Friday, August 5, 2011
Monday, August 1, 2011
“Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time.” (Hebrew Proverb) http://amplify.com/u/a1a50d
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
World Press on Bahrain
World Press Encyclopedia
Bahrain
Bahrain
Basic Data
| Official Country Name: | State of Bahrain |
| Region (Map name): | Middle East |
| Population: | 634,137 |
| Language(s): | Arabic, English, Farsi, Urdu |
| Literacy rate: | 85.2% |
Bahrain (Al Bahrayn ), its name meaning "two seas," is the principle island in an archipelago of some 36 islands that make up the Kingdom of Bahrain (Al Mamlakah al Bahrayn — previous to February 14, 2002 the conventional form was the State of Bahrain and the local long form was Dawlat al Bahrayn. The local shortform remains unchanged as al Bahrayn ). The country boasts connection with the ancient civilization of Dilmun existing 5,000 some years ago when it was also considered an island paradise by the Sumerians; a kind of Valhalla or Elysian Fields where the wise and brave enjoyed eternal life. Bahrain is situated in the Persian Gulf about 28 kilometers northwest of the Qatar Peninsula and 24 kilometers east of Saudi Arabia. Bahrain became accessible by automobile as of November 1986 when it established a causeway with Saudi Arabia. A causeway with Qatar is also expected in the near future having become a possibility as of March 2001 when the International Court of Justice (ICJ), finding in favor of Bahrain, resolved a longstanding ownership dispute concerning the Hawar islands.
Febuary 14, 2002 Bahrain adopted a new constitution changing its status from emirate to monarchy. This fulfilled a portion of a referendum drafted in late December 2000 that has met with overwhelming public support. Other aspects of the referendum to be implemented by 2004 include an elected bicameral parliament and an independent judiciary. The referendum continued a trend toward increasing respect for human rights, religious tolerance, and freedom of expression in Bahrain. In May of 2000 the Emir (Sheikh Hamad Bin-Isa Al-Khalifah) appointed women and non-Muslims to the Consultative Council for the first time— a move welcomed by much of the international community — and immediately preceding the December referendum the Emir ordered the release of all political prisoners. In February 2001 the 1974 State Security Law and the 1995 State Security Court were abolished. As well, Bahrain has licensed the Bahrain Society for Human Rights, has promised NGO's increasing favor in the eyes of the government, and has granted citizenship to Shi'ite Muslims of Iranian descent who have had numerous generations living in Bahrain. This is especially important due to the ruling Al-Khalifah family, in power since 1783 upon expelling the Persians, being part of the Sunni Bani Utbah tribe while the majority of the population is Shi'ite.
Bahrain, the smallest of the Persian Gulf states, still has a commendable set of communications media that far precedes its political independence gained in 1971. The press began during the 1930s and maintained independent status until 1957 when the government curtailed all independent press functions due to their support of 1950s riots and labor group strikes. Then, the Bahrani government issued a press law in 1965 that allowed for newspaper production to begin again according to unambiguous regulations that essentially disallowed for criticism of state interests in the broadest sense. However, even under these stringencies the press began to reemerge.
In 1967, Akhbar al Khaleej, Bahrain's first Arabic daily opened under the possession of Abdulla Mardi. Today there are four dailies with a fifth that has offices in Manama (the capital), but originates in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The two Arabic dailies are Akhbar al Khaleej or Gulf News (circ. 17,000) and Al-Ayam orThe Days (circ. 37,000). The two English dailies are the Bahrain Tribune (circ. 12,500) and the Gulf Daily News (circ. 50,000). The fifth daily originating in the UAE is the Khaleej Times (circ. 72, 565). There are also about eight weeklies that circulate and tend to have more pronounced political leanings than the dailies. Among the largest weeklies are Al-Adwhaa' or Lights (circ. 7,000),Al-Bahrain ath-Thaqafya and Huna al-Bahrain published by the Ministry of Information, Al-Mawakif (circ. 6,000), Oil and Gas News (circ. 5,000), and Sada al-Usbou' which circulates in various Gulf states (circ. 40,000).
There are 15 periodicals that circulate currently, many of which are business and tourism related. Some of these include Bahrain of the Month (monthly circ. 9,948), Discover Bahrain, Gulf Construction (monthly circ. 12,485), Gulf Panorama (monthly circ. 15,000), Al-Hayat at-Tijariyaor Commerce Review (monthly circ. 7,500), Al-Hidayah or Guidance (monthly circ. 5,000), Al-Musafir al-Arabi or Arab Traveller (bimonthly),Shipping and Transport News International (bimonthly circ. 5, 500), and Travel and Tourism News Middle East (montly circ. 6,333).
Bahrain's television and radio media are respectively run by an agency with state ties — previously state-owned, in 1993 ruled an independent corporation to be committee-run by the Emir — and a commercial agency: Bahrain Radio and Television Corporation (BRTC) and Radio Bahrain. The BRTC operates on five terrestrial TV Channels, broadcasting in Arabic and English. The main Arabic and English channel each accept advertising. BRTC's signals are strong enough to cover eastern Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE. For its radio programs the BRTC utilizes two 10-kilowatt transmitters and also broadcasts in Arabic and English. Radio Bahrain broadcasts in English and Arabic 24 hours a day. Its programming includes news, music, the arts, sports, and religion. There are two other factors which play into the traditional electronic media situation in Bahrain. First, English language TV and radio programs can be received by Bahrani's from Saudi Arabian Saudi Aramco and from the U.S. Air Force in Dharan. And, while satellite TV is officially banned, as of 1999 roughly 6 percent of the country's 230,000 homes had access. Statistically, people owning televisions in 2000 was 402 per 1,000 and owning radios was 545 per 1,000.
In 2000 there were an estimated 40,000 Bahraini internet subscribers representing nearly 6 percent of the population as compared with 2,000 in 1995. In 2000 there were approximately 138.7 personal computers per 1,000 people, while there had only been 50.3 in 1995. The government maintains an official Web site and has links leading to newspapers, periodicals, radio, and television stations also available on the internet. Routing of all traffic occurs on only seven secure servers.
Bahrain maintains positive relations with foreign agencies. Agence France-Presse (AFP), Associated Press (AP), Reuters, and Gulf News Agency all maintain offices in Manama. As well, contributing to strong ties with the foreign press and maintaining the governmental trend toward increasing press respect, the Bahrain Journalists Association was allowed and founded in 2000 and maintains a membership of 250 members.
