott, p. 305). He was asking them to take the temporary inconvenience of.
walking to work, and they did. Although Kings house was dynamited in.
reaction to the boycotts success, the boycott resulted in the.
desegregation of buses in a little over a year. Throughout the ordeal, King.
persuaded his followers to remain nonviolent despite threats to their.
lives and property. The Montgomery experience taught blacks the power of.
organization and peaceful protesting. Because of Kings outstanding.
leadership of the black community during this period, he was awarded the.
Spingarn Medal, in 1957, an award presented annually to an outstanding.
black person by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored.
People.
In 1958, King wrote his first book, Stride Toward Freedom, and.
organized the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). This.
organization was formed to carry on civil rights activities in the South.
Being in the SCLC gave King an opportunity to speak to large groups on.
Civil Rights and motivate people of all colors to hold nonviolent.
demonstrations such as sit-ins and marches to protest all elements of.
segregation. Two years later, in 1960, King moved back to Atlanta to be.
co-paster with his father in the Ebenezer Baptist Church and became.
president of the SCLC. King, putting Gandhis techniques of nonviolent.
protest to the test, supported and participated in a sit-in demonstration.
organized by Atlanta college students.