To protest the public transportation system, activists established the Montgomery Improvement Association and named King as their leader. He had the advantage of being a young, educated man who had not yet established any enemies; he was well-liked, and it was believed that his professional standing and family connections would help him find another pastorate if the boycott failed.

Recognizing the need for a mass movement to capitalize on the successful Montgomery  action, King set about organizing the Southern Christian Leadership Conference  (SCLC), which gave him a base of operation throughout the South, as well as a national platform from which to speak.

King lectured in all parts of the country and discussed race-related issues with religious and civil rights leaders at home and abroad. In February 1959 he and his party were warmly received by India’s Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and others; as the result of a brief discussion with followers of Gandhi about the Gandhian concepts of peaceful noncompliance (satyagraha), King became increasingly convinced that nonviolent resistance was the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom.