What do you think?
Rate this book
I have a dream. L'autobiografia del profeta dell'uguaglianza
Celebrated Stanford University historian Clayborne Carson is the director and editor of the Martin Luther King Papers Project; with thousands of King's essays, notes, letters, speeches, and sermons at his disposal, Carson has organized King's writings into a posthumous autobiography. In an early student essay, King prophetically penned: "We cannot have an enlightened democracy with one great group living in ignorance.... We cannot have a nation orderly and sound with one group so ground down and thwarted that it is almost forced into unsocial attitudes and crime." Such statements, made throughout King's career, are skillfully woven together into a coherent narrative of the quest for social justice. The autobiography delves, for example, into the philosophical training King received at Morehouse College, Crozer Theological Seminary, and Boston University, where he consolidated the teachings of Afro-American theologian Benjamin Mays with the philosophies of Locke, Rousseau, Gandhi, and Thoreau. Through King's voice, the reader intimately shares in his trials and triumphs, including the Montgomery Boycott, the 1963 "I Have a Dream Speech," the Selma March, and the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize. In one of his last speeches, King reminded his audience that "in the final analysis, God does not judge us by the separate incidents or the separate mistakes that we make, but by the total bent of our lives." Carson's skillful editing has created an original argument in King's favor that draws directly from the source, illuminating the circumstances of King's life without deifying his person. --Eugene Holley Jr.
413 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1986
About the author
Martin Luther King Jr.
358 books3,213 followersMartin Luther King, Jr. was one of the pivotal leaders of the American civil rights movement. King was a Baptist minister, one of the few leadership roles available to black men at the time. He became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–1956) and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (1957), serving as its first president. His efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. Here he raised public consciousness of the civil rights movement and established himself as one of the greatest orators in U.S. history. In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means.
King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a national holiday in the United States in 1986. In 2004, King was posthumously awarded a Congressional Gold Medal.
King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a national holiday in the United States in 1986. In 2004, King was posthumously awarded a Congressional Gold Medal.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 941 reviews
January 20, 2014
“To deprive man of freedom is to relegate him to the status of a thing, rather than elevate him to the status of a person.”- Dr. King.
Lincoln emancipated the slaves but more than 100 years later, the descendants of the slaves were still living under segregation and fear. They weren’t free in the true sense of the word. There were separate facilities for Blacks and Whites; separate drinking fountains, restaurants, schools, churches etc, there was also widespread poverty. There were men and women who could not take this lying down. Probably one of the most famous was Dr. King himself. Using the philosophy of non-violence, which he adopted from Mahatma Gandhi, he and many others began the struggle for civil rights.
Dr. King’s speeches and letters, which were printed all through the book, were phenomenal. The only one I’d heard/read thus far was his famous “I Have a Dream” speech but I must say his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was one of the best things I’ve ever read in my life.
“Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all it ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light injustice must be exposed with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion, before it can be cured.”
— Martin Luther King, Jr. - Letter from Birmingham Jail
The section depicting the Montgomery Bus Boycott was one of my favourite parts of the book. It started with Ms. Rosa Park’s refusal to move to the back of the bus, and set off a chain of events that were felt worldwide. It showed that if we all work in unity, great things can happen. Can we have a movement these days that has a similar impact?
What I liked about Dr. King’s character, apart from his humility and his desire for freedom for all, was his willingness to learn from people who may have radically different ideas from his own. Also, despite the fact that he was fighting for “Negro rights”, he did not attempt to paint White people as evil but acknowledged the ones who were allies for not being afraid to take a stand for civil rights.
“Of course there is one phase of liberalism that I hope to cherish always: its devotion to the search for truth, its insistence on an open and analytical mind, its refusal to abandon the best light of reason.”
Throughout the book I got the feeling that Dr. King knew he was going to be assassinated. I may be wrong of course but that’s definitely what it felt like.
When the end did come I couldn’t be more in awe of a man who felt so strongly for what he believed him that he sacrificed himself for the cause. Dr. King is a truly inspirational figure and I believe that this should be required reading for everyone.
Lincoln emancipated the slaves but more than 100 years later, the descendants of the slaves were still living under segregation and fear. They weren’t free in the true sense of the word. There were separate facilities for Blacks and Whites; separate drinking fountains, restaurants, schools, churches etc, there was also widespread poverty. There were men and women who could not take this lying down. Probably one of the most famous was Dr. King himself. Using the philosophy of non-violence, which he adopted from Mahatma Gandhi, he and many others began the struggle for civil rights.
Dr. King’s speeches and letters, which were printed all through the book, were phenomenal. The only one I’d heard/read thus far was his famous “I Have a Dream” speech but I must say his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was one of the best things I’ve ever read in my life.
“Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all it ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light injustice must be exposed with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion, before it can be cured.”
— Martin Luther King, Jr. - Letter from Birmingham Jail
The section depicting the Montgomery Bus Boycott was one of my favourite parts of the book. It started with Ms. Rosa Park’s refusal to move to the back of the bus, and set off a chain of events that were felt worldwide. It showed that if we all work in unity, great things can happen. Can we have a movement these days that has a similar impact?
What I liked about Dr. King’s character, apart from his humility and his desire for freedom for all, was his willingness to learn from people who may have radically different ideas from his own. Also, despite the fact that he was fighting for “Negro rights”, he did not attempt to paint White people as evil but acknowledged the ones who were allies for not being afraid to take a stand for civil rights.
“Of course there is one phase of liberalism that I hope to cherish always: its devotion to the search for truth, its insistence on an open and analytical mind, its refusal to abandon the best light of reason.”
Throughout the book I got the feeling that Dr. King knew he was going to be assassinated. I may be wrong of course but that’s definitely what it felt like.
When the end did come I couldn’t be more in awe of a man who felt so strongly for what he believed him that he sacrificed himself for the cause. Dr. King is a truly inspirational figure and I believe that this should be required reading for everyone.
August 27, 2016
I am not certain, fifty years later, that White America can really appreciate what Martin Luther King, Jr. did for this country. Beyond the necessary needed to be done for the African-American population, it is difficult - impossible, really - to imagine how much our nation would have further suffered had MLK not been the one to lead the charge for change. As a middle-class white man in 2014 would I have been able to relate to a militant, angry, disenfranchised black man/woman willing to kill or die for an improvement in his/her world had MLK not preached - and lived by example - a course of non-violent yet aggressive resistance to the unjust status quo? What would life be like in a 2014 America rife with two races at war - a land that might not look too different from a country today brutalized by sectarian strife? If a 50 year course of escalating violence, bombings, retaliations and continual reprisals had happened, what else could occur other than Perpetual Other Hatred? Reading this book made me realize how very close we were to this reality. MLK didn't save a race, he saved a nation, and perhaps the world.
A social movement that only moves people is merely a revolt. A movement that changes both people and institutions is a revolution. MLK's goals may have been lofty, but he understood that to eat the elephant you must do so a teaspoon at a time. Mistakes and mis-steps yielded fast learnings, and as a Christian philosopher of the soul he always was certain to allow his sensitive filters to absorb the fundamentals of what makes us human, black or white, and then to assimilate that understanding into becoming a better person. And leading others to understand the same.
This wonderful book was carefully created by Clayborne Carson, a Stanford University academian that focused specifically on compiling the narrative history of MLK in King's own words, taken from countless documents and primary source material. I am not certain that had MLK lived to be 100 that he would have (re)written this portion of his life any better. His original words, presented in historicaly chronological context, show his maturity as a leader, an author and an agent of change.
I wish that this book was required reading in every American school. William Vollmann first pointed me to this text, and then friend Rowena, but honestly - I should have read more of MLK long ago. I am proud to count him as a hero - and I want to understand (and learn from his example) how to be a non-violent positive agent of change.
September 6, 2014
I had to keep reminding myself that it's not the civil rights movement I am rating and reviewing, because the spectrum of legitimate excuses, let alone justifications, which could explain the withholding of a star or two is rather limited. It comes as a kick to the gut every time a young, unarmed Clifford Glover or a Travyon Martin or a Michael Brown is shot for no valid reason and the realization sinks in that the process of integration which was initiated by Lincoln some 150+ years ago and furthered by Martin Luther is yet to reach its completion. So the essence of this book and MLK's doctrine of nonviolent agitation are now relevant more than ever.
In a way this is Martin Luther's own account of the movement he helped steer in a direction which not only sought to free an entire community from socioeconomic and political servitude but prevented America from becoming synonymous with the ultimate hypocrisy of all - preaching the infallibility of human rights abroad (by waging wars against Communist totalitarianism) but carrying on with its tacit agenda of institutionalized discrimination back home.
How the spirit of rebellion - which found expression for the first time with the Montgomery Bus Boycott in '55 (unwittingly started by Rosa Parks' act of denying her occupied seat to a white passenger) - trickled into the hearts of oppressed millions in Albany, Georgia, Birmingham, Alabama, Florida, Chicago, Boston, and Washington culminating in the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, is recounted by King himself.
That aside, there's a brief autobiographical sketch patched together from the fragments of writings gathered from the Stanford University archive by Clayborne Carson. Excerpts from King's speeches (sometimes even the full text) also make appearances in between the accounts of all the non-violent movements of civil disobedience he gave leadership to.
To put it more accurately, this is less of an autobiography (since King didn't live long enough to write one) and more like a montage of every single written document or important oratory piece which King left behind. So lucidly written are these that Carson's work must have been reduced to simple editing and piecing together a coherent narrative out of the vast amount of material at her disposal.
And yet there are such glaring mistakes here which marred my reading experience. Consider this excerpt from King's personal writings after his visit to India in '59 which cemented his faith in the inviolability of civil disobedience as an effective tool to usher in socioeconomic and political change -
It's not Amniabad. In all probability, it's the Sabarmati ashram in Ahmedabad King is talking about, while the historic walk was to 'Dandi' - a coastal village in Gujarat (the state our present PM hails from). Not Bambi, the iconic Disney deer.
Even if it was a memory lapse on King's part or a sad apathy for geographical names, as a King scholar looking to publish a work of monumental importance Carson should have been more vigilant for inconsistencies such as the above, especially since Gandhi gets mentioned several times by virtue of his being King's role model.
(Some quick googling led me to the unhappy discovery that the Stanford archive still retains the unedited, therefore, incorrect information derived from the original sources. I can understand the significance of preserving King's writings exactly as he authored them but the insertion of incorrect facts diminishes the integrity of this work.)
Also occasionally 'Gandhi' is spelled as 'Ghandi'. (Aaarrrrggghhhhhh!)
In addition to these turn-offs, nearly all of King's speeches are so chock full of archetypal metaphor after metaphor that I felt it weakened the gravitas of the narrative. Perhaps, they would have been better off being included in shortened formats. The fact of God's mercy and benevolence being invoked (quite natural since King was a pastor) in every alternate sentence also served as an effective irritant. These are undoubtedly the primary reasons why it took me a whole month to finish reading this.
But these causes of botheration aside, there's plenty of good to be found in this compilation. Like the way MLK expresses his disappointment with 20th century capitalism in a letter addressed to his wife, Coretta -
or his critique of the Vietnam War and correlation drawn between American militarism and the dangerously skewed nature of race relations in the deep south-
The absence of that missing star, thus, should be attributed to my personal aversion to factual inaccuracies, overused metaphors and bad analogies. Otherwise no rating system in existence can measure MLK's significance in American history and all that he stood for.
In a way this is Martin Luther's own account of the movement he helped steer in a direction which not only sought to free an entire community from socioeconomic and political servitude but prevented America from becoming synonymous with the ultimate hypocrisy of all - preaching the infallibility of human rights abroad (by waging wars against Communist totalitarianism) but carrying on with its tacit agenda of institutionalized discrimination back home.
"I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered."