Though the press and the country as a whole are experiencing relaxed government control there are a few issues that have caused concern as of late. First, in November 2001, Hafez El Sheikh Saleh, a journalist with the daily Akhbar al Khaleej was charged by the justice minister as betraying national unity and creating writings antithetical to the National Charter and the constitution. Nabil Yacub al-Hamer, the information minister, banned Saleh from traveling abroad or practicing journalism. Second, in November 2001, Bahrain prohibited the London published Arabic daily Azzaman from being printed in the country because it had been accused of criticizing the emir of Qatar therefore breaking the press and publications law. Third, at the end of March 2002 the Bahraini government blocked at least five Web sites said to have offensive content, lies and questionable information. Sites blocked included one run by Islamic fundamentalist Abdel Wahab Hussein, one by the Bahrain Freedom Movement — a political opposition group, and Al-Manama —an online newspaper. Finally, in May of 2002, Bahrain refused to let Qatari based Al-Jazeera TV cover municipal elections. Al-Hamer said Al-Jazeera was "trying to harm Bahrain" and was "infiltrated by Zionists." Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontiéresRSF) wrote that it was suggested that Al-Jazeera was refused due to earlier unauthorized coverage of Bahraini protests in Manama against Israeli incursions into the West Bank.
While the material presented here sounds a somber note, overall the future appears positive for Bahrain. King Al-Khalifah has worked extraordinarily hard to facilitate reform while maintaining political stability in the country. Bahraini Political trends, technological development, and public desire all suggest expanding frameworks for freedom of the press, freedom of expression, and inclusive citizenship.
Bahrain
Bahrainis
PRONUNCIATION: bah-RAIN-eez
LOCATION: Bahrain
POPULATION: 518,000 (1992 estimate)
LANGUAGE: Arabic (official); English; Farsi (Persian); Hindi; Urdu
RELIGION: Islam (Shi'ite, 70 percent; Sunni, 24 percent); Christianity; Hinduism; Judaism; Baha'iism
1 • INTRODUCTION
Because of its climate, Bahrain (meaning "two seas") has been the only safe port on the Persian Gulf throughout history. Thus this tiny island nation has played an important role in the Gulf region since civilization began there. Despite this, it has had a relatively peaceful history.
At different points in history, Persia (now Iran) has laid claim to Bahrain. The Portuguese took control in 1521 but were forced out by 1602. In 1782, the Arab al-Khalifa family took over the islands and has ruled them ever since. In 1820, Bahrain agreed to become a British-protected state. Britain would protect Bahrain's sovereignty in return for safe sailing up the Gulf for Britain's ships. This agreement lasted until Britain terminated it in 1968. (British soldiers still supervise Bahrain's army and security forces.)
On August 15, 1971, Bahrain proclaimed independence. The constitution of 1972 provided for a parliament, or National Assembly. Elections were held in 1973. Two years later, however, the king disbanded the Assembly, accusing some of its members of subversive activities.
Oil was discovered in 1931, giving Bahrain the first oil well, and then the first oil refinery, on the Arab side of the Persian Gulf. Although production has always been much smaller than that of other Arab states, oil has given Bahrain an important source of income.
2 • LOCATION
Bahrain is an archipelago (chain of islands) in the Persian Gulf. The six major islands are Bahrain (also known as as-Awal), Muharraq, Sitrah, Umm al-Nassan, Jidda (used as the Bahraini prison), and Nabi Salih. The twenty-seven minor islands include the Muhammadiyah and Hawar groups. The capital city, Manama, is located on the north coast of Bahrain island.
In spite of freshwater springs offshore, Bahrain is essentially a desert surrounded by water. In recorded history there has never been any rain during the months of June through September.
In 1992, the Bahraini population was estimated at about 518,000 people.
3 • LANGUAGE
The official language of Bahrain is Arabic. English is also spoken by many Bahrainis. Farsi (Persian) is spoken by the Iranians in Bahrain. The Indian population speaks Hindi, and the Pakistanis speak Urdu.
Throughout the world, Arabic dialects differ from one country to another. Even within Bahrain, city dwellers find the dialect of the rural population "uncultured." Arabic is written from right to left in a unique alphabet that has no distinction between capital and lower-case letters. It is not necessary for the letters to be written on a straight line, as English letters must be. Punctuation is also quite different from that of English.
"Hello" in Arabic is marhaba or ahlan, to which one replies, marhabtayn orahlayn. Other common greetings are as-salam alaykum (Peace be with you), with the reply of walaykum as-salam (and to you peace). Ma'assalama means "goodbye." "Thank you" is shukran, and "you're welcome" is afwan ; "yes" isna'am, and "no" is la'a. The numbers one to ten in Arabic are: wahad, itnin,talata, arba'a, khamsa, sitta, saba'a, tamania, tisa'a, and ashara.
Arabs have very long names, consisting of their first (given) name, their father's name, their paternal grandfather's name, and finally their family name (surname).
4 • FOLKLORE
A popular Bahraini legend explains the origin of the freshwater springs that bubble up offshore from beneath the sea. According to the story, they were caused by falling stars that knocked holes in the ground.
Pearls have also inspired much folklore. Bahraini parents like to tell their children that pearls are created when a mermaid's tears fall into an open oyster shell. In addition, certain pearls are believed to have supernatural powers. It is thought that they can help locate lost objects or win some-one's love.
5 • RELIGION
At least 94 percent of the Bahraini population is Muslim. About 70 percent are Shi'ite, and 24 percent are Sunni. The royal family of Bahrain and the majority of its wealthy merchant class are Sunn i s. This has created many conflicts between the majority Shi'ites and the ruling Sunn i s.
Islam is a simple, straightforward faith with clear rules for correct living. Muslims pray five times a day; give alms, or zakat, to the poor; and fast during the month of Ramadan. All prayers are said facing Mecca. Each Muslim is expected to make a pilgrimage there (called a hajj ) at least once in their lifetime.
First names usually indicate an Arab's religious affiliation. Muslims use names with Islamic religious significance, such as Muhammad and Fatima, whereas Christians often use Western names.
6 • MAJOR HOLIDAYS
Secular holidays include New Year's Day on January 1, and National Day on December 16. Because of Bahrain's large Muslim majority, Muslim holy days are treated as official holidays. Among the most important is Ramadan, which is celebrated by complete fasting from dawn until dusk each day for an entire month. Eid al-Fitr is a three-day festival at the end of Ramadan. Eid al-Adha is a three-day feast of sacrifice that marks the end of the hajj, a month-long pilgrimage to Mecca. (Families who can afford it slaughter a lamb and share the meat with poorer Muslims.) Friday is the Islamic day of rest. Most businesses and services are closed on this day. All government offices, private businesses, and schools are also closed during Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.
