Complexities of Dr. Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s impact on the civil rights movement was nothing short of monumental. To say anything less may be considered sacrilege in the history of the United States. King’s liberal and Christian upbringing, comfortable and educated childhood, and his theological education all played a large part in his contributions to civil rights in America.

Perhaps one of his most sustained acts was his ability to represent the plight of African American rights while simultaneously portraying a palatable character to White America. In addition to leading various civil disobedience campaigns, he served as the movement’s main “strategist, theorist, and symbol maker” while also becoming the “movement’s chief interpreter to white Americans.” Stewart Burns actually goes so far as to suggest King, early on, realized his destiny was to be both a black Moses, delivering his brothers from the injustice of Jim Crow, as well as a Christ-like figure, offering equal measures of love, compassion, and forgiveness. This of course caused him to be disliked and criticized amongst some of the more nationalist and militant black leaders of the time, but inversely, allowed many Americans to sympathize with the movement’s main goals.

Perhaps one of the best pieces of evidence showing King’s ideology is found in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” written in April of 1963. In it, King writes a response to other black civil rights leaders. He responds to the consensus that his current activities may be “unwise and untimely.” King rebukes this sentiment, outlining many important tenets of his belief structure, including the connection between all human beings, his non-violent civil disobedience strategies, his extremist love, and most import...

... middle of paper ...

...Chicago, Black Southerners, and the Great Migration. University Of Chicago Press, 1991.

Howard-Pitney, David. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and the Civil Rights Struggle of the 1950s and 1960s: A Brief History with Documents. First ed. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2004.

Kennedy, Randall. “Martin Luther King’s Constitution: A Legal History of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.” Yale Law Journal 98 (1989 1988): 999.

King, Jr., Dr. Martin Luther. “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” Martin Luther King Jr. Online, April 16, 1963. http://www.mlkonline.net/jail.html.

Mikelson, Thomas J. S. “Cosmic Companionship: The Place of God in the Moral Reasoning of Martin Luther King, Jr.” The Journal of Religious Ethics 18, no. 2 (October 1, 1990): 1-14.

Sturm, Douglas. “Martin Luther King, Jr., as Democratic Socialist.” The Journal of Religious Ethics 18, no. 2 (October 1, 1990): 79-105.