How the spirit of rebellion - which found expression for the first time with the Montgomery Bus Boycott in '55 (unwittingly started by Rosa Parks' act of denying her occupied seat to a white passenger) - trickled into the hearts of oppressed millions in Albany, Georgia, Birmingham, Alabama, Florida, Chicago, Boston, and Washington culminating in the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, is recounted by King himself.
That aside, there's a brief autobiographical sketch patched together from the fragments of writings gathered from the Stanford University archive by Clayborne Carson. Excerpts from King's speeches (sometimes even the full text) also make appearances in between the accounts of all the non-violent movements of civil disobedience he gave leadership to.
To put it more accurately, this is less of an autobiography (since King didn't live long enough to write one) and more like a montage of every single written document or important oratory piece which King left behind. So lucidly written are these that Carson's work must have been reduced to simple editing and piecing together a coherent narrative out of the vast amount of material at her disposal.
And yet there are such glaring mistakes here which marred my reading experience. Consider this excerpt from King's personal writings after his visit to India in '59 which cemented his faith in the inviolability of civil disobedience as an effective tool to usher in socioeconomic and political change -
"On March 1 we had the privilege of spending at the Amniabad ashram and stood there at the point where Gandhi started his walk of 218 miles to a place called Bambi."
It's not Amniabad. In all probability, it's the Sabarmati ashram in Ahmedabad King is talking about, while the historic walk was to 'Dandi' - a coastal village in Gujarat (the state our present PM hails from). Not Bambi, the iconic Disney deer.
Even if it was a memory lapse on King's part or a sad apathy for geographical names, as a King scholar looking to publish a work of monumental importance Carson should have been more vigilant for inconsistencies such as the above, especially since Gandhi gets mentioned several times by virtue of his being King's role model.
(Some quick googling led me to the unhappy discovery that the Stanford archive still retains the unedited, therefore, incorrect information derived from the original sources. I can understand the significance of preserving King's writings exactly as he authored them but the insertion of incorrect facts diminishes the integrity of this work.)
Also occasionally 'Gandhi' is spelled as 'Ghandi'. (Aaarrrrggghhhhhh!)
In addition to these turn-offs, nearly all of King's speeches are so chock full of archetypal metaphor after metaphor that I felt it weakened the gravitas of the narrative. Perhaps, they would have been better off being included in shortened formats. The fact of God's mercy and benevolence being invoked (quite natural since King was a pastor) in every alternate sentence also served as an effective irritant. These are undoubtedly the primary reasons why it took me a whole month to finish reading this.
But these causes of botheration aside, there's plenty of good to be found in this compilation. Like the way MLK expresses his disappointment with 20th century capitalism in a letter addressed to his wife, Coretta -
"...I am not so opposed to capitalism that I have failed to see its relative merits. It started out with a noble and high motive, viz., to block the trade monopolies of the nobles, but like most human systems it fell victim to the very thing it was revolting against. So today capitalism has out-lived its usefulness. It has brought about a system that takes necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes."
or his critique of the Vietnam War and correlation drawn between American militarism and the dangerously skewed nature of race relations in the deep south-
"I do not believe our nation can be a moral leader of justice, equality, and democracy if it is trapped in the role of a self-appointed world policeman."
The absence of that missing star, thus, should be attributed to my personal aversion to factual inaccuracies, overused metaphors and bad analogies. Otherwise no rating system in existence can measure MLK's significance in American history and all that he stood for.
March 15, 2016
I was drawn to this book at this particular time because I needed to hear the words of someone who believed with his life that hatred and anger were not the answer. The concept of non-violence and the discipline that it requires of the individual seems outdated. As out of touch with our current culture as repression of our instinctual drives is out of touch with current psychology. The thing now is the expression of anger. Anger is the new virtue. But here is the life of a man who at times felt anger and hatred and yet believed that the expression of it was strategically and morally wrong. Violence would not correct the social evil that needed correction. Hatred would beget even more hatred. Violence motivated by the need to retaliate was, it needs to be said, not the Christian way. King felt that no amount of twisting Jesus' words would ever permit the existence of hatred in a person's heart. It was not good tactically, as Gandhi had shown, and it was not good for the person who hated. I needed to hear the words and be in touch with the soul of a man who fought against and defeated the easy temptation to hate. I needed re-assurance that non-violent resistance to evil will work in the long run because my faith in the long term power of love runs low at times. I needed to be reminded that non-violence is more than simply refraining from striking or even verbally abusing another person. Non-violence for King was a way of life, a way of seeing the world. That's what I needed to hear.
January 4, 2019
I very much enjoyed reading Dr. King's autobiography, and getting to learn of his point of view on many of the great events during the Civil Rights Era, many of which he spearheaded. I was not sure what to expect --- perhaps something rhetorical or ideological, but Dr. King's narrative is factual and, at times, self-deprecating, emphasizing many of the sacrifices made by others in the effort to defeat segregation. Despite bridling under the humiliation of daily life in the Jim Crow South, Dr. King arrived at his philosophy of non-violence during his college years --- a belief system he carried with him to the end of his life.
His account of the 1957 Montgomery bus protests was especially moving. While I was aware of the general details of this historical event, from Dr. King's account, it's very apparent that the outcome of the protest was far from a foregone conclusion. The resources of the black community were strained to the max, requiring it to unify as it never had before, and the white-dominated city government employed every artifice and legal pressure it could to harass and demoralize it into abandoning the effort. Most black citizens depended upon the bus system, notwithstanding its indignities, just to get by in daily life with work and sustainment. As passions arose, black churches were bombed --- as well as Dr. King's own home also coming under bomb attack. At this point, some citizens began to call for violence against their attackers, but, incredibly, Dr. King, in one of the most amazing feats of leadership I've ever read, managed not only to restrain the impulse to violence, but to inspire the black citizens of Montgomery to stay the course with non-violent protest and resistance. In so doing, Dr. King and other black leaders captured the imagination of what had been a nation indifferent to the plight of southern black citizens.
Dr. King emerges as more than a speech maker in his autobiography. Clearly, he was more than that. In his speeches, he may have seemed ideological, but, in life, Dr. King was highly intelligent and eminently practical in his approach on how to lead the civil rights movement. For example, he avoided posing the civil rights struggle as one of black vs white. Instead, he pointedly and repeatedly emphasized that this was a struggle of "justice vs. injustice". In so doing, he made the movement one that tended to add supporters the longer it went --- most people can be surprisingly indifferent to the suffering of those outside their groups, yet most people have a sense of right and wrong, and detest seeing others treated unfairly, unjustly, or capriciously.
Another high point in this book is Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech. Along with other famous speeches in American history, this surely is one of the most inspiring I've ever read.
In the beginning of his career, Dr. King tried to be non-political in his advocacy for desegregation and civil rights. However, in 1964, we see a sea change as Dr. King endorsed LBJ over Goldwater for President. I ask myself if MLK could have done otherwise. In Goldwater, Dr. King was faced with a candidate given to some extreme statements on foreign policy, but, of more concern, seemed indifferent to the continuing discrimination against blacks in the nation. Goldwater seemed to accept that this was not an issue for the Federal Government to address --- one that could be left to be resolved at the states' level --- which in the South had never worked in favor of black citizens since Reconstruction. LBJ, on the other hand, was open in his support of the civil rights movement. Under the circumstances, Dr. King's decision to do a political endorsement is entirely understandable. Unfortunately, by degrees, in the hands of his less able successors, this, I believe, set the movement on a different course --- one that would result in black leaders in the succeeding decades to become increasingly politicized and increasingly willing to accuse any political candidate of scurrilous accusations of racism --- even over policy differences having nothing to do with race or civil rights without any evidence in support.
As the Civil Rights Movement spread and grew nationwide, new black leaders began to emerge --- men with a more radical view of the movement as well as a belief that non-violence was acquiescence to an unjust, intolerable status quo. I read with sorrow as fellow blacks began to call Dr. King in his visits up north, "Uncle Tom", at the behest of such leaders as Stokely Carmichael and Malcolm X. For a man such as Dr. King, after all he'd suffered on behalf of his beliefs, including multiple death threats, an unsuccessful assassination attempt, a bombing, and numerous imprisonments, this must have hurt especially coming from the people it did.
From this time, it does seem that Dr. King's focus began to broaden from political and legal civil rights for all citizens to trying to fight poverty. Unfortunately, in this, Dr. King describes using many of the same methods and tactics he used so successfully to defeat segregation --- marches and demonstrations. But the conditions that create poverty are not the same as those that created segregation and racial discrimination -- being much more complex and intractable than those. Those could be changed with changes in the law and via court rulings. Dr. King seems to have bought into the notion that poverty could be eliminated simply by Government fiat --- via more Government programs, more welfare. In raising public support for these, Dr. King was fairly successful; however, in changing the economic conditions in the inner city, to date, it's questionable how much these really accomplished. Over 50 years and $15 trillion expended later in the War on Poverty, with only a 3% reduction in the poverty in all that time, clearly, the conditions behind poverty are much more complex than it may have seemed then.
Nevertheless, there is no doubt that Dr. King is one of our greatest Americans. In the hindsight of history, it's easy to take the outcome of today for granted. While the 1960s were a time of social upheaval and had episodes of violence, I believe, if not for the work of Dr. King, this could have turned out far worse, more violent --- with the result that black civil rights being furthered could have taken decades instead of years. Dr. King's championing of non-violence in the push for civil rights created a condition where Americans could unify to change this unacceptable situation. As such, my esteem for him is greater after reading this book. I see him as America's second "George Washington", the one who helped realize a vision of all American citizens living in freedom.
His account of the 1957 Montgomery bus protests was especially moving. While I was aware of the general details of this historical event, from Dr. King's account, it's very apparent that the outcome of the protest was far from a foregone conclusion. The resources of the black community were strained to the max, requiring it to unify as it never had before, and the white-dominated city government employed every artifice and legal pressure it could to harass and demoralize it into abandoning the effort. Most black citizens depended upon the bus system, notwithstanding its indignities, just to get by in daily life with work and sustainment. As passions arose, black churches were bombed --- as well as Dr. King's own home also coming under bomb attack. At this point, some citizens began to call for violence against their attackers, but, incredibly, Dr. King, in one of the most amazing feats of leadership I've ever read, managed not only to restrain the impulse to violence, but to inspire the black citizens of Montgomery to stay the course with non-violent protest and resistance. In so doing, Dr. King and other black leaders captured the imagination of what had been a nation indifferent to the plight of southern black citizens.
Dr. King emerges as more than a speech maker in his autobiography. Clearly, he was more than that. In his speeches, he may have seemed ideological, but, in life, Dr. King was highly intelligent and eminently practical in his approach on how to lead the civil rights movement. For example, he avoided posing the civil rights struggle as one of black vs white. Instead, he pointedly and repeatedly emphasized that this was a struggle of "justice vs. injustice". In so doing, he made the movement one that tended to add supporters the longer it went --- most people can be surprisingly indifferent to the suffering of those outside their groups, yet most people have a sense of right and wrong, and detest seeing others treated unfairly, unjustly, or capriciously.
Another high point in this book is Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech. Along with other famous speeches in American history, this surely is one of the most inspiring I've ever read.
In the beginning of his career, Dr. King tried to be non-political in his advocacy for desegregation and civil rights. However, in 1964, we see a sea change as Dr. King endorsed LBJ over Goldwater for President. I ask myself if MLK could have done otherwise. In Goldwater, Dr. King was faced with a candidate given to some extreme statements on foreign policy, but, of more concern, seemed indifferent to the continuing discrimination against blacks in the nation. Goldwater seemed to accept that this was not an issue for the Federal Government to address --- one that could be left to be resolved at the states' level --- which in the South had never worked in favor of black citizens since Reconstruction. LBJ, on the other hand, was open in his support of the civil rights movement. Under the circumstances, Dr. King's decision to do a political endorsement is entirely understandable. Unfortunately, by degrees, in the hands of his less able successors, this, I believe, set the movement on a different course --- one that would result in black leaders in the succeeding decades to become increasingly politicized and increasingly willing to accuse any political candidate of scurrilous accusations of racism --- even over policy differences having nothing to do with race or civil rights without any evidence in support.