7 • RITES OF PASSAGE
Bahrainis observe the rites of passage common to all Islamic societies. Births, baby-namings, male circumcisions, and weddings are all occasions for celebration.
8 • RELATIONSHIPS
Arab hospitality reigns in Bahrain. As in other Muslim societies, food and drink are always taken with the right hand. The left hand is reserved for "unclean" uses such as personal hygiene.
Arabs are spirited talkers. They speak loudly and use many gestures, repeating themselves often and interrupting each other constantly. When socializing, Arabs touch each other more often and stand closer together than Westerners do. People of the same sex will often hold hands while talking, even if they barely know each other. Members of the opposite sex, however, even married couples, never touch in public.
It is considered rude to ask personal questions.
9 • LIVING CONDITIONS
Bahrain has one of the highest standards of living in the Arabian (or Persian) Gulf area.
Traditionally, Bahraini homes were made from palm fronds, or barasti. Modern homes are made of cement and lime brick. Rooms are built around an inner courtyard, and houses are built vertically (rather than horizontally, like ranch houses) to catch the breezes that blow higher in the air. "Wind towers" on the upper floors of many houses and other buildings catch these breezes and funnel the air down to the lower floors through air shafts.
Television sets, air conditioning, and refrigerators are common in modern Bahraini homes. The most prized furnishings in Bahraini households are handwoven rugs, either imported from Iran or locally crafted.
10 • FAMILY LIFE
The family is the center of life for Bahrainis. Children live with their parents until they are married, and sometimes after marriage as well. Polygyny (up to four wives at a time) is legal, but few men practice it. Divorce is fairly simple, for both men and women, but it rarely occurs.
Bahraini women are more publicly active than are women in most other Arab countries. Traditional women's roles are beginning to change. Fewer marriages are arranged by the couple's parents as more couples choose their own partners. The dowry, or "bride-price," paid by the groom to the bride's family, is disappearing. However, these changes are taking place mostly among the wealthier classes. They are the ones who can afford to provide their daughters with higher education, and hire domestic help so women can work outside the home. The lower and lower-middle classes of Bahrain remain much more traditional.
Following Islamic tradition, women do not take their husband's name when they marry but rather keep their father's family name
11 • CLOTHING
Bahraini women were never as strict as other Arabs about covering themselves up in public, and many no longer veil their faces at all. (Most do still wear some sort of head covering and long sleeves.) Bahraini men wear a thobe. This is a long outer robe reaching from neck to ankles. Made of white cotton, it keeps them cool in the hot sun. They also wear a ghutra, a large rectangular piece of material draped over the head. It is held in place with an agal, a thick, black woven band. This headscarf protects them from the sun as well as from sandstorms. (The scarf can quickly be drawn across the face.)
Western-style clothing is beginning to become more popular in the larger cities of Bahrain.
12 • FOOD
Meals are taken very seriously by Bahrainis. All talking is done for the hour or so before sitting down to eat; there is no conversation during dinner. After the meal, coffee is served, and then any guests leave. Coffee is also always served as a way of welcoming guests when they first arrive. It is most often drunk unsweetened and flavored with cardamom. Fresh vegetables, lamb, fish, chicken, and beef are common foods. (Pork is forbidden by Islam, as is alcohol.) Meals always include a dish made with basmati rice. Khoubz is the name of the local flatbread, and samouli is a white bread (like French bread) that is glazed with water or egg and then sprinkled with salt, sesame, or caraway seeds. One of the most popular dishes is ghouzi. A chicken stuffed with rice, nuts, onions, spices, and shelled hard-boiled eggs is placed inside a whole, slaughtered lamb. The lamb is then sewn up, trussed, and cooked on a spit.
Recipe
Date Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup rolled oats, plain or instant
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup dark brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup melted butter or margarine
- 2 eggs, well beaten
- 1 cup finely chopped pitted dates
- 1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts, peanuts, or pecans)
- ½ cup confectioner's sugar for garnish
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350°f. Grease 8-inch-square baking pan.
- Put oats, flour, baking powder, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon in large mixing bowl and mix well.
- Add butter or margarine, eggs, dates, and nuts, and mix well using clean hands.
- Put mixture into greased baking pan and bake in oven for about 35 minutes, until firm.
- Remove from oven and cut while still warm into 1½-inch squares. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar. Makes 16 date bars.
Adapted from Albyn, C. L., and L. S. Webb. The Multicultural Cookbook for Students. Phoenix, Ariz.: Oryx Press, 1993.
Bahrainis love desserts, and they love dates. The accompanying recipe combines both.
13 • EDUCATION
Bahrain has had the highest literacy rate in the Arab world for decades. More than 90 percent of Bahrainis are literate (able to read and write). Boys and girls are taught separately but receive a similar level of education. Primary education runs from age six to age eleven. Secondary education lasts from age twelve to age seventeen. The University of Bahrain graduated its first class in 1989.
14 • CULTURAL HERITAGE
Bahrain has a well-established artistic community. It includes some of the most respected writers in the Persian Gulf region. Ibrahim al-'Urayyid and Ahmad Muhammad al Khalifah write poetry about heroes and romance in the classical Arab style. Younger poets have developed a more Westernized style, writing about personal and political subjects. Qasim Haddad (1948–) is the best-known present-day Bahraini poet. Hamdah Khamis (1946–) is a journalist and poet.
Popular stringed instruments include the oud, which is related to the European lute, and the rebaba, which has only one string. A traditional Arab dance is theardha, or men's sword dance. Men carrying swords stand shoulder to shoulder. From among them a poet sings verses while drummers beat out a rhythm.
Islam forbids the depiction of the human form, so Bahraini art focuses on geometric and abstract shapes. Calligraphy (elaborate lettering) is a sacred art. The Koran (the Muslim holy book) serves as the primary subject matter. Muslim art finds its greatest expression in mosques.
15 • EMPLOYMENT
Since 1931, the oil and natural gas industry has been a major employer in Bahrain. Unfortunately, Bahrain's oil and natural gas reserves are expected to run out soon after the year 2010. Therefore, the government has begun to develop other industries, including plastics and aluminum.
Shipbuilding has long been a respected trade in Bahrain. Some of the shipbuilders of today can trace their lineage back through many generations, with skills passed down from father to son. Due to the desert climate, there is not much farming in Bahrain, but fishing is a fair-sized industry.
