Laserfiche WebLink
<br />-4- <br /> <br />It was a momentous year for King. <br /> <br />That autumn he was awarded the <br /> <br />Nobel <br /> <br />Prize <br /> <br />for Peace, and in December Time magazine chose him as its <br /> <br />"Man of the Year." <br /> <br />The following year, at the insistence of King and <br /> <br />his <br /> <br />followers and with the prodding of President Lyndon B. <br /> <br />Johnson, <br /> <br />Congress passed the first civil rights bill since 1875. <br /> <br />It was, perhaps, the events of the preceding year as well as his <br /> <br />hopes for the future that moved King to write in 1964 his <br /> <br />second <br /> <br />book <br /> <br />Why <br /> <br />We <br /> <br />Can't <br /> <br />Wait. <br /> <br />Even as he explained why blacks could not wait, <br /> <br />roadblocks were clearly visible. <br /> <br />The march from Selma to Montgomery in <br /> <br />March 1965 to press for a voting rights bill was almost stalled as the <br /> <br />opposition gained strength. <br /> <br />By this time, moreover, some segments of <br /> <br />the civil rights movement began to lose confidence in non-violence as a <br /> <br />means of achieving equality. <br /> <br />Although the Voting Rights Act became law <br /> <br />in 1965, King's efforts the following year to fight discrimination in <br /> <br />Chicago were <br /> <br />less <br /> <br />than <br /> <br />successful. <br /> <br />The <br /> <br />old tactics of boycotting, <br /> <br />picketing, and demonstrating were unfruitful. <br /> <br />White backlash and more <br /> <br />subtle forms of discrimination immeasurably complicated the task. <br /> <br />Even as he sought a resoltuion of his dilemmas, King continued the <br /> <br />task of supporting those who attempted to better their condition. <br /> <br />In <br /> <br />the early spring of 1968 he went to Memphis to assist the sanitation <br /> <br />workers who were on strike. <br /> <br />It was there that he was assassinated on a <br /> <br />motel balcony on April 4, 1968. <br /> <br />News of his death set off several days <br /> <br />of rioting in some cities as millions in the Nation and around the <br /> <br />world mourned his death. <br /> <br />King was not only the most eloquent spokesman for racial justice <br /> <br />of his time; he was also the most successful. <br /> <br />He raised the discussion <br />