As the Civil Rights Movement spread and grew nationwide, new black leaders began to emerge --- men with a more radical view of the movement as well as a belief that non-violence was acquiescence to an unjust, intolerable status quo. I read with sorrow as fellow blacks began to call Dr. King in his visits up north, "Uncle Tom", at the behest of such leaders as Stokely Carmichael and Malcolm X. For a man such as Dr. King, after all he'd suffered on behalf of his beliefs, including multiple death threats, an unsuccessful assassination attempt, a bombing, and numerous imprisonments, this must have hurt especially coming from the people it did.
From this time, it does seem that Dr. King's focus began to broaden from political and legal civil rights for all citizens to trying to fight poverty. Unfortunately, in this, Dr. King describes using many of the same methods and tactics he used so successfully to defeat segregation --- marches and demonstrations. But the conditions that create poverty are not the same as those that created segregation and racial discrimination -- being much more complex and intractable than those. Those could be changed with changes in the law and via court rulings. Dr. King seems to have bought into the notion that poverty could be eliminated simply by Government fiat --- via more Government programs, more welfare. In raising public support for these, Dr. King was fairly successful; however, in changing the economic conditions in the inner city, to date, it's questionable how much these really accomplished. Over 50 years and $15 trillion expended later in the War on Poverty, with only a 3% reduction in the poverty in all that time, clearly, the conditions behind poverty are much more complex than it may have seemed then.
Nevertheless, there is no doubt that Dr. King is one of our greatest Americans. In the hindsight of history, it's easy to take the outcome of today for granted. While the 1960s were a time of social upheaval and had episodes of violence, I believe, if not for the work of Dr. King, this could have turned out far worse, more violent --- with the result that black civil rights being furthered could have taken decades instead of years. Dr. King's championing of non-violence in the push for civil rights created a condition where Americans could unify to change this unacceptable situation. As such, my esteem for him is greater after reading this book. I see him as America's second "George Washington", the one who helped realize a vision of all American citizens living in freedom.
September 1, 2017
Excellent read! great insight into his life and story (paperback!)
September 20, 2023
Needs my review. A fascinating story.
January 12, 2024
An Autobiography Of Martin Luther King, Jr.
At the time of his assassination on April 4, 1968 Martin Luther King, Jr. had written and accomplished a great deal, but he had not written an autobiography. About 20 years after King's death, his widow, Coretta Scott King, invited historian Clayborne Carson to become the director of the King Papers Project. In the course of this work Carson, already a noted historian of King and of the Civil Rights Movement, had access to a voluminous body of King's writings and interviews, both published and unpublished. Carson took King's writings and put them together to form this Autobiography from King's early years to his untimely death.
At the time of King's assassination, I was 19 years old and have memories of the event and of the tumultuous years of the 1950s and 1960s. Younger readers may not have memories of King and may not be fully aware of his achievements. This book will give readers an overview of King in thought and action. Autobiographies vary in the degree to which they cover the personal and the public aspects of the subject's life. King was notably reticent about the intimate details of his life. Thus this book, in Carson's words,is "largely a religious and political autobiography rather than an exploration of a private life." It gives, in King's own words, a view of his thought, religious views, and social and political activity.
Carson has drawn from King's writings to present a chronological account of King's life in King's own words. A variety of source material is used. Some of the material, lightly edited for continuity and readability, is presented in standard type. Other selections, in King's own words, are presented in italics. Still further material, usually short and taken from diaries, letters, or speeches, is included in blocks. The source materials used for each chapter are given at the end of the volume. At times, it is difficult to identify a specific text with its source.
The Autobiography includes 32 chapters beginning with King's childhood and concluding with his activities in Memphis at the time of his assassination. The first chapter covers King's early years. The three following chapters describe King's education and formative influences at Moorehouse College, Crozer Seminary, and Boston University, where King earned his PhD in Systematic Theology. A chapter describes King's courtship of and marriage to Coretta Scott. The remaining chapters of the book focus on King's adulthood and on the work for which he became remembered.
Up to 1965, King worked primarily to end segregation in the South. From 1965 to the end of his life, King's mission broadened to end discrimination in the North, to fight poverty, and to oppose militarism, particularly the Vietnam War. During his lifetime, King lost substantial support for these latter activities. Both parts of King's work are included in this Autobiography.
The Autobiography includes chapters devoted to King's key accomplishments including the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Birmingham Campaign, which led to the enactment of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1963 March on Washington, and the Selma Campaign, which led to the enactment of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The book includes famous speeches and writings, including the "Letter from Birmingham Jail", the "I have a Dream" speech delivered on the Washington Mall, and King's 1967 speech breaking silence and opposing the Vietnam War, together with excerpts from many other speeches.
The Autobiography also includes chapters on other campaigns led by King and on other Civil Rights events in which he participated. Thus the book covers the Albany, Georgia campaign which at best achieved mixed results at the time. It covers King's jailing in Atlanta which resulted in intervention by presidential candidate John Kennedy which may have won Kennedy the presidency. It discusses campaigns in St Augustine, Florida and in Mississippi and the violence these campaigns provoked. The book shows King's activities in connection with the student sit- in movement at segregated lunch counters. The book shows King visiting Watts and other urban areas during the riots, shows his views on the Black Power Movement, and shows King receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. It includes a chapter describing King's trip to India. King was greatly influenced by Gandhi and his philosophy of nonviolence.
This book gives a moving portrayal of King and his achievement drawn from his own words. It is a worthy autobiography and a moving tribute to King. The book constitutes an excellent introduction to King's life and mission.
Robin Friedman
At the time of his assassination on April 4, 1968 Martin Luther King, Jr. had written and accomplished a great deal, but he had not written an autobiography. About 20 years after King's death, his widow, Coretta Scott King, invited historian Clayborne Carson to become the director of the King Papers Project. In the course of this work Carson, already a noted historian of King and of the Civil Rights Movement, had access to a voluminous body of King's writings and interviews, both published and unpublished. Carson took King's writings and put them together to form this Autobiography from King's early years to his untimely death.
At the time of King's assassination, I was 19 years old and have memories of the event and of the tumultuous years of the 1950s and 1960s. Younger readers may not have memories of King and may not be fully aware of his achievements. This book will give readers an overview of King in thought and action. Autobiographies vary in the degree to which they cover the personal and the public aspects of the subject's life. King was notably reticent about the intimate details of his life. Thus this book, in Carson's words,is "largely a religious and political autobiography rather than an exploration of a private life." It gives, in King's own words, a view of his thought, religious views, and social and political activity.
Carson has drawn from King's writings to present a chronological account of King's life in King's own words. A variety of source material is used. Some of the material, lightly edited for continuity and readability, is presented in standard type. Other selections, in King's own words, are presented in italics. Still further material, usually short and taken from diaries, letters, or speeches, is included in blocks. The source materials used for each chapter are given at the end of the volume. At times, it is difficult to identify a specific text with its source.
The Autobiography includes 32 chapters beginning with King's childhood and concluding with his activities in Memphis at the time of his assassination. The first chapter covers King's early years. The three following chapters describe King's education and formative influences at Moorehouse College, Crozer Seminary, and Boston University, where King earned his PhD in Systematic Theology. A chapter describes King's courtship of and marriage to Coretta Scott. The remaining chapters of the book focus on King's adulthood and on the work for which he became remembered.
Up to 1965, King worked primarily to end segregation in the South. From 1965 to the end of his life, King's mission broadened to end discrimination in the North, to fight poverty, and to oppose militarism, particularly the Vietnam War. During his lifetime, King lost substantial support for these latter activities. Both parts of King's work are included in this Autobiography.
The Autobiography includes chapters devoted to King's key accomplishments including the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Birmingham Campaign, which led to the enactment of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1963 March on Washington, and the Selma Campaign, which led to the enactment of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The book includes famous speeches and writings, including the "Letter from Birmingham Jail", the "I have a Dream" speech delivered on the Washington Mall, and King's 1967 speech breaking silence and opposing the Vietnam War, together with excerpts from many other speeches.
The Autobiography also includes chapters on other campaigns led by King and on other Civil Rights events in which he participated. Thus the book covers the Albany, Georgia campaign which at best achieved mixed results at the time. It covers King's jailing in Atlanta which resulted in intervention by presidential candidate John Kennedy which may have won Kennedy the presidency. It discusses campaigns in St Augustine, Florida and in Mississippi and the violence these campaigns provoked. The book shows King's activities in connection with the student sit- in movement at segregated lunch counters. The book shows King visiting Watts and other urban areas during the riots, shows his views on the Black Power Movement, and shows King receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. It includes a chapter describing King's trip to India. King was greatly influenced by Gandhi and his philosophy of nonviolence.
This book gives a moving portrayal of King and his achievement drawn from his own words. It is a worthy autobiography and a moving tribute to King. The book constitutes an excellent introduction to King's life and mission.
Robin Friedman
January 17, 2012
This is not quite a true autobiography, but rather a collection of King's writings and speeches throughout his life, edited and assembled by a third party. I found this disappointing because it lacked the benefit of hindsight perspective that a biographer could have brought, but also doesn't necessarily have the personal tone and thesis of an autobiography.
I listened to this in audio form, which included many recordings of King's sermons and speeches. This gives a firsthand glimpse at his fantastic gift as an orator, especially the later recordings which are higher quality.
It also didn't spend much time explaining the historical events, but rather King's feelings and motivations about them. So it would be helpful to already be familiar with the major events of the civil rights movement in the 60s, such as the Montgomery bus boycott, the march on Washington, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
I enjoyed the description of his educational background as a philosopher, his deep inspiration from Ghandi, and his complex relationship with the Black Power movement. King is undoubtably one of the most important figures in American history, and an inspiring champion of freedom and equality. I guess this is as close as we'll ever get to hearing his life story in his own words.
I listened to this in audio form, which included many recordings of King's sermons and speeches. This gives a firsthand glimpse at his fantastic gift as an orator, especially the later recordings which are higher quality.
It also didn't spend much time explaining the historical events, but rather King's feelings and motivations about them. So it would be helpful to already be familiar with the major events of the civil rights movement in the 60s, such as the Montgomery bus boycott, the march on Washington, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
I enjoyed the description of his educational background as a philosopher, his deep inspiration from Ghandi, and his complex relationship with the Black Power movement. King is undoubtably one of the most important figures in American history, and an inspiring champion of freedom and equality. I guess this is as close as we'll ever get to hearing his life story in his own words.
June 21, 2019
I follow Bernice King on Twitter and she always says that a lot of people who quote her father now would have hated him back then. I believe she’s right. There’s still a lot of hate today, but it was different many many years ago. Doctor King’s letter from the Birmingham jail is also in this book. I learned so much from this book, but I want to learn a lot more especially since my grandparents and parents grew up in the Jim Crow era. This book will open your eyes to so much.
February 25, 2019
5 (MILLION) STARS. Wow. It's so hard for me to review books that actually literally floored me because I'm at a total loss for words and just awestruck. That's what this book did to me.
Martin Luther King, Jr. has been my hero and role model since before I can remember. He inspires me every day to love fearlessly, passionately, relentlessly. And this autobiography just gave me a whole new and expansive look at his life and faith in a profoundly beautiful way.
Basically all I have to say is…
This book should be required reading for every student in America. (and the world, for that matter.)
King's words echo through time as relevant and true for every person, in every walk of life. This is what the world needs, now more than ever. Let’s not just remember his words, but emulate them. Love, love, love. There is no other alternative.
“I have decided to stick with love, for I know that love is ultimately the only answer to humankind's problems… Hate is too great a burden to bear. If you are seeking the highest good, I think you can find it through love. Those who hate do not know God, but those who love have the key that unlocks the door to the meaning of ultimate reality.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.