16 • SPORTS
Soccer is the national sport of Bahrain. Other popular modern sports include tennis, water sports, and dune-buggy racing. The ancient pastimes of horse racing and horse breeding are still greatly enjoyed. Falconry (hunting with falcons) is a sport for the rich. A well-trained falcon can cost up to $15,000.
17 • RECREATION
Camping is perhaps the favorite Bahraini family recreation. Men spend a great deal of time in coffeehouses, drinking tea and chatting.
18 • CRAFTS AND HOBBIES
Bahrain is known for its elaborate and uniquely designed coffee servers.
19 • SOCIAL PROBLEMS
Bahrain's rapidly increasing population has put a tremendous strain on the country's water supply. Freshwater sources are beginning to dry up, and desalination plants (to purify salt water) cannot keep up with demand. The increase in population has also driven up the cost of housing. Many Bahrainis are forced to live in overcrowded, sub-standard conditions.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Martin Luther King Jr
Martin Luther King Jr Facts, information, pictures
Civil rights leader
At a Glance…
Montgomery Bus Boycott
SCLC Formed
Birmingham Protest March
“I Have a Dream”
Voting and Economic Barriers
Poor People’s Campaign
The Man vs. the Myth
Sources
In the years since his assassination on April 4, 1968, as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, Martin Luther King, Jr., has evolved from a prominent civil rights leader into the symbol for the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. He is studied by schoolchildren of all backgrounds; his words are quoted by the powerless and the powerful, by anyone who has a dream to make her or his life better, to better the nation, or the world. Monuments have been dedicated in his honor and institutions such as the Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, which bears his name, have been established to carry on his work. In 1986, the U.S. Congress made King unique among twentieth-century Americans by designating his birthday a federal holiday.
King was born into a family of Baptist ministers. Martin Luther King, Sr., his father and namesake, was the pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, a position the elder King had inherited from his wife’s father, Adam Daniel Williams. As the son of a pastor growing up among the black middle class, the young King was afforded some opportunities for education and experience not available to children in poorer urban and rural areas. Yet despite his social standing, he was still subjected to the lessons of segregation because of his color. Although his family tradition was intertwined with the church and expectations were high that “M. L.” would follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, King first resisted the ministry as a vocation, finding it ill-suited to allow him to address the social problems he had experienced in the South. So, after completing high school early, he entered nearby Morehouse College in 1944 with thoughts of becoming a lawyer or doctor. Later, influenced by the teachings of George D. Kelsey, a religion professor, and Dr. Benjamin Mays, the college’s president, King came to understand the social and intellectual tradition of the ministry. By graduation in 1948, he had decided to accept it as his vocation.
In 1948 King entered the Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, where for the next three years he studied theology, philosophy, ethics, the Social Gospel of Walter Rauschenbusch, and the religious and social views of Reinhold Niebuhr. It was also during this time that King first learned of the nonviolent activism of Mohandas Gandhi. While at Crozer, King earned the
Original given name, Michael, changed to Martin; born January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, GA; assassinated April 4, 1968, in Memphis, TN; originally buried in South View Cemetery, Atlanta, reinterred at Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Atlanta; son of Martin Luther (a minister) and Alberta Christine (a teacher; maiden name, Williams) King; married Coretta Scott (a concert singer), June 18, 1953; children: Yolanda Denise, Martin Luther III, Dexter Scott, Bernice Albertine. Education: Morehouse College, B.A., 1948; Crozer Theological Seminary, S.D., 1951; Boston University, Ph.D., 1955, D.D., 1959; Chicago Theological Seminary, D.D., 1957; attended classes at University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University. Religion: Baptist.
Licensed to preach by Ebenezer Baptist Church deacons, 1947; ordained Baptist minister, 1948; Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, AL, pastor, 1954-60; president, Montgomery Improvement Association, 1965-66; Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Atlanta, founder, 1957, president and leader of civil rights campaigns, 1957-68; Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, co-pastor with father, 1960-68. Vice-president, National Sunday School and Baptist Teaching Union Congress of National Baptist Convention.
Awards: Recipient of numerous awards, including Spingarn Medal from the NAACP, 1957; Anisfield-Wolf Award, 1958, for Stride Toward Freedom; named Man of the Year, 1963; Nobel Peace Prize, 1964; Judaism and World Peace Award from Synagogue Council of America, 1965; Brotherhood Award, 1967, for Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?; Nehru Award for International Understanding, 1968; Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1977.
respect of his professors as well as his classmates. He was elected student-body president, was valedictorian of his class, won a prize as outstanding student, and earned a fellowship for graduate study. He was accepted for doctoral study at Yale, Boston University, and Edinburgh in Scotland. He chose to attend Boston University, where he studied systematic theology with Edgar Sheffield Brightman and L. Harold DeWolf. Again he impressed his professors with his passion for learning and his intellect. After completing his coursework, King began a dissertation in which he would compare the religious views of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman.
Emerging from Boston University, King had a number of avenues available to him—pursuing a career as a professor, returning to Atlanta to join his father at Ebenezer, or becoming the pastor of his own church, in the North or in the South. He decided to accept the pastorship at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in the Deep South of Montgomery, Alabama. He installed himself as full-time pastor in September of 1954. During his first year at Dexter, King finished his dissertation and worked to organize his new church, to activate the social and political awareness of his congregation, and to blend his academic learning with the emotional oratory of the Southern preacher. He had begun to settle into his role as preacher and new father when the events of December, 1955, thrust upon him the mantle of local civil rights leader.
On December 1, 1955, Montgomery seamstress Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to abide by one of Montgomery’s laws requiring segregated seating on city buses. In response to this incident, several groups within the city’s black community, long dissatisfied with the treatment of blacks on public transportation, came together to take action. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Women’s Political Council, the Baptist Ministers Conference, the city’s African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zionist ministers, and the community at large united to organize a boycott of the buses. After a successful first day of boycotting, the groups formed the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) to oversee the community action and to work with the city and busline officials to bring about fairer treatment of blacks within the existing laws. King was elected the MIA’s first president.
For 382 days, King and the black community maintained the boycott while white officials from the city and the busline resisted their modest demands: courtesy toward black riders, a first-come-first-serve approach to seating, and black drivers for some routes. During this period, the MIA convinced black-owned taxis to reduce their fares to enable boycotters to afford a means of transportation. Then, when the city blocked that measure, the group organized carpools. King was arrested, slandered, received hate mail and phone threats, and his house was bombed; but from the outset he preached nonviolence to the black boycotters. After Montgomery city officials refused to be moved to change by a number of related federal court decisions, the black community finally won more than it had asked for when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a federal court decision that ruled against segregation in Montgomery. On December 21, 1956, the integration of Montgomery city buses became mandatory.
