Which organization did Martin Luther King Jr. help found to coordinate nonviolent protest?

• A. SNCC
• B. SCLC
• C. NAACP
• D. CORE

Answer: (B)

The organization MLK helped found to coordinate nonviolent protest is the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Formed in 1957, it brought together churches across the South to plan and carry out disciplined, nonviolent actions—mass marches, boycotts, and voter registration drives—under centralized leadership. MLK served as a leading figure and helped shape its strategy of nonviolence rooted in Christian ethics, using the church as a nationwide network to mobilize participation.

Other groups existed with different origins and missions. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee emerged from student activism in 1960, focusing on student-led direct action and voter registration. CORE, founded in 1942, organized interracial direct action ideas, often in northern cities. The NAACP, established in 1909, pursued civil rights mainly through legal challenges in courts. MLK collaborated with these groups, but the one specifically created to coordinate nonviolent protest across the South is the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.