(btw I highly recommend listening to the audiobook version of this!! Not only does LeVar Burton read it (😍 where are my fellow Reading Rainbow fans?!) but it also includes rare recordings of King's speeches and sermons. Let's just say I'll be listening to this one again. and again. and again.)
Martin Luther King, Jr. has been my hero and role model since before I can remember. He inspires me every day to love fearlessly, passionately, relentlessly. And this autobiography just gave me a whole new and expansive look at his life and faith in a profoundly beautiful way.
Basically all I have to say is…
This book should be required reading for every student in America. (and the world, for that matter.)
King's words echo through time as relevant and true for every person, in every walk of life. This is what the world needs, now more than ever. Let’s not just remember his words, but emulate them. Love, love, love. There is no other alternative.
“I have decided to stick with love, for I know that love is ultimately the only answer to humankind's problems… Hate is too great a burden to bear. If you are seeking the highest good, I think you can find it through love. Those who hate do not know God, but those who love have the key that unlocks the door to the meaning of ultimate reality.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.
(btw I highly recommend listening to the audiobook version of this!! Not only does LeVar Burton read it (😍 where are my fellow Reading Rainbow fans?!) but it also includes rare recordings of King's speeches and sermons. Let's just say I'll be listening to this one again. and again. and again.)
June 20, 2020
If there is anything like a promised land, Martin Luther King, Jr must be there watching us.
We are presented with the principles of non-violent resistance which however brutal it could be for the marchers who resisted, turned out to be the most clever option at that time. There is not one single way to fight inequalities but King's philosophy reminds us of how important it is to set an example for ourselves and for others.
I'm really amazed by the way King has made connections between the struggle of the Civil Rights Movement and global challenges, like the fight against poverty. It has really opened my eyes on many things and left me with an exhilarating sense of hope.
I was particularly impressed with the episode of the Montgomery bus boycott. The whole world ought to be grateful for these great human achievements for freedom. The editor has included a wide variety of MLK's speeches and letters. It's a very clever reconstitution with good storytelling to keep you engrossed.
This autobiography is an invaluable gift to posterity. Have your children read it!
We are presented with the principles of non-violent resistance which however brutal it could be for the marchers who resisted, turned out to be the most clever option at that time. There is not one single way to fight inequalities but King's philosophy reminds us of how important it is to set an example for ourselves and for others.
I'm really amazed by the way King has made connections between the struggle of the Civil Rights Movement and global challenges, like the fight against poverty. It has really opened my eyes on many things and left me with an exhilarating sense of hope.
I was particularly impressed with the episode of the Montgomery bus boycott. The whole world ought to be grateful for these great human achievements for freedom. The editor has included a wide variety of MLK's speeches and letters. It's a very clever reconstitution with good storytelling to keep you engrossed.
This autobiography is an invaluable gift to posterity. Have your children read it!
March 18, 2021
In 1957, Time magazine named Martin Luther King, Jr. its "Man of the Year". It characterized him as an "expert organizer" but "no radical" – a Christian civil rights organizer, presumed to be quite different from 1940s black socialists with labor politics. In reality, as is shown in his autobiography, King never narrowed his politics only to civil rights. He had clear links to working-class and poor people through his family, church, and community. While to white journalists the well-dressed, highly educated “Dr. King” appeared as the typical middle-class leader, he came from a line of people, including slaves, who struggled fiercely against poverty and Jim Crow. His grandmother, for example, took in washing and ironing for whites but was not afraid to beat up a white man who had assaulted her son, Martin’s father. “Daddy” King, Martin’s father, later escaped lynching terror and low wages by moving to Atlanta from rural Georgia. Preaching a religious Social Gospel aimed at elevating the black urban poor, he took his son – born in the year of the stock market crash of 1929 – to see the unemployed people standing in food lines, so that Martin, who was being raised in relative material comfort, would understand the hardships of the poor.
Martin wrote that he learned at an early age that “the inseparable twin of racial injustice was economic injustice,” and that he developed “anti-capitalist feelings” as he witnessed dreadful southern poverty and labor exploitation during part-time summer work. Although he had an optimistic belief in the goodness of human nature and the power of America’s democratic ideals, this optimism was constantly tested by the profound racism of most whites. As an undergraduate in sociology at historically black Morehouse College, he studied the connection between racism and poverty and how it might be overcome through democratic action. As a master’s-degree student at Crozier Theological Seminary and then as a Ph.D. student at Boston University, King read about, and came to be fascinated by, Gandhi and his campaigns of nonviolent direct action; he disagreed with Karl Marx’s atheism, but adopted his critique of capitalism as damaging to the poor and workers.
When Martin met his future wife, Coretta Scott, in Boston, he saw in her another black Southerner (raised in rural Alabama) who wanted to change the world and who remained a peace advocate all of her life. In September 1954, less than four months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned school segregation, they moved to Montgomery, Alabama.
Their lives changed on December 1, 1955, when Rosa Parks, a weary seamstress, refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man, and the Montgomery Bus Boycott got under way. Parks had long worked as an assistant to E. D. Nixon, past president of the Montgomery NAACP and the city's leading civil rights activist, and she also led NAACP youth groups. Her refusal to give up her seat led to her arrest, which energized black working people, the majority of whom rode buses. They boycotted for 381 days, walking or getting rides in car pools to their jobs. Nixon got Parks out of jail, and most importantly, steered Martin Luther King, Jr. into Movement leadership.
Martin had the qualities that allowed him to lead a mass movement that joined working-class people to the middle class through the black church. In a few moments in his first speech at the first mass meeting of the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), King powerfully presented the struggle against segregation from a moral point of view: “There comes a time when people get tired of being trampled over by the iron feet of oppression," and have to organize. Nixon, meanwhile, embodied the connection between labor and civil rights, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars as treasurer of the MIA by appealing to union members across the country, and by helping to connect King to "the world of civil rights unionism and pacifism." Thanks to him, Martin sharpened his understanding of nonviolent direct action. Although racists blew up King’s house, the house of E. D. Nixon, and the residences and churches of other activists, the Montgomery movement stayed united and won a Supreme Court ruling against segregation in transportation. King’s religious framework, his stunning eloquence, and his learning made him a strong orator, and the mass media gave him phenomenal attention.
In 1957, he and other ministers held a conference on desegregating transportation through boycotts and other protests, producing the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), a ministers’ group that sought to end Jim Crow and “redeem the soul of America” through nonviolent organizing. Many black labor activists, such as Bayard Rustin, Ella Baker, and Stanley Levison, helped King tighten his ties to civil rights and labor advocates. King also went to Ghana to celebrate its independence from British colonialism, and visited India to learn more about nonviolence. As Indian Prime Minister Nehru spoke with him about democratic and socialist anticolonial movements in the developing world, King gained an increasingly global perspective and became adept in identifying the links between issues. In September 1957 he called for a coalition between organized labor and African Americans to end Jim Crow, adding, “I never intend to adjust myself to the tragic inequalities of an economic system which will take necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes.” Although the media tended to portray him as almost solely a civil rights leader, demanding equal rights within American capitalism, his views went much further than that.
American conservatives and segregationists constantly attacked Martin Luther King, Jr. as a covert Communist. Georgia’s Commission on Education even sent an undercover agent to take a picture of King sitting next to a reporter for the Communist Party newspaper, the Daily Worker, and right-wing groups turned the photo and headline, “Martin Luther King at Communist Training School,” into the most famous billboard of the era. Congressional investigating committees used this reasoning of anti-Communism against King for the rest of his life, imposing guilt by association when he insisted on defending other people’s civil liberties. But King was not the dupe of anyone – he viewed civil liberties and civil rights as indivisible, and he recognized that denying freedom of speech for leftists created an air of fear aimed at silencing all movements for change. Along with other leading black intellectuals, King called for the abolition of HUAC, the antisubversive Senate committee, and other efforts to suppress freedom of speech and thought. He also recognized the failures of capitalism for people of color, and, encouraged by Coretta, increasingly opposed America’s interventionist militarism in Vietnam.
Although Martin's reputation as a leader of masses sometimes by far exceeded his resources and experience, although he could not export the bus-boycott model to other communities, although he struggled in his efforts to organize a mass movement, King's fascinating autobiography demonstrates that he soldiered on, searching for new viable strategies and expanding his view of the the problems and the possible solutions confronting the freedom movement. This valuable book presents us Martin Luther King, Jr. not as a legendary, idolized figure, but as a human being. It helps us realize his humanity, his personal and public pains; it reminds us that he was similar to us, that we could go and do likewise.
Martin wrote that he learned at an early age that “the inseparable twin of racial injustice was economic injustice,” and that he developed “anti-capitalist feelings” as he witnessed dreadful southern poverty and labor exploitation during part-time summer work. Although he had an optimistic belief in the goodness of human nature and the power of America’s democratic ideals, this optimism was constantly tested by the profound racism of most whites. As an undergraduate in sociology at historically black Morehouse College, he studied the connection between racism and poverty and how it might be overcome through democratic action. As a master’s-degree student at Crozier Theological Seminary and then as a Ph.D. student at Boston University, King read about, and came to be fascinated by, Gandhi and his campaigns of nonviolent direct action; he disagreed with Karl Marx’s atheism, but adopted his critique of capitalism as damaging to the poor and workers.
When Martin met his future wife, Coretta Scott, in Boston, he saw in her another black Southerner (raised in rural Alabama) who wanted to change the world and who remained a peace advocate all of her life. In September 1954, less than four months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned school segregation, they moved to Montgomery, Alabama.
Their lives changed on December 1, 1955, when Rosa Parks, a weary seamstress, refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man, and the Montgomery Bus Boycott got under way. Parks had long worked as an assistant to E. D. Nixon, past president of the Montgomery NAACP and the city's leading civil rights activist, and she also led NAACP youth groups. Her refusal to give up her seat led to her arrest, which energized black working people, the majority of whom rode buses. They boycotted for 381 days, walking or getting rides in car pools to their jobs. Nixon got Parks out of jail, and most importantly, steered Martin Luther King, Jr. into Movement leadership.
Martin had the qualities that allowed him to lead a mass movement that joined working-class people to the middle class through the black church. In a few moments in his first speech at the first mass meeting of the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), King powerfully presented the struggle against segregation from a moral point of view: “There comes a time when people get tired of being trampled over by the iron feet of oppression," and have to organize. Nixon, meanwhile, embodied the connection between labor and civil rights, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars as treasurer of the MIA by appealing to union members across the country, and by helping to connect King to "the world of civil rights unionism and pacifism." Thanks to him, Martin sharpened his understanding of nonviolent direct action. Although racists blew up King’s house, the house of E. D. Nixon, and the residences and churches of other activists, the Montgomery movement stayed united and won a Supreme Court ruling against segregation in transportation. King’s religious framework, his stunning eloquence, and his learning made him a strong orator, and the mass media gave him phenomenal attention.
In 1957, he and other ministers held a conference on desegregating transportation through boycotts and other protests, producing the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), a ministers’ group that sought to end Jim Crow and “redeem the soul of America” through nonviolent organizing. Many black labor activists, such as Bayard Rustin, Ella Baker, and Stanley Levison, helped King tighten his ties to civil rights and labor advocates. King also went to Ghana to celebrate its independence from British colonialism, and visited India to learn more about nonviolence. As Indian Prime Minister Nehru spoke with him about democratic and socialist anticolonial movements in the developing world, King gained an increasingly global perspective and became adept in identifying the links between issues. In September 1957 he called for a coalition between organized labor and African Americans to end Jim Crow, adding, “I never intend to adjust myself to the tragic inequalities of an economic system which will take necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes.” Although the media tended to portray him as almost solely a civil rights leader, demanding equal rights within American capitalism, his views went much further than that.