To continue the momentum gained from the victory in Montgomery and to spread the movement across the South, King and other black leaders gathered in early 1957 to form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). As president of the SCLC, King spent the next few years consolidating the organization’s position as a social force in the region and establishing himself as its leader. King toured the country giving speeches, appearing at rallies, meeting with elected officials and candidates, and writing a book about the Montgomery experience. In 1958 he traveled to Ghana to join in its independence celebration; in 1959 he traveled to India to meet with Nehru and other associates of Gandhi. With demands on his time growing, King decided to resign from the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery and to accept his father’s offer to become co-pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. This arrangement afforded the younger King the flexibility to devote more time to SCLC activities.
From 1960 to 1962 King and the SCLC renewed their direct action against segregation at the voting booth, at schools, at lunch counters, and at bus stations. King also threw his organization’s support behind other groups fighting the same battles. There were black college students, who would later organize as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), staging sit-ins at segregated lunch counters in Nashville, Montgomery, and Atlanta. There were Freedom Rides initiated by the Council on Racial Equality (CORE) to challenge segregation in interstate bus transportation. These efforts contributed to the eventual desegregation of stores, buses and bus stations.
Yet, along with these successes, King and the Civil Rights Movement also encountered failures. In December of 1961 the SCLC joined members of the black community of Albany, Georgia, in their effort to end segregation in that city. In the end, the city government and law enforcement officials refused to make any substantial concessions and avoided resorting to violence. The black organizations involved, on the other hand, were unable to cooperate among themselves and unable to keep Albany’s blacks from turning to violence. With the failure in Albany, King’s leadership and philosophy of nonviolence as well as the SCLC’s planning came under criticism.
King was able to redeem himself in the spring of 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama, a city considered by many to be the most segregated in the country. King and the SCLC were invited by local black leaders to help organize a protest to end segregation in downtown stores, to achieve equal opportunity in employment, and to establish a biracial commission to promote further desegregation. In order to attract attention to their demands and to put pressure on local businesses, the protesters employed a march. Birmingham police moved against the first march with clubs and attack dogs and the state court issued an injunction barring further protests. When King and close associate Ralph Abernathy defied the court order, they were arrested and placed in solitary confinement. During his incarceration, criticism by local white clergymen of the movement and King’s actions prompted him to write his famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”
After being tried for contempt and found guilty, King was released on appeal. He rejoined the protesters. When the adult marchers began to lose their enthusiasm, high school students and younger children joined the march. Around 3,000 marchers were arrested, filling up the jails. Later marches were broken up by police using clubs and dogs and firemen with high-pressure hoses. The police brutality directed toward unarmed black men, women, and children outraged the nation and the John F. Kennedy administration. The growing tide of negative publicity soon convinced Birmingham’s white businessmen to seek an agreement with the protesters.
In the aftermath of the agreement, white extremists bombed King’s hotel and his brother’s home, igniting riots by blacks. However, black leaders, white businessmen, and federal troops sent in by the Kennedy administration were successful in their efforts to halt the violence; the agreement was given time to take hold.
With the success of Birmingham still fresh in the minds of blacks and whites in the South and North, King was poised to assert himself as a national and international leader. On August 28, 1963, approximately 250,000 blacks and whites marched on Washington, D.C., to raise the nation’s consciousness of civil rights and to encourage the passage of the Civil Rights Bill before Congress at that time. The march was a cooperative effort of several civil rights organization— including the Negro American Labor Council, the Urban League, the SCLC, NAACP, SNCC, and CORE— and the movement’s largest demonstration. King was the last speaker scheduled to address the crowd gathered in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial. He began a speech that referred to the lack of progress in securing black rights in the hundred years since Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation; by the time he finished, he had deviated from his prepared speech to offer one drawn from past sermons and the inspiration of the moment, his famous “I Have a Dream” address.
King’s stature as a leader of national and international prominence was confirmed in 1964. In January of that year he became the first black American to be named Time magazine’s “Man of the Year.” And, in December of that year he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the youngest person ever to win the award. The recognition that followed from these and other honors prompted journalists and politicians from around the world to seek King’s views on a wide range of world issues. Even so, King remained focused on the “twenty-two million Negroes of the United States of America engaged in a creative battle to end the long night of racial injustice,” as he stated in his Nobel acceptance speech. Earlier in 1964 he had attended the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the law that put the federal government firmly behind ending segregation and discrimination in public institutions. But blacks still faced barriers to voting throughout the South, and more subtle economic barriers in other regions.
In 1965 and 1966 King and the SCLC decided to take on these barriers. Civil rights groups stepped up their voter registration drives in the South and King took his strategy of nonviolent confrontation to Selma, Alabama. Marches in Selma and from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery brought publicity to the movement’s voting rights demands and gave momentum to congressional efforts to enact legislation to remedy the situation. In August, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed into law. It gave federal authorities the power to end literacy tests and poll taxes and to monitor all elections.
In 1966 King and the SCLC launched a campaign in Chicago, both to expand their influence into the North and to raise awareness of the issues of urban discrimination and poverty as manifested in housing, schooling, and unemployment. The SCLC influenced some changes and put some long-term operations in place such as Operation Breadbasket. However, the campaign was unable to score the kind of success that it had in Montgomery, Birmingham, and Selma. Discrimination was more subtle in this northern metropolis than in the segregated South; city officials, including Mayor Richard Daley, were less extreme and more politically astute than their southern counterparts in their response to confrontation; furthermore, Chicago’s black population was more divided, with some elements very much prone to violence.
In the last year of his life, King actively expanded the scope of his efforts to include not only civil rights issues but also human rights issues important to people the world over. As the war in Vietnam escalated in the second half of the 1960s, King grew dissatisfied with the situation. In 1967 he began to speak out consistently against the war. In speeches and rallies around the country, he called for a negotiated settlement. King was recruited by anti-war activists to head an independent ticket for the presidential election of 1968, a position he declined in order to keep his social and moral concerns free from political obligations.
Late in 1967 King directed his organization to begin laying the groundwork for what would be known as the Poor People’s Campaign. He wanted to recruit the poor from urban and rural areas—men and women of all races and backgrounds — and lead them in a campaign for economic rights. The recruited poor, trained in nonviolent direct action, would descend on Washington, D.C., and begin a three-month campaign of marches, rallies, sit-ins, and boycotts to pressure the Lyndon B. Johnson administration and leading businessmen to put a more human face on American capitalism.
