MLK's speech and its effects on the local civil rights movementThe white man will not hand out integration on a silver platter. The story of civil rights is often told on a national level or by following famous people and direct action events such as the sit-in campaign and Rosa Parks' famous stand on a Montgomery bus. More recently, historians have focused their research on the local level, revealing events that are not major, but integral to the larger-scale history of civil rights in the United States. Although national power determined the “deliberate speed” of desegregation legislation, local communities determined the actual speed with which it would be implemented. Some communities pushed for immediate social change through the integration of public facilities, such as swimming pools and restaurants, while others gained prominence through the desegregation of educational institutions. The work of Dr. Martin Luther King is inseparable from the modern civil rights movement and to that end this article focuses on the events surrounding a speech he gave in Columbus, Georgia, in 1958 and how it influenced the movement for civil rights within the local community. King's speech and appearance are examples of local and national movements converging toward a common purpose. On the evening of July 1, 1958, Dr. Martin Luther Jr. gave a speech to an audience of more than a thousand people at the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge. in the Liberty neighborhood of Columbus. He was invited by D.P. Nesbitt, a member of Saint James AME Church and cousin of a senior deacon in King's home church in Montgomery. Although King had not yet reached his peak as the leading activist of his day, he was well known for his nonviolent theme and message. The success...... half of the document...... Center Digital Archive, accessed via, http://www.thekingcenter.org/archive/document/mlks-remarks-conference-president.McGill, Ralph, and Cal M. (Calvin McLeod) Logye. No Place to Hide: The South and Human Rights. Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press, 1984.Ridenour, Earnestine. and the Columbus College School of Education. Thomas H. Brewer and the Struggle for Civil Rights, 1990. “The Forgotten Speech,” Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, January 15, 2007, A1.Tuck, Stephen GN Beyond Atlanta: The Struggle for Racial Equality in Georgia, 1940-1980. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2001. United States. Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary, Civil Rights: Hearings before Subcommittee No. 5 on H.R. 300 [and others] Various laws affecting the civil rights of persons within the jurisdiction of the United States, US Government Printing Office, 1959, 188.