American conservatives and segregationists constantly attacked Martin Luther King, Jr. as a covert Communist. Georgia’s Commission on Education even sent an undercover agent to take a picture of King sitting next to a reporter for the Communist Party newspaper, the Daily Worker, and right-wing groups turned the photo and headline, “Martin Luther King at Communist Training School,” into the most famous billboard of the era. Congressional investigating committees used this reasoning of anti-Communism against King for the rest of his life, imposing guilt by association when he insisted on defending other people’s civil liberties. But King was not the dupe of anyone – he viewed civil liberties and civil rights as indivisible, and he recognized that denying freedom of speech for leftists created an air of fear aimed at silencing all movements for change. Along with other leading black intellectuals, King called for the abolition of HUAC, the antisubversive Senate committee, and other efforts to suppress freedom of speech and thought. He also recognized the failures of capitalism for people of color, and, encouraged by Coretta, increasingly opposed America’s interventionist militarism in Vietnam.
Although Martin's reputation as a leader of masses sometimes by far exceeded his resources and experience, although he could not export the bus-boycott model to other communities, although he struggled in his efforts to organize a mass movement, King's fascinating autobiography demonstrates that he soldiered on, searching for new viable strategies and expanding his view of the the problems and the possible solutions confronting the freedom movement. This valuable book presents us Martin Luther King, Jr. not as a legendary, idolized figure, but as a human being. It helps us realize his humanity, his personal and public pains; it reminds us that he was similar to us, that we could go and do likewise.
January 29, 2021
u današnje vrijeme -kad nema ništa lakše nego uključiti komp, naći prikladan post ili osobu i opaliti šamar iz udobnosti svog naslonjača- čitati kingove govore i propovijedi i slijediti njegovu filozofiju nenasilja djeluje kao čista bajka. kao da progovara duh iz nepostojeće pećine.
ovo nije autobiografija u smislu da ju je martin luther king napisao; clayborne carson poslužio se raznim izvorima (kingova pisma, dokumenti, govori, intervjui, izjave itd.) te ih uobličio u tekst pisan u prvom licu, pokušavajući nam tako kinga učiniti svojevrsnim osobnim pripovjedačem. iz dobivenog, jasno je da je king bio silno karizmatični lik, njegove govore gotovo da možeš čuti, gotovo da možeš osjetiti intonaciju i dinamiku zanosa dok se obraća bilo bijeloj, bilo crnoj zajednici. svoje retoričke sposobnosti tesao je kao pastor, ali vrhunac je dosegao u ohrabrujućim, biblijski nadahnutim govorima u kojima se vidi koje je njegovo životno poslanje: potaknuti crnu zajednicu da se izbori za svoja prava, za svoju slobodu. tako je naglasak u knjizi na njegovoj socijalnoj misiji, a u zapećku je njegov privatni život (na suprugu se povremeno referira kao na nekoga bez koga on ne bio bio to što jest, ali četvero njegove djece u ovom djelu ne zauzimaju nikakvu ulogu).
iako ne mogu reći da se mogu u potpunosti emocionalno povezati s problemima koje crna zajednica stoljećima nosi na svojim plećima, ovo je važna knjiga za sve koje zanimaju ljudska prava i problem rasizma.
ovo nije autobiografija u smislu da ju je martin luther king napisao; clayborne carson poslužio se raznim izvorima (kingova pisma, dokumenti, govori, intervjui, izjave itd.) te ih uobličio u tekst pisan u prvom licu, pokušavajući nam tako kinga učiniti svojevrsnim osobnim pripovjedačem. iz dobivenog, jasno je da je king bio silno karizmatični lik, njegove govore gotovo da možeš čuti, gotovo da možeš osjetiti intonaciju i dinamiku zanosa dok se obraća bilo bijeloj, bilo crnoj zajednici. svoje retoričke sposobnosti tesao je kao pastor, ali vrhunac je dosegao u ohrabrujućim, biblijski nadahnutim govorima u kojima se vidi koje je njegovo životno poslanje: potaknuti crnu zajednicu da se izbori za svoja prava, za svoju slobodu. tako je naglasak u knjizi na njegovoj socijalnoj misiji, a u zapećku je njegov privatni život (na suprugu se povremeno referira kao na nekoga bez koga on ne bio bio to što jest, ali četvero njegove djece u ovom djelu ne zauzimaju nikakvu ulogu).
iako ne mogu reći da se mogu u potpunosti emocionalno povezati s problemima koje crna zajednica stoljećima nosi na svojim plećima, ovo je važna knjiga za sve koje zanimaju ljudska prava i problem rasizma.
May 9, 2012
Carson takes some liberties adopting an "autobiography" construct. By using the first person singular, the author makes the subject of his book seem, for example, more defensive when Dr. King decided not to remain in jail awaiting trial instead of remaining true to the nonviolent direct action tenet of demonstrating civil disobedience by remaining incarcerated. The story does benefit from this personal perspective as King explores his religion, his career choices, his opposition to Viet Nam and other deep philosophical and/or personal decisions. The author has heavily borrowed from a number of Dr. Kings books and writings; authentic, but for someone familiar with civil rights best known martyr, a bit redundant. A good book, but a bit disappointing in that the author has such access to and knowledge of Martin Luther King's mind and conscience.
February 28, 2014
Martin makes Christianity attractive.
He's somebody to model a life after.
He's somebody to model a life after.
January 29, 2023
It takes a lot of patience and resilience to constantly turn the other cheek especially when dealing with racial injustice, hate, disrespect and acts of indignity. MLK advocated for non-violent means to combat racial injustices and inequalities, a practice he emulated from Mahatma Gandhi.
He believed that only through love, and not hate, can the negro achieve justice. Even after his house, containing his wife and baby, was bombed. Even after he was wrongfully arrested and jailed multiple times. And somehow I know, even after his assassination.
It truly breaks my heart what the african american faced and continues to face. Families were separated because fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters had to leave home and fight for equality. Children had to leave school and protest for freedom. This fight has taken so much from the african american. Children can't be children and families can't be complete yet the white man uses all the resources in its power to protect its families and prevent the humanity of the negro.
I may not fully agree with the nonviolent means without self defense because 1. It doesn't really work if the oppresionist doesn't have a guilty conscious and 2. these people did not give af about black lives. However, it was interesting to read about his views. I'm tempted to reread X's autobiography and compare their approaches and which was more effective in garnering change and respect. All in all we lost two great leaders.
The book was very insightful and Clayborne Carson did a splendid job with this autobiography. It got a little repetitive towards the end but nothing I couldn't get over.
I'm now down a rabbit hole trying to learn more about JFK, the black panther movement, and the CIA. Any great recommendations would be appreciated.
"I want it known the length and breadth of this land that if I am stopped this movement will not stop. If I am stopped our work will not stop. For what we are doing is right. What we are doing is just. And God is with us."
He believed that only through love, and not hate, can the negro achieve justice. Even after his house, containing his wife and baby, was bombed. Even after he was wrongfully arrested and jailed multiple times. And somehow I know, even after his assassination.
It truly breaks my heart what the african american faced and continues to face. Families were separated because fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters had to leave home and fight for equality. Children had to leave school and protest for freedom. This fight has taken so much from the african american. Children can't be children and families can't be complete yet the white man uses all the resources in its power to protect its families and prevent the humanity of the negro.
I may not fully agree with the nonviolent means without self defense because 1. It doesn't really work if the oppresionist doesn't have a guilty conscious and 2. these people did not give af about black lives. However, it was interesting to read about his views. I'm tempted to reread X's autobiography and compare their approaches and which was more effective in garnering change and respect. All in all we lost two great leaders.
The book was very insightful and Clayborne Carson did a splendid job with this autobiography. It got a little repetitive towards the end but nothing I couldn't get over.
I'm now down a rabbit hole trying to learn more about JFK, the black panther movement, and the CIA. Any great recommendations would be appreciated.
"I want it known the length and breadth of this land that if I am stopped this movement will not stop. If I am stopped our work will not stop. For what we are doing is right. What we are doing is just. And God is with us."
December 1, 2018
A fascinating book and great audio with snip-its from Martin Luther King Jr.'s actual speeches. I liked what it had to say about organizing, definitely some good tips (especially about picking a target and not just protesting generally.)
Like most people, I assume, I am most familiar with MLK's work in the south and was fascinated to learn about his efforts in Chicago. His methods and goals seem to have shifted at that point and I would like to learn more. From my extreme ignorance, it seems to have been less effective and I wonder why.
Especially near the end, I don't always agree with the rhetoric, but I find it interesting hearing where it came from and I feel I probably need to study it more to state a stronger opinion.
Definitely worth listening to this one.
Like most people, I assume, I am most familiar with MLK's work in the south and was fascinated to learn about his efforts in Chicago. His methods and goals seem to have shifted at that point and I would like to learn more. From my extreme ignorance, it seems to have been less effective and I wonder why.
Especially near the end, I don't always agree with the rhetoric, but I find it interesting hearing where it came from and I feel I probably need to study it more to state a stronger opinion.
Definitely worth listening to this one.
April 21, 2012
The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. is an incredible work; however one needs to remember that it is not a real autobiography. Like The Autobiography of Malcolm X, it was written after he died. It was assembled by the editor, Clayborne Carson, who went over King's papers both public and personnel and edited his work into a biographical format. The book received the endorsement of Coretta Scott King in 1998. The book is a brilliant piece of literature. Carson is careful to let the reader know what the material is and is not edited. When he takes Dr. King's words directly and unaltered he puts them in italics, so the reader knows for certain that he is getting pure primary material.
King is a combination of many influences though out his life, he begins by talking about his boyhood growing up in the segregated south, where his father was a preacher in the local church. Martin Luther King, Sr. was a take-no-crap-from-anyone type of guy, which was hard for a black man in the segregated south. His mother, Alberta Williams, he describes as being more of a gentle soul whom a lot of his patience would come from. As the Pastor's son he had a type of special status within the local community. He describes his first experience with racism at the age of six when his white friend told him that his (the white boy's) father would not let them be friends anymore because he was black. As the book goes on King discusses his education and how the works of different scholars and philosophers had upon his world view, whether Reinhold Niebuhr, Karl Marx or Mahatma Gandhi.
King discussed meeting his future wife, getting married, and the hard decision to go back to the segregated South. King would take the ministry at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, and from there he would build an activist base. He encouraged his membership to register to vote and to join the NAACP. When the now internationally famous Rosa Parks refused to get from her seat, she started a movement. The Montgomery Bus Boycott did not even start out as a movement to end segregated bussing, just as a movement for more fair treatment. It was not until the outrageous response by those in power backed by the majority of the white community that caused the movement to push further. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a form of nonviolent protest that was inspired by the Mahatma Gandhi and Christian doctrine.
"As the days unfolded, however, the inspiration of Mahatma Gandhi began to exert its influence. I had come to see early that the Christian doctrine of love operating thought the Gandhian method of nonviolence was one of the most potent weapons available to the Negro in his struggle for freedom. About a week after the protest started, a white woman who understood and sympathized with the Negroes' efforts wrote a letter to the editor of the Montgomery Advertiser comparing the buss protest with the Gandhian movement in India. Miss Juliette Morgan, sensitive and frail, did not long survive the rejection and condemnation of the white community, but long before she died in the summer of 1957 the name of Mahatma Gandhi was well known in Montgomery. People who had never heard of the little brown saint of India were now saying his name with an air of familiarity. Nonviolent resistance had emerged as the technique of the movement, while love stood as the regulating ideal. In other words, Christ furnished the spirit and motivation while Gandhi furnished the method." p.67
After victory was achieved in Montgomery, King became internationally famous. This was both a blessing a curse at the same time. A blessing in the way he was now able to carry his message to a much larger audience, but a curse in the way that it set some impossible standards for him to meet in future struggles. King would travel the world eventually going to India, the home of his idol. He was very pleased by what he saw when he got there.
"That night we had dinner with Prime Minister Nehru; with us as a guest was Lady Mountbatten, the wife of Lord Mountbatten, who was viceroy of India when it received its independence. They were lasting friends only because Gandhi followed the way of love and nonviolence. The aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community, so that when the battle is over, a new relationship comes into being between the oppressed and the oppressor." p.125
At home things were heating up, as the fifties, which had seen some very positive developments such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and Brown v. the Board of Education, rolled into the sixties things were going to began to move at a much faster pace. Also, 1960 was a presidential election year, with two candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon were trying for the nation's top job.