In March of 1968, while touring the U.S. to raise support for this new march on Washington, King accepted an invitation to speak on behalf of sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, who were striking in an attempt to improve their poor working conditions. After a march organized by local leaders was postponed because of a heavy snowstorm, King joined the rescheduled event on March 28. Shortly after the march began, young gang members initiated violence, igniting a riot that ended with one dead, numerous injuries, and widespread property damage. King vowed to return to personally direct another demonstration in order to reestablish nonviolence in this local dispute.
Again in Memphis to plan this march, King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. The night before, addressing an audience of 500 at the Mason Temple in downtown Memphis, King had given his last speech, which included these words: “Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want want to do God’s will. And he’s allowed me to go up to the mountain, and I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land.”
Although widely regarded as one of the great social leaders of the twentieth century, ing has been without critics. He was closely scrutinized during his life by his colleagues in the SCLC, by other leaders in the Civil Rights Movement, by those he sought to change, and by state and federal officials affected by state and officials affected by those trying to get behind the symbol to the man and his place in American history.
In SCLC meetings, King often faced disagreements with his lieutenants and advisers over organization, tactics, and campaigns. He received little initial support for his idea to launch the Poor People’s Campaign. Within the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, King was not universally accepted as its leader and spokesman. Roy Wilkins, the NAACP, and its strategy of seeking change through legislation and court action were in constant competition with King, the SCLC, and its nonviolent direct confrontation for the support of blacks and white integrationists.
The SNCC criticized King for becoming a symbol and his SCLC adults for interfering with student-initiated grassroots movements. Later in the movement, the two groups grew farther apart when the SNCC and its leader, Stokely Carmichael, espoused the “black power” ideology of violence and black separatism as the only means to bring about change. Local civil rights organizations were often put off by King’s outsiders invading their cities, making headlines, then leaving, never to follow through. Furthermore, numerous civil rights leaders and social commentators severely faulted King for his stand against the war in Vietnam. Some felt he was abusing his prominence to step beyond his expertise; others feared that his linking of the civil rights and anti-war movements would weaken their cause.
King has also received criticism for more personal aspects of his life. During his career as a civil rights leader, his actions and character were repeatedly placed under a microscope through spying and wiretapping ordered by FBI Chief J. Edgar Hoover. Information about King’s advisers outside SCLC and their links to communism and homosexuality as well as King’s own extramarital relationships was gathered for use to discredit the leader and his organization. Most recently, scholars working on a collection of King’s papers confirmed November, 1990, press reports that significant parts of King’s Ph.D. dissertation had been lifted from the work of Jack Boozer, a fellow student, and the theologian Paul Tillich.
At a time when new generations of Americans more easily see the symbol of the Civil Rights Movement than the man, the gifted yet human activist, many who were close to King fear that his dream for America runs the risk of fading along with the memories of his life. In his biography of King, Bearing the Cross, David J. Garrow quoted one of King’s college classmates, educator Charles V. Willie: “By idolizing those whom we honor, we do a disservice both to them and to ourselves. By exalting the accomplishments of Martin Luther King, Jr., into a legendary tale that is annually told, we fail to recognize his humanity—his personal and public struggles that are similar to yours and mine. By idolizing those whom we honor, we fail to realize that we could go and do likewise.”
Abernathy, Ralph David, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down, Harper, 1989.
Garrow, David J., Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Morrow, 1986.
King, Coretta Scott, My Life With Martin Luther King, Jr., Holt, 1969.
King, Martin Luther, Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings of Martin Luther King, Jr., edited by James Melvin Washington, Harper, 1986.
Oates, Stephen B., Let the Trumpet Sound: The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr., Harper, 1982.
Playboy Interviews, Playboy Press, 1967.
—Bryan Ryan
At a Glance…
Montgomery Bus Boycott
SCLC Formed
Birmingham Protest March
“I Have a Dream”
Voting and Economic Barriers
Poor People’s Campaign
The Man vs. the Myth
Sources
In the years since his assassination on April 4, 1968, as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, Martin Luther King, Jr., has evolved from a prominent civil rights leader into the symbol for the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. He is studied by schoolchildren of all backgrounds; his words are quoted by the powerless and the powerful, by anyone who has a dream to make her or his life better, to better the nation, or the world. Monuments have been dedicated in his honor and institutions such as the Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, which bears his name, have been established to carry on his work. In 1986, the U.S. Congress made King unique among twentieth-century Americans by designating his birthday a federal holiday.
King was born into a family of Baptist ministers. Martin Luther King, Sr., his father and namesake, was the pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, a position the elder King had inherited from his wife’s father, Adam Daniel Williams. As the son of a pastor growing up among the black middle class, the young King was afforded some opportunities for education and experience not available to children in poorer urban and rural areas. Yet despite his social standing, he was still subjected to the lessons of segregation because of his color. Although his family tradition was intertwined with the church and expectations were high that “M. L.” would follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, King first resisted the ministry as a vocation, finding it ill-suited to allow him to address the social problems he had experienced in the South. So, after completing high school early, he entered nearby Morehouse College in 1944 with thoughts of becoming a lawyer or doctor. Later, influenced by the teachings of George D. Kelsey, a religion professor, and Dr. Benjamin Mays, the college’s president, King came to understand the social and intellectual tradition of the ministry. By graduation in 1948, he had decided to accept it as his vocation.
In 1948 King entered the Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, where for the next three years he studied theology, philosophy, ethics, the Social Gospel of Walter Rauschenbusch, and the religious and social views of Reinhold Niebuhr. It was also during this time that King first learned of the nonviolent activism of Mohandas Gandhi. While at Crozer, King earned the
Original given name, Michael, changed to Martin; born January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, GA; assassinated April 4, 1968, in Memphis, TN; originally buried in South View Cemetery, Atlanta, reinterred at Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Atlanta; son of Martin Luther (a minister) and Alberta Christine (a teacher; maiden name, Williams) King; married Coretta Scott (a concert singer), June 18, 1953; children: Yolanda Denise, Martin Luther III, Dexter Scott, Bernice Albertine. Education: Morehouse College, B.A., 1948; Crozer Theological Seminary, S.D., 1951; Boston University, Ph.D., 1955, D.D., 1959; Chicago Theological Seminary, D.D., 1957; attended classes at University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University. Religion: Baptist.
Licensed to preach by Ebenezer Baptist Church deacons, 1947; ordained Baptist minister, 1948; Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, AL, pastor, 1954-60; president, Montgomery Improvement Association, 1965-66; Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Atlanta, founder, 1957, president and leader of civil rights campaigns, 1957-68; Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, co-pastor with father, 1960-68. Vice-president, National Sunday School and Baptist Teaching Union Congress of National Baptist Convention.
