Which organization did Martin Luther King Jr. help found that used nonviolent means to advance civil rights?

• A. NAACP
• B. Southern Christian Leadership Conference
• C. Congress of Racial Equality
• D. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

Answer: (B)

The question asks you to identify the organization Martin Luther King Jr. helped start that used nonviolent methods to push civil rights. He and other Black ministers founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957 to organize nonviolent, church-based action across the South. This group built on the momentum from the Montgomery Bus Boycott by coordinating peaceful protests, voter registration efforts, and strategic campaigns led from—literally—church communities, which gave activists a ready-made network and moral authority.

That’s why this option fits best. The other groups played important roles in the fight for equality, but they weren’t founded by King as a centralized, church-oriented movement for nonviolent action. The NAACP is a long-standing civil rights organization with roots earlier in the 20th century, not spearheaded by King as its founder. CORE began earlier and focused on nonviolent direct action, but was founded by James Farmer. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee emerged from student activism and was led by figures other than King.