"With Mr. Kennedy, after I looked over his voting record, I felt at points he was so concerned about being president of the United States that he would compromise basic principles to become president. But I had to look at something else beyond the man--the people who surrounded him--and I felt that Kennedy was surrounded by better people. It was on that basis that I felt that Kennedy would make the best president.
I never came out with an endorsement. My father did, but I never made one. I took this position in order to maintain a nonpartisan posture, which I have followed all along in order to be able to look objectively at both parties at all times. As I said to him all along, I couldn't, and I never changed that even after he made the call during my arrest. I made a statement of thanks, and I expressed my gratitude for the call, but in the statement I made it clear that I did not endorse any candidate and that this was not to be interpreted as an endorsement.
I had to conclude that the then known facts about Kennedy were not adequate to make an unqualified judgment in his favor. I do feel that, as any man, he grew a great deal. After he became president I thought we saw to Kennedys--a Kennedy of the first two years and another Kennedy emerging in 1963. He was getting ready to throw off political considerations and see the real moral issues. Had President Kennedy lived, I would probably have endorsed him in 1964. But, back at that time, I concluded that there was something to be desired in both candidates." p.150
As the battles raged on they moved to a new and more dangerous front, Birmingham, it was here that a great amount of the famous images of dogs and people attacked with high pressure water hoses were captured. In this fight King would be imprisoned and while in jail, he had been criticized by a letter written by a group of white clergy. King responded with his famous 'Letter from Birmingham Jail.'
"First I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed in the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice; who prefers the a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive which is the presence of justice, who constantly says: 'I agree with you in the goal that you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action'; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a 'more convenient season.' Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection." p.195
"You speak of our activity in Birmingham as extreme. At first I was rather disappointed that fellow clergymen would see my nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist. I began thinking about the fact that I stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community. One is a force of complacency, made up in part of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, are so drained of self-respect and a sense of 'somebodiness' that they have adjusted to segregation; and in part of a few middle-class Negroes who, because of a degree of academic and economic security and because in some ways they profit by segregation, have become insensitive to the problems of the masses. The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close to advocating violence. It is expressed in the various black nationalist movement groups that are springing up across the nation, the largest and best known being Elijah Muhammed's Muslim movement. Nourished by the Negro's frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination, this movement is made up of people who have lost faith in America, who have absolutely repudiated Christianity, and who have concluded that the white man is an incorrigible 'devil.'" p.196-7
As his work continued things started to change. King's main rival as the primary leader in the struggle for civil rights, Malcolm X, was becoming more popular. The primary difference between the two men was that Malcolm X was an advocate for violent resistance. In some ways he was a help to King, because he represented what the alternative to King's message was. However, as a proponent of violence, he attracted it in kind and otherwise alienated members of the white community who might have otherwise been sympathetic.
"Malcolm X came to the fore as a public figure partially as a result of a TV documentary entitled 'The Hate That Hate Produced.' That title points clearly to the nature of Malcolm's life and death. He was clearly a product of the hate and violence invested in the Negro's blighted existence in this nation. He, like so many of our number was a victim of the despair that inevitably derives from the conditions of oppression, poverty, and injustice which engulf that masses of our race. But in his youth, there was no hope no preaching, teaching, or movements of nonviolence. He was too young for the Garvey Movement, too poor to be a Communist--for the Communists geared their work to Negro intellectuals and labor without realizing that the masses of Negroes were unrelated to either--and yet he possessed a native intelligence and drive which demanded an outlet and means of expression. He turned first to the underworld, but this did not fulfill the quest for meaning which grips young minds. It was a testimony to Malcolm's personnel depth and integrity that he did not become an underworld czar, but turned again and again to religion for meaning and destiny. Malcolm was still turning and growing at the time of his meaningless assassination." p.267
As time went on the rise of Black Nationalism, which was abhorrent to King, was growing stronger. Even though the Civil Rights Movement had achieved incredible success, the Civil Rights Act in 1964 had been passed and was breaking down the wall of legalized segregation, some felt unsatisfied. The 'black power' movement, King felt was trying to undo what he had achieved. King began to envision a 'poor people's campaign' that would use the strategy of Civil Rights Movement to achieve economic justice for all citizens of all races. How successful he would have been is unknown because that is where his story untimely ends.
King is a combination of many influences though out his life, he begins by talking about his boyhood growing up in the segregated south, where his father was a preacher in the local church. Martin Luther King, Sr. was a take-no-crap-from-anyone type of guy, which was hard for a black man in the segregated south. His mother, Alberta Williams, he describes as being more of a gentle soul whom a lot of his patience would come from. As the Pastor's son he had a type of special status within the local community. He describes his first experience with racism at the age of six when his white friend told him that his (the white boy's) father would not let them be friends anymore because he was black. As the book goes on King discusses his education and how the works of different scholars and philosophers had upon his world view, whether Reinhold Niebuhr, Karl Marx or Mahatma Gandhi.
King discussed meeting his future wife, getting married, and the hard decision to go back to the segregated South. King would take the ministry at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, and from there he would build an activist base. He encouraged his membership to register to vote and to join the NAACP. When the now internationally famous Rosa Parks refused to get from her seat, she started a movement. The Montgomery Bus Boycott did not even start out as a movement to end segregated bussing, just as a movement for more fair treatment. It was not until the outrageous response by those in power backed by the majority of the white community that caused the movement to push further. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a form of nonviolent protest that was inspired by the Mahatma Gandhi and Christian doctrine.
"As the days unfolded, however, the inspiration of Mahatma Gandhi began to exert its influence. I had come to see early that the Christian doctrine of love operating thought the Gandhian method of nonviolence was one of the most potent weapons available to the Negro in his struggle for freedom. About a week after the protest started, a white woman who understood and sympathized with the Negroes' efforts wrote a letter to the editor of the Montgomery Advertiser comparing the buss protest with the Gandhian movement in India. Miss Juliette Morgan, sensitive and frail, did not long survive the rejection and condemnation of the white community, but long before she died in the summer of 1957 the name of Mahatma Gandhi was well known in Montgomery. People who had never heard of the little brown saint of India were now saying his name with an air of familiarity. Nonviolent resistance had emerged as the technique of the movement, while love stood as the regulating ideal. In other words, Christ furnished the spirit and motivation while Gandhi furnished the method." p.67
After victory was achieved in Montgomery, King became internationally famous. This was both a blessing a curse at the same time. A blessing in the way he was now able to carry his message to a much larger audience, but a curse in the way that it set some impossible standards for him to meet in future struggles. King would travel the world eventually going to India, the home of his idol. He was very pleased by what he saw when he got there.
"That night we had dinner with Prime Minister Nehru; with us as a guest was Lady Mountbatten, the wife of Lord Mountbatten, who was viceroy of India when it received its independence. They were lasting friends only because Gandhi followed the way of love and nonviolence. The aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community, so that when the battle is over, a new relationship comes into being between the oppressed and the oppressor." p.125
At home things were heating up, as the fifties, which had seen some very positive developments such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and Brown v. the Board of Education, rolled into the sixties things were going to began to move at a much faster pace. Also, 1960 was a presidential election year, with two candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon were trying for the nation's top job.
"With Mr. Kennedy, after I looked over his voting record, I felt at points he was so concerned about being president of the United States that he would compromise basic principles to become president. But I had to look at something else beyond the man--the people who surrounded him--and I felt that Kennedy was surrounded by better people. It was on that basis that I felt that Kennedy would make the best president.
I never came out with an endorsement. My father did, but I never made one. I took this position in order to maintain a nonpartisan posture, which I have followed all along in order to be able to look objectively at both parties at all times. As I said to him all along, I couldn't, and I never changed that even after he made the call during my arrest. I made a statement of thanks, and I expressed my gratitude for the call, but in the statement I made it clear that I did not endorse any candidate and that this was not to be interpreted as an endorsement.
I had to conclude that the then known facts about Kennedy were not adequate to make an unqualified judgment in his favor. I do feel that, as any man, he grew a great deal. After he became president I thought we saw to Kennedys--a Kennedy of the first two years and another Kennedy emerging in 1963. He was getting ready to throw off political considerations and see the real moral issues. Had President Kennedy lived, I would probably have endorsed him in 1964. But, back at that time, I concluded that there was something to be desired in both candidates." p.150
As the battles raged on they moved to a new and more dangerous front, Birmingham, it was here that a great amount of the famous images of dogs and people attacked with high pressure water hoses were captured. In this fight King would be imprisoned and while in jail, he had been criticized by a letter written by a group of white clergy. King responded with his famous 'Letter from Birmingham Jail.'
"First I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed in the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice; who prefers the a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive which is the presence of justice, who constantly says: 'I agree with you in the goal that you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action'; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a 'more convenient season.' Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection." p.195
"You speak of our activity in Birmingham as extreme. At first I was rather disappointed that fellow clergymen would see my nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist. I began thinking about the fact that I stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community. One is a force of complacency, made up in part of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, are so drained of self-respect and a sense of 'somebodiness' that they have adjusted to segregation; and in part of a few middle-class Negroes who, because of a degree of academic and economic security and because in some ways they profit by segregation, have become insensitive to the problems of the masses. The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close to advocating violence. It is expressed in the various black nationalist movement groups that are springing up across the nation, the largest and best known being Elijah Muhammed's Muslim movement. Nourished by the Negro's frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination, this movement is made up of people who have lost faith in America, who have absolutely repudiated Christianity, and who have concluded that the white man is an incorrigible 'devil.'" p.196-7
As his work continued things started to change. King's main rival as the primary leader in the struggle for civil rights, Malcolm X, was becoming more popular. The primary difference between the two men was that Malcolm X was an advocate for violent resistance. In some ways he was a help to King, because he represented what the alternative to King's message was. However, as a proponent of violence, he attracted it in kind and otherwise alienated members of the white community who might have otherwise been sympathetic.
"Malcolm X came to the fore as a public figure partially as a result of a TV documentary entitled 'The Hate That Hate Produced.' That title points clearly to the nature of Malcolm's life and death. He was clearly a product of the hate and violence invested in the Negro's blighted existence in this nation. He, like so many of our number was a victim of the despair that inevitably derives from the conditions of oppression, poverty, and injustice which engulf that masses of our race. But in his youth, there was no hope no preaching, teaching, or movements of nonviolence. He was too young for the Garvey Movement, too poor to be a Communist--for the Communists geared their work to Negro intellectuals and labor without realizing that the masses of Negroes were unrelated to either--and yet he possessed a native intelligence and drive which demanded an outlet and means of expression. He turned first to the underworld, but this did not fulfill the quest for meaning which grips young minds. It was a testimony to Malcolm's personnel depth and integrity that he did not become an underworld czar, but turned again and again to religion for meaning and destiny. Malcolm was still turning and growing at the time of his meaningless assassination." p.267
As time went on the rise of Black Nationalism, which was abhorrent to King, was growing stronger. Even though the Civil Rights Movement had achieved incredible success, the Civil Rights Act in 1964 had been passed and was breaking down the wall of legalized segregation, some felt unsatisfied. The 'black power' movement, King felt was trying to undo what he had achieved. King began to envision a 'poor people's campaign' that would use the strategy of Civil Rights Movement to achieve economic justice for all citizens of all races. How successful he would have been is unknown because that is where his story untimely ends.
February 11, 2019
"We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed."
I started the audiobook of The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. a day after MLK Jr. Day, figuring, what better time than now to absorb such a heavy subject? And heavy it was. Though misleading in its title, this book is a collection of King's various writings, and the audiobook in particular includes numerous recordings of King's speeches, sermons, etc. I cannot put into adequate words the effect that King has had on me as I have listened to him speak. He is lyrical, he is poetic, and he cuts deep with emotion. All I can really say, is that all people should listen to King, reflect upon themselves and their country, and strive to be better people.