Awards: Recipient of numerous awards, including Spingarn Medal from the NAACP, 1957; Anisfield-Wolf Award, 1958, for Stride Toward Freedom; named Man of the Year, 1963; Nobel Peace Prize, 1964; Judaism and World Peace Award from Synagogue Council of America, 1965; Brotherhood Award, 1967, for Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?; Nehru Award for International Understanding, 1968; Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1977.
respect of his professors as well as his classmates. He was elected student-body president, was valedictorian of his class, won a prize as outstanding student, and earned a fellowship for graduate study. He was accepted for doctoral study at Yale, Boston University, and Edinburgh in Scotland. He chose to attend Boston University, where he studied systematic theology with Edgar Sheffield Brightman and L. Harold DeWolf. Again he impressed his professors with his passion for learning and his intellect. After completing his coursework, King began a dissertation in which he would compare the religious views of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman.
Emerging from Boston University, King had a number of avenues available to him—pursuing a career as a professor, returning to Atlanta to join his father at Ebenezer, or becoming the pastor of his own church, in the North or in the South. He decided to accept the pastorship at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in the Deep South of Montgomery, Alabama. He installed himself as full-time pastor in September of 1954. During his first year at Dexter, King finished his dissertation and worked to organize his new church, to activate the social and political awareness of his congregation, and to blend his academic learning with the emotional oratory of the Southern preacher. He had begun to settle into his role as preacher and new father when the events of December, 1955, thrust upon him the mantle of local civil rights leader.
On December 1, 1955, Montgomery seamstress Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to abide by one of Montgomery’s laws requiring segregated seating on city buses. In response to this incident, several groups within the city’s black community, long dissatisfied with the treatment of blacks on public transportation, came together to take action. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Women’s Political Council, the Baptist Ministers Conference, the city’s African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zionist ministers, and the community at large united to organize a boycott of the buses. After a successful first day of boycotting, the groups formed the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) to oversee the community action and to work with the city and busline officials to bring about fairer treatment of blacks within the existing laws. King was elected the MIA’s first president.
For 382 days, King and the black community maintained the boycott while white officials from the city and the busline resisted their modest demands: courtesy toward black riders, a first-come-first-serve approach to seating, and black drivers for some routes. During this period, the MIA convinced black-owned taxis to reduce their fares to enable boycotters to afford a means of transportation. Then, when the city blocked that measure, the group organized carpools. King was arrested, slandered, received hate mail and phone threats, and his house was bombed; but from the outset he preached nonviolence to the black boycotters. After Montgomery city officials refused to be moved to change by a number of related federal court decisions, the black community finally won more than it had asked for when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a federal court decision that ruled against segregation in Montgomery. On December 21, 1956, the integration of Montgomery city buses became mandatory.
To continue the momentum gained from the victory in Montgomery and to spread the movement across the South, King and other black leaders gathered in early 1957 to form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). As president of the SCLC, King spent the next few years consolidating the organization’s position as a social force in the region and establishing himself as its leader. King toured the country giving speeches, appearing at rallies, meeting with elected officials and candidates, and writing a book about the Montgomery experience. In 1958 he traveled to Ghana to join in its independence celebration; in 1959 he traveled to India to meet with Nehru and other associates of Gandhi. With demands on his time growing, King decided to resign from the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery and to accept his father’s offer to become co-pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. This arrangement afforded the younger King the flexibility to devote more time to SCLC activities.
From 1960 to 1962 King and the SCLC renewed their direct action against segregation at the voting booth, at schools, at lunch counters, and at bus stations. King also threw his organization’s support behind other groups fighting the same battles. There were black college students, who would later organize as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), staging sit-ins at segregated lunch counters in Nashville, Montgomery, and Atlanta. There were Freedom Rides initiated by the Council on Racial Equality (CORE) to challenge segregation in interstate bus transportation. These efforts contributed to the eventual desegregation of stores, buses and bus stations.
Yet, along with these successes, King and the Civil Rights Movement also encountered failures. In December of 1961 the SCLC joined members of the black community of Albany, Georgia, in their effort to end segregation in that city. In the end, the city government and law enforcement officials refused to make any substantial concessions and avoided resorting to violence. The black organizations involved, on the other hand, were unable to cooperate among themselves and unable to keep Albany’s blacks from turning to violence. With the failure in Albany, King’s leadership and philosophy of nonviolence as well as the SCLC’s planning came under criticism.
King was able to redeem himself in the spring of 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama, a city considered by many to be the most segregated in the country. King and the SCLC were invited by local black leaders to help organize a protest to end segregation in downtown stores, to achieve equal opportunity in employment, and to establish a biracial commission to promote further desegregation. In order to attract attention to their demands and to put pressure on local businesses, the protesters employed a march. Birmingham police moved against the first march with clubs and attack dogs and the state court issued an injunction barring further protests. When King and close associate Ralph Abernathy defied the court order, they were arrested and placed in solitary confinement. During his incarceration, criticism by local white clergymen of the movement and King’s actions prompted him to write his famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”
After being tried for contempt and found guilty, King was released on appeal. He rejoined the protesters. When the adult marchers began to lose their enthusiasm, high school students and younger children joined the march. Around 3,000 marchers were arrested, filling up the jails. Later marches were broken up by police using clubs and dogs and firemen with high-pressure hoses. The police brutality directed toward unarmed black men, women, and children outraged the nation and the John F. Kennedy administration. The growing tide of negative publicity soon convinced Birmingham’s white businessmen to seek an agreement with the protesters.
In the aftermath of the agreement, white extremists bombed King’s hotel and his brother’s home, igniting riots by blacks. However, black leaders, white businessmen, and federal troops sent in by the Kennedy administration were successful in their efforts to halt the violence; the agreement was given time to take hold.
With the success of Birmingham still fresh in the minds of blacks and whites in the South and North, King was poised to assert himself as a national and international leader. On August 28, 1963, approximately 250,000 blacks and whites marched on Washington, D.C., to raise the nation’s consciousness of civil rights and to encourage the passage of the Civil Rights Bill before Congress at that time. The march was a cooperative effort of several civil rights organization— including the Negro American Labor Council, the Urban League, the SCLC, NAACP, SNCC, and CORE— and the movement’s largest demonstration. King was the last speaker scheduled to address the crowd gathered in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial. He began a speech that referred to the lack of progress in securing black rights in the hundred years since Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation; by the time he finished, he had deviated from his prepared speech to offer one drawn from past sermons and the inspiration of the moment, his famous “I Have a Dream” address.