I started the audiobook of The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. a day after MLK Jr. Day, figuring, what better time than now to absorb such a heavy subject? And heavy it was. Though misleading in its title, this book is a collection of King's various writings, and the audiobook in particular includes numerous recordings of King's speeches, sermons, etc. I cannot put into adequate words the effect that King has had on me as I have listened to him speak. He is lyrical, he is poetic, and he cuts deep with emotion. All I can really say, is that all people should listen to King, reflect upon themselves and their country, and strive to be better people.
March 13, 2015
***
"Eu também sou vítima de sonhos adiados, de esperanças dilaceradas, mas, apesar disso, eu ainda tenho um sonho, porque a gente não pode desistir da vida".
(Martin Luther King)
***
"Eu também sou vítima de sonhos adiados, de esperanças dilaceradas, mas, apesar disso, eu ainda tenho um sonho, porque a gente não pode desistir da vida".
(Martin Luther King)
***
December 31, 2021
حقیقت اینکه اولش فکر میکردم فوقش دو سه ستاره بدم به این کتاب اما...
اول اینکه نظر به سن نه چندان زیاد و مرگ ناگهانی کینگ، این عملاً اتوبیوگرافی نیست چون به اون قصد چیز مدونی ننوشته بوده؛ گزیدهی یادداشتها و مقالهها و نامهها و سخنرانیهاست که جمعبندی و ویرایش شده و الحق که خوب هم از آب دراومده.
دوم اینکه نوشتههای کینگ در زمان دولت کندی مصداق بارز "شاه میبخشه، شاهقلی نمیبخشه" بود. اکتیویستهای امروزی بعد هفت کفن پوسوندن همهی طرفین دعوا، به بابی کندی خرده میگیرن که کینگ رو در فهرست تروریستها ثبت کرده بوده و شنود داشتن و... چیزی که یادم نیست اینه که اون فهرست از دولت ماقبل به کندیها ارث میرسه یا در همون دولت این کار رو میکنن. چیزی که مهمه اینه که علیرغمش اینها کارشون رو، هر چند با رنج و سختی و خطر فراوان و وحشتناک، پیش میبردن و به دولتمردان هم دسترسی داشتن. اکتیویست امروزی ارزش رشد فهم و درک دولتمردای اون دوره رو نمیفهمه و به نظر میرسه لیاقتش همین شومنهای امروزی باشن. (من از هفتاد هشتاد نود درصد اکتیویستهای امروزی در همهی زمینهها چندشم میشه راستش.) از والاس چیزی ننوشته بود اینجا ولی راستش والاس و همپالکیهاش شرف داشتن به خیلی از این امروزیها که اینهمه هم کشتهمرده دارن.
سوم اینکه خنده نداره ولی بخت سیاه لیندون جانسون همیشه منو به خنده میندازه؛ جانسون میتونست قهرمان بلامنازع این مبارزات باشه، در جایگاهی همسطح لینکلن. ولی در عوض میراثش تا ابد بدنامی ویتنامه. کینگ توی سخنرانی واکنشش به ویتنام از همهی کسانی که من تا حالا دیدم دلرحمتره و میگه که اون جنگ میراث چهار رییسجمهوره و نباید فقط به جانسون حمله کرد. من یادم نیست کس دیگهای اینقدر لطف کرده باشه بهش. :))
چهارم اینکه همبستگی خیلی چیز خوبیه. قسمت همهی ستمدیدگان عالم بشه.
پنجم اینکه این سطح از ایمان هم باید چیز جالبی باشه. اشتیاق صاحبسخن در نقل تکراریترین قصهی کتاب مقدس، مستمع نهچندان علاقهمند به این مسائل رو هم خوب سر ذوق آورد راستش.
اول اینکه نظر به سن نه چندان زیاد و مرگ ناگهانی کینگ، این عملاً اتوبیوگرافی نیست چون به اون قصد چیز مدونی ننوشته بوده؛ گزیدهی یادداشتها و مقالهها و نامهها و سخنرانیهاست که جمعبندی و ویرایش شده و الحق که خوب هم از آب دراومده.
دوم اینکه نوشتههای کینگ در زمان دولت کندی مصداق بارز "شاه میبخشه، شاهقلی نمیبخشه" بود. اکتیویستهای امروزی بعد هفت کفن پوسوندن همهی طرفین دعوا، به بابی کندی خرده میگیرن که کینگ رو در فهرست تروریستها ثبت کرده بوده و شنود داشتن و... چیزی که یادم نیست اینه که اون فهرست از دولت ماقبل به کندیها ارث میرسه یا در همون دولت این کار رو میکنن. چیزی که مهمه اینه که علیرغمش اینها کارشون رو، هر چند با رنج و سختی و خطر فراوان و وحشتناک، پیش میبردن و به دولتمردان هم دسترسی داشتن. اکتیویست امروزی ارزش رشد فهم و درک دولتمردای اون دوره رو نمیفهمه و به نظر میرسه لیاقتش همین شومنهای امروزی باشن. (من از هفتاد هشتاد نود درصد اکتیویستهای امروزی در همهی زمینهها چندشم میشه راستش.) از والاس چیزی ننوشته بود اینجا ولی راستش والاس و همپالکیهاش شرف داشتن به خیلی از این امروزیها که اینهمه هم کشتهمرده دارن.
سوم اینکه خنده نداره ولی بخت سیاه لیندون جانسون همیشه منو به خنده میندازه؛ جانسون میتونست قهرمان بلامنازع این مبارزات باشه، در جایگاهی همسطح لینکلن. ولی در عوض میراثش تا ابد بدنامی ویتنامه. کینگ توی سخنرانی واکنشش به ویتنام از همهی کسانی که من تا حالا دیدم دلرحمتره و میگه که اون جنگ میراث چهار رییسجمهوره و نباید فقط به جانسون حمله کرد. من یادم نیست کس دیگهای اینقدر لطف کرده باشه بهش. :))
چهارم اینکه همبستگی خیلی چیز خوبیه. قسمت همهی ستمدیدگان عالم بشه.
پنجم اینکه این سطح از ایمان هم باید چیز جالبی باشه. اشتیاق صاحبسخن در نقل تکراریترین قصهی کتاب مقدس، مستمع نهچندان علاقهمند به این مسائل رو هم خوب سر ذوق آورد راستش.
December 10, 2014
I have never listened to an audiobook until now but I was urged to listen to this book by a friend. It brought back so many memories of an extraordinary man who's message needs to be repeated continually to a country that has misplaced its conscience. I was blessed to hear Dr. King live. Although I was a young child I have never forgotten that experience and only wish he wasn't taken from us. Thank you Clayborne Carson for refreshing his message. Read this and live Dr. King's message.
January 28, 2020
Editor and MLK scholar, Clayborne Carson, cobbled together writings and speeches to create this powerful rendering of Dr. King’s work. The audiobook production is chill-inducing. LeVar Burton narrates the stories which are punctuated by actual speech and sermon recordings. Such an incredible human being.
November 16, 2019
it makes me want to cry when I think of how too good for this world he really was.
September 28, 2013
Below are key excerpts from the book that I found particularly insightful:
1- "We cannot have an enlightened democracy with one great group living in ignorance. We cannot have a healthy nation with one-tenth of the people ill-nourished, sick, harboring germs of disease which recognize no color lines—obey no Jim Crow laws. We cannot have a nation orderly and sound with one group so ground down and thwarted that it is almost forced into unsocial attitudes and crime. We cannot be truly Christian people so long as we flout the central teachings of Jesus: brotherly love and the Golden Rule. We cannot come to full prosperity with one great group so ill-delayed that it cannot.t buy goods. So as we gird ourselves to defend democracy from foreign attack, let us see to it that increasingly at home we give fair play and free opportunity for all people."
2- "Above all, I see the preaching ministry as a dual process. On the one hand I must attempt to change the soul of individuals so that their societies may be changed. On the other I must attempt to change the societies so that the individual soul will have a change. Therefore, must be concerned about unemployment, slums, and economic insecurity. I am a profound advocate of the social gospel."
3- "Admittedly, nonviolence in the truest sense is not a strategy that one uses simply because it is expedient at the moment; nonviolence is ultimately a way of life that men live by because of the sheer morality of its claim. But even granting this, the willingness to use nonviolence as a technique is a step forward. For he who goes this far is more likely to adopt nonviolence later as a way of life."
4- "Ghana has something to say to us. It says to us first that the oppressor never voluntarily gives freedom to the oppressed. You have to work for it. Freedom is never given to anybody. Privileged classes never give up their privileges without strong resistance."
5- "I am often reminded of the statement made by Nkrumah: "I prefer self-government with danger to servitude with tranquility." I think that's a great statement. They were willing to face the dangers and difficulties, but I thought that Ghana would be able to profit by the mistakes of other nations that had existed over so many years and develop into a great nation."
6- "We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was 'well timed'' in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word ''Wait!'' It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied.""
7- "Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of Saint Thomas Aquinas: an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. Segregation, to use the terminology of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, substitutes an "I-it" relationship for an "I-thou" relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. Hence segregation is not only politically. economically, and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful."
8- "The reason I can't follow the old eye-for-an-eye philosophy is that it ends up leaving everybody blind. Somebody must have sense and somebody must have religion."
9- "Man's inhumanity to man is not only perpetrated by the vitriolic actions of those who are bad. It is also perpetrated by the vitiating inaction of those who are good."
10- "We were all involved in the death of John Kennedy. We tolerated hate; we tolerated the sick simulation of violence in all walks of life; and we tolerated the differential application of law, which said that a man's life was sacred only if we agreed with his views. This may explain the cascading grief that flooded the country in late November. We mourned a man who had become the pride of the nation, but we grieved as well for ourselves because we knew we were sick."
11- "I think there is a lesson that we can all learn from this: that violence is impractical and that now, more than ever before, we must pursue the course of nonviolence to achieve a reign of justice and a rule of love in our society, and that hatred and violence must be cast into the unending limbo if we are to survive."
12- "We also come here today to affirm that we will no longer sit idly by in agonizing deprivation and wait on others to provide "our freedom We will be sadly mistaken if we think freedom is some lavish dish that the federal government and the white man will pass out on a silver platter while the Negro merely furnishes the appetite. Freedom is never voluntarily granted by the oppressor. It must be demanded by the oppressed."
13- "Power, properly understood, is the ability to achieve purpose. It is the strength required to bring about social, political, or economic changes. In this sense power is not only desirable but necessary in order to implement the demands of love and justice. One of the greatest problems of history is that the concepts of love and power are usually contrasted as polar opposites. Love is identified with a resignation of power and power with a denial of love. What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive and that love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love."
14- "Ultimately, a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus. If every Negro in the United States turns to violence, 1 will choose to be that one lone voice preaching that this is the wrong way...I cannot make myself believe that God wanted me to hate. I'm tired of violence, I've seen too much of it. I've seen such hate on the faces of too many sheriffs in the South. And I'm not going to let my oppressor dictate to me what method I must use. Our oppressors have used violence. Our oppressors have used hatred. Our oppressors have used rifles and guns. I'm not going to stoop down to their level. I want to rise to a higher level. We have a power that can't be found in Molotov cocktails."
1- "We cannot have an enlightened democracy with one great group living in ignorance. We cannot have a healthy nation with one-tenth of the people ill-nourished, sick, harboring germs of disease which recognize no color lines—obey no Jim Crow laws. We cannot have a nation orderly and sound with one group so ground down and thwarted that it is almost forced into unsocial attitudes and crime. We cannot be truly Christian people so long as we flout the central teachings of Jesus: brotherly love and the Golden Rule. We cannot come to full prosperity with one great group so ill-delayed that it cannot.t buy goods. So as we gird ourselves to defend democracy from foreign attack, let us see to it that increasingly at home we give fair play and free opportunity for all people."
2- "Above all, I see the preaching ministry as a dual process. On the one hand I must attempt to change the soul of individuals so that their societies may be changed. On the other I must attempt to change the societies so that the individual soul will have a change. Therefore, must be concerned about unemployment, slums, and economic insecurity. I am a profound advocate of the social gospel."
3- "Admittedly, nonviolence in the truest sense is not a strategy that one uses simply because it is expedient at the moment; nonviolence is ultimately a way of life that men live by because of the sheer morality of its claim. But even granting this, the willingness to use nonviolence as a technique is a step forward. For he who goes this far is more likely to adopt nonviolence later as a way of life."
4- "Ghana has something to say to us. It says to us first that the oppressor never voluntarily gives freedom to the oppressed. You have to work for it. Freedom is never given to anybody. Privileged classes never give up their privileges without strong resistance."
5- "I am often reminded of the statement made by Nkrumah: "I prefer self-government with danger to servitude with tranquility." I think that's a great statement. They were willing to face the dangers and difficulties, but I thought that Ghana would be able to profit by the mistakes of other nations that had existed over so many years and develop into a great nation."
6- "We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was 'well timed'' in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word ''Wait!'' It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied.""
7- "Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of Saint Thomas Aquinas: an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. Segregation, to use the terminology of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, substitutes an "I-it" relationship for an "I-thou" relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. Hence segregation is not only politically. economically, and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful."
8- "The reason I can't follow the old eye-for-an-eye philosophy is that it ends up leaving everybody blind. Somebody must have sense and somebody must have religion."
9- "Man's inhumanity to man is not only perpetrated by the vitriolic actions of those who are bad. It is also perpetrated by the vitiating inaction of those who are good."
10- "We were all involved in the death of John Kennedy. We tolerated hate; we tolerated the sick simulation of violence in all walks of life; and we tolerated the differential application of law, which said that a man's life was sacred only if we agreed with his views. This may explain the cascading grief that flooded the country in late November. We mourned a man who had become the pride of the nation, but we grieved as well for ourselves because we knew we were sick."
11- "I think there is a lesson that we can all learn from this: that violence is impractical and that now, more than ever before, we must pursue the course of nonviolence to achieve a reign of justice and a rule of love in our society, and that hatred and violence must be cast into the unending limbo if we are to survive."
12- "We also come here today to affirm that we will no longer sit idly by in agonizing deprivation and wait on others to provide "our freedom We will be sadly mistaken if we think freedom is some lavish dish that the federal government and the white man will pass out on a silver platter while the Negro merely furnishes the appetite. Freedom is never voluntarily granted by the oppressor. It must be demanded by the oppressed."
13- "Power, properly understood, is the ability to achieve purpose. It is the strength required to bring about social, political, or economic changes. In this sense power is not only desirable but necessary in order to implement the demands of love and justice. One of the greatest problems of history is that the concepts of love and power are usually contrasted as polar opposites. Love is identified with a resignation of power and power with a denial of love. What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive and that love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love."
14- "Ultimately, a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus. If every Negro in the United States turns to violence, 1 will choose to be that one lone voice preaching that this is the wrong way...I cannot make myself believe that God wanted me to hate. I'm tired of violence, I've seen too much of it. I've seen such hate on the faces of too many sheriffs in the South. And I'm not going to let my oppressor dictate to me what method I must use. Our oppressors have used violence. Our oppressors have used hatred. Our oppressors have used rifles and guns. I'm not going to stoop down to their level. I want to rise to a higher level. We have a power that can't be found in Molotov cocktails."
May 7, 2020
Reading The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr was an experience best described as insightful. I think it’s tragic that his legacy is often centered around his “I Have A Dream” speech and little acknowledgement is given to the Poor People’s Campaign and his denouncement of the Vietnam War. There’s an abundance of information contained in these pages, some of which is a bit extra in my opinion. Some places, especially early on through the middle of the autobiography dragged in my opinion. The later chapters of the book, particularly when MLK discusses Malcolm X and Black Power is far more compelling and relevant than reading about his time at Crozier Seminary & Boston University- not that it’s unimportant, only that the information in these chapters could be condensed into one.
What I think is important:
Reflecting on early fight for civil rights “I came to see that no one gives up his privileges without strong resistance. I saw further that the underlying purpose of segregation was to oppress and exploit the segregated, not simply to keep them apart. Even when we asked for justice within (italicized) the segregation laws, the ‘powers that be’ were not willing to grant it. Justice and equality, I saw, would never come while segregation remained, because the basic purpose of segregation was to perpetuate injustice and equality” (70).
Meaning of nonviolent resistance “true nonviolent resistance is not an unrealistic submission to evil power. It is rather a courageous confrontation of evil by the power of love, in the faith that it is better to be the recipient of violence than the inflicter of it, since the latter only multiplies the existence of violence and bitterness in the universe, while the former may develop a sense of shame in the opponent, and thereby bring about a transformation and change of heart” (130).
Letter From A Birmingham Jail- should be read in its entirety. What stood out for me is the admonishment of the white moderate, described as “more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice...shallow misunderstanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection” (195).
Also from this letter- “I began thinking about the fact that I stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community. One is a force of complacency, made up in part of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, are so drained of self-respect and a sense of sense of somebodiness that they have adjusted to segregation; and in part of a few middle-class Negroes who, because of a degree of academic and economic security and because in some way they profit by segregation, have become insensitive to the problems of the masses. The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close advocating violence. It is expressed in the various black nationalist groups that are springing up across the nation, the largest and best known being Elijah Muhammad’s Muslim movement” (197).
Chicago Campaign “freedom is never voluntarily granted by the oppressor. It must be demanded by the oppressed” (303).
Opinion of Black Power “beneath all the satisfaction of a gratifying slogan, Black Power was a nihilistic philosophy born out of the conviction that the Negro can’t win. It was, at bottom, the view that American society is so hopelessly corrupt and enmeshed in evil that there is no possibility of salvation from within. Although this thinking is understandable as a response to a white power structure that never completely committed itself to true equality for the Negro, and a diehard mentality that sought to shut all windows and doors against the winds of change, it nonetheless carried the seeds of its own doom” (328).
Now that I’ve read this autobiography, can I say my opinion of Dr. King has changed...not exactly. I think this book shows that he like everyone else is a complex person. I think it’s a great thing to have questions about historical figures, especially when the prevailing view is a sanitized version of an imperfect person. To me, that doesn’t equate to disrespect. What was surprising was there is no mention of FBI surveillance through the years. I missed the write up last year about MLK’s character coming into question. I understand why MLK may have chosen not to address the FBI and why his family may not have wanted that to be a part of his narrative. It’s perfectly ok to say none of your business or no comment. As a reader I accept it as is. My next steps-read more about Black Power, Black Panther Party, read more of King’s speeches to better understand legacy, read more about lesser know figures of the Civil Rights Movement.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/03/op...
What I think is important:
Reflecting on early fight for civil rights “I came to see that no one gives up his privileges without strong resistance. I saw further that the underlying purpose of segregation was to oppress and exploit the segregated, not simply to keep them apart. Even when we asked for justice within (italicized) the segregation laws, the ‘powers that be’ were not willing to grant it. Justice and equality, I saw, would never come while segregation remained, because the basic purpose of segregation was to perpetuate injustice and equality” (70).
Meaning of nonviolent resistance “true nonviolent resistance is not an unrealistic submission to evil power. It is rather a courageous confrontation of evil by the power of love, in the faith that it is better to be the recipient of violence than the inflicter of it, since the latter only multiplies the existence of violence and bitterness in the universe, while the former may develop a sense of shame in the opponent, and thereby bring about a transformation and change of heart” (130).
Letter From A Birmingham Jail- should be read in its entirety. What stood out for me is the admonishment of the white moderate, described as “more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice...shallow misunderstanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection” (195).
Also from this letter- “I began thinking about the fact that I stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community. One is a force of complacency, made up in part of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, are so drained of self-respect and a sense of sense of somebodiness that they have adjusted to segregation; and in part of a few middle-class Negroes who, because of a degree of academic and economic security and because in some way they profit by segregation, have become insensitive to the problems of the masses. The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close advocating violence. It is expressed in the various black nationalist groups that are springing up across the nation, the largest and best known being Elijah Muhammad’s Muslim movement” (197).
Chicago Campaign “freedom is never voluntarily granted by the oppressor. It must be demanded by the oppressed” (303).
Opinion of Black Power “beneath all the satisfaction of a gratifying slogan, Black Power was a nihilistic philosophy born out of the conviction that the Negro can’t win. It was, at bottom, the view that American society is so hopelessly corrupt and enmeshed in evil that there is no possibility of salvation from within. Although this thinking is understandable as a response to a white power structure that never completely committed itself to true equality for the Negro, and a diehard mentality that sought to shut all windows and doors against the winds of change, it nonetheless carried the seeds of its own doom” (328).
Now that I’ve read this autobiography, can I say my opinion of Dr. King has changed...not exactly. I think this book shows that he like everyone else is a complex person. I think it’s a great thing to have questions about historical figures, especially when the prevailing view is a sanitized version of an imperfect person. To me, that doesn’t equate to disrespect. What was surprising was there is no mention of FBI surveillance through the years. I missed the write up last year about MLK’s character coming into question. I understand why MLK may have chosen not to address the FBI and why his family may not have wanted that to be a part of his narrative. It’s perfectly ok to say none of your business or no comment. As a reader I accept it as is. My next steps-read more about Black Power, Black Panther Party, read more of King’s speeches to better understand legacy, read more about lesser know figures of the Civil Rights Movement.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/03/op...
March 20, 2016
Make America Great Again
One one level I an deeply ashamed that I am just reading this comprehensive, compelling, and courageous book taken from the writings and speeches of the man himself and on another level I am happy I am reading this in 2016 as the issues of racism, poverty, and war (King's self-described 3 evils) are still very much alive. This is the example of a leader as Servant - a powerful man who dedicated his power not to the creation of personal wealth but to improving the conditions for millions of people. As a black man who has directly benefited from the Civil Rights Movement I feel a personal responsibility to advance the work of Dr. King. I plan to return to this tome often for inspiration. We shall Overcome!
One one level I an deeply ashamed that I am just reading this comprehensive, compelling, and courageous book taken from the writings and speeches of the man himself and on another level I am happy I am reading this in 2016 as the issues of racism, poverty, and war (King's self-described 3 evils) are still very much alive. This is the example of a leader as Servant - a powerful man who dedicated his power not to the creation of personal wealth but to improving the conditions for millions of people. As a black man who has directly benefited from the Civil Rights Movement I feel a personal responsibility to advance the work of Dr. King. I plan to return to this tome often for inspiration. We shall Overcome!
October 22, 2022
What an incredible man, and an incredible life - to think, he achieved all he did before turning 40!
June 22, 2020
It’s difficult for me to put my thoughts about MLK’s autobiography into words. It’s inspiring to hear such a provocative call to action that still resonates today. Simultaneously, it’s disheartening to think that his specific plans for advocacy are still very much needed. We still have such a long way to go to recognize his true vision for America.
Prior to reading this, I had honestly only read his Letter from Birmingham Jail and I Have a Dream speech. This fills in so much about his overall philosophy and counterarguments made to critics. I was especially interested in his cut-short plans for antiwar protests and economic development. Although I didn’t always agree with his rationales, MLK was certainly a man of conviction.
Resonating Quote: “I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Councilor or the Ku Klux Klan, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believe he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.”’
Prior to reading this, I had honestly only read his Letter from Birmingham Jail and I Have a Dream speech. This fills in so much about his overall philosophy and counterarguments made to critics. I was especially interested in his cut-short plans for antiwar protests and economic development. Although I didn’t always agree with his rationales, MLK was certainly a man of conviction.
Resonating Quote: “I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Councilor or the Ku Klux Klan, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believe he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.”’
Displaying 1 - 30 of 941 reviews