King’s stature as a leader of national and international prominence was confirmed in 1964. In January of that year he became the first black American to be named Time magazine’s “Man of the Year.” And, in December of that year he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the youngest person ever to win the award. The recognition that followed from these and other honors prompted journalists and politicians from around the world to seek King’s views on a wide range of world issues. Even so, King remained focused on the “twenty-two million Negroes of the United States of America engaged in a creative battle to end the long night of racial injustice,” as he stated in his Nobel acceptance speech. Earlier in 1964 he had attended the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the law that put the federal government firmly behind ending segregation and discrimination in public institutions. But blacks still faced barriers to voting throughout the South, and more subtle economic barriers in other regions.
In 1965 and 1966 King and the SCLC decided to take on these barriers. Civil rights groups stepped up their voter registration drives in the South and King took his strategy of nonviolent confrontation to Selma, Alabama. Marches in Selma and from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery brought publicity to the movement’s voting rights demands and gave momentum to congressional efforts to enact legislation to remedy the situation. In August, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed into law. It gave federal authorities the power to end literacy tests and poll taxes and to monitor all elections.
In 1966 King and the SCLC launched a campaign in Chicago, both to expand their influence into the North and to raise awareness of the issues of urban discrimination and poverty as manifested in housing, schooling, and unemployment. The SCLC influenced some changes and put some long-term operations in place such as Operation Breadbasket. However, the campaign was unable to score the kind of success that it had in Montgomery, Birmingham, and Selma. Discrimination was more subtle in this northern metropolis than in the segregated South; city officials, including Mayor Richard Daley, were less extreme and more politically astute than their southern counterparts in their response to confrontation; furthermore, Chicago’s black population was more divided, with some elements very much prone to violence.
In the last year of his life, King actively expanded the scope of his efforts to include not only civil rights issues but also human rights issues important to people the world over. As the war in Vietnam escalated in the second half of the 1960s, King grew dissatisfied with the situation. In 1967 he began to speak out consistently against the war. In speeches and rallies around the country, he called for a negotiated settlement. King was recruited by anti-war activists to head an independent ticket for the presidential election of 1968, a position he declined in order to keep his social and moral concerns free from political obligations.
Late in 1967 King directed his organization to begin laying the groundwork for what would be known as the Poor People’s Campaign. He wanted to recruit the poor from urban and rural areas—men and women of all races and backgrounds — and lead them in a campaign for economic rights. The recruited poor, trained in nonviolent direct action, would descend on Washington, D.C., and begin a three-month campaign of marches, rallies, sit-ins, and boycotts to pressure the Lyndon B. Johnson administration and leading businessmen to put a more human face on American capitalism.
In March of 1968, while touring the U.S. to raise support for this new march on Washington, King accepted an invitation to speak on behalf of sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, who were striking in an attempt to improve their poor working conditions. After a march organized by local leaders was postponed because of a heavy snowstorm, King joined the rescheduled event on March 28. Shortly after the march began, young gang members initiated violence, igniting a riot that ended with one dead, numerous injuries, and widespread property damage. King vowed to return to personally direct another demonstration in order to reestablish nonviolence in this local dispute.
Again in Memphis to plan this march, King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. The night before, addressing an audience of 500 at the Mason Temple in downtown Memphis, King had given his last speech, which included these words: “Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want want to do God’s will. And he’s allowed me to go up to the mountain, and I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land.”
Although widely regarded as one of the great social leaders of the twentieth century, ing has been without critics. He was closely scrutinized during his life by his colleagues in the SCLC, by other leaders in the Civil Rights Movement, by those he sought to change, and by state and federal officials affected by state and officials affected by those trying to get behind the symbol to the man and his place in American history.
In SCLC meetings, King often faced disagreements with his lieutenants and advisers over organization, tactics, and campaigns. He received little initial support for his idea to launch the Poor People’s Campaign. Within the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, King was not universally accepted as its leader and spokesman. Roy Wilkins, the NAACP, and its strategy of seeking change through legislation and court action were in constant competition with King, the SCLC, and its nonviolent direct confrontation for the support of blacks and white integrationists.
The SNCC criticized King for becoming a symbol and his SCLC adults for interfering with student-initiated grassroots movements. Later in the movement, the two groups grew farther apart when the SNCC and its leader, Stokely Carmichael, espoused the “black power” ideology of violence and black separatism as the only means to bring about change. Local civil rights organizations were often put off by King’s outsiders invading their cities, making headlines, then leaving, never to follow through. Furthermore, numerous civil rights leaders and social commentators severely faulted King for his stand against the war in Vietnam. Some felt he was abusing his prominence to step beyond his expertise; others feared that his linking of the civil rights and anti-war movements would weaken their cause.
King has also received criticism for more personal aspects of his life. During his career as a civil rights leader, his actions and character were repeatedly placed under a microscope through spying and wiretapping ordered by FBI Chief J. Edgar Hoover. Information about King’s advisers outside SCLC and their links to communism and homosexuality as well as King’s own extramarital relationships was gathered for use to discredit the leader and his organization. Most recently, scholars working on a collection of King’s papers confirmed November, 1990, press reports that significant parts of King’s Ph.D. dissertation had been lifted from the work of Jack Boozer, a fellow student, and the theologian Paul Tillich.
At a time when new generations of Americans more easily see the symbol of the Civil Rights Movement than the man, the gifted yet human activist, many who were close to King fear that his dream for America runs the risk of fading along with the memories of his life. In his biography of King, Bearing the Cross, David J. Garrow quoted one of King’s college classmates, educator Charles V. Willie: “By idolizing those whom we honor, we do a disservice both to them and to ourselves. By exalting the accomplishments of Martin Luther King, Jr., into a legendary tale that is annually told, we fail to recognize his humanity—his personal and public struggles that are similar to yours and mine. By idolizing those whom we honor, we fail to realize that we could go and do likewise.”
Abernathy, Ralph David, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down, Harper, 1989.
Garrow, David J., Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Morrow, 1986.
King, Coretta Scott, My Life With Martin Luther King, Jr., Holt, 1969.
King, Martin Luther, Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings of Martin Luther King, Jr., edited by James Melvin Washington, Harper, 1986.
Oates, Stephen B., Let the Trumpet Sound: The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr., Harper, 1982.
Playboy Interviews, Playboy Press, 1967.
—Bryan Ryan
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