149 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
149 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
V. P. Franklin, Biography: Martin Luther King, Jr.
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(New York, 1998), ii, 186.
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Author
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V.P. Franklin is professor of history at Drexel University. He received his Ph.D. from the
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University of Chicago, and has taught United States and African-American history at Yale University,
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Arizona State, and the University of Illinois, and as a Fulbright professor at the Universidad de Barcelona
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and the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona in Spain. Dr. Franklin is the co-editor of New Perspectives
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on Black Educational History (1978), and the author of The Education of Black Philadelphia (1979), Black
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Self-Determination: A Cultural History of African-American Resistance (1992), and numerous essays on
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African-American history and education. His most recent book is Living Our Stories, Telling Our Truths:
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Autobiography and the Making of the African-American Intellectual Tradition (1996).i Although Franklin
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did not participate in any of the events partaken in this book, to my knowledge, I do believe he is well
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qualified to summarize the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Subject, Aim, and Scope of the Book
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The general subject of this book is to inform the reader of the life and struggles of Dr. Martin
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Luther King, Jr. This includes major events in his life, events that transpired during the Civil Rights
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Movement, and the events that led up to the creation of his legacy. This book guides the reader through his
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birth on January 15, 1929, to his cold-blooded assassination on April 4, 1968.
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Special Nature
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This literary selection is a series of Biography books, which includes novels of Muhammad Ali,
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Al Capone, Katharine Hepburn, Mickey Mantle, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Pope John Paul II, and
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Ronald Reagan.
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Content (Chapter by Chapter)
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Born to Mike and Alberta King on January 15, 1929, he was one of three King children. He
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began his schooling in the fall of 1933 at the Yonge Street Elementary School, but was quickly expelled
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due to an age limit. In September 1936, he transferred to another school, where he stayed until grade six.
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He began excelling in academics, and was entered in Booker T. Washington High School in 1942, his 10th
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grade year. His home life was deeply rooted in religion. When his grandmother passed away in 1941, he
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committed suicide for the second time. King Jr. wrote about his first encounter with legal segregation
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(the "race problem"), which led to a thorough explanation by his mother of slavery. In his junior year, he
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was selected to represent Booker T. Washington High School in Valdosta, GA at the statewide Elks
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oratorical contest; he won 2nd place with his speech, "The Negro and the Constitution"; this was marred by
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an ugly racial incident involving white students on the bus. He was offered admission to Morehouse
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College in September 1944, and during the next two summers, he and a group of Morehouse students
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worked on a tobacco farm in Simsbury, Connecticut. At Morehouse, he made lots of friends, most notably
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George D. Kelsey, head of the Department of Religion - this relationship resulted in King Jr. becoming a
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minister; his first trial sermon was at Ebenezer Baptist Church , and he was accepted into Crozer
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Theological Seminary in April 1948. During his stay at Crozer, he met a young woman and fell in love;
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unfortunately, the girl's parents sent her off away from King Jr., which ended up being a good thing. In
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1951, King Jr. was accepted into the Ph.D. program in Systematic Theology at Boston University.
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While at the School of Theology,. he would meet Coretta Scott, his future wife; they are married
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on June 18, 1953 in Marion, Alabama. In April 1954, he accepts a pastorate position at the Dexter Avenue
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Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. 1955 would prove to be a busy year for Martin Luther King, Jr.
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he receives his Doctorate degree from Boston University on June 5, joins the NAACP (National
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Association for the Advancement of Colored People) Montgomery branch's executive committee in
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August, and a daughter, Yolanda Denise, is born on November 17. It is also during this time period
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when we see the emergence of a prominent African-American figure show up - Rosa Parks.
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On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white
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passenger; this action resulted in a citywide boycott of the Montgomery city bus system. In January 1956,
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King Jr. was arrested for going five miles over the speed limit, fined, and released. He was met with
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threats of violence upon his release, and on January 30, his home was bombed. He was arrested for taking
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part in the bus boycott, which King, Jr. gladly accepted - he was "proud to be arrested for the cause of
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freedom." After his release, the Alabama bus segregation case went to trial, and after Browder v. Gayle
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went before a three-judge panel, it was ruled, by a margin of 2-1, that the segregation law was
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unconstitutional. Due to this, whites in powerful positions began to halt the bus boycott; the Ku Klux Klan
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also got involved, marching through black neighborhoods as a result. More bombings in Montgomery took
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place on the night of January 9, 1957, including three churches. Despite all this, a gathering of 60 people
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congregated at the Ebenezer Baptist Church and sounded the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership
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Conference) in Atlanta in August 1957; King Jr. was elected chairman. In July, King Jr. was the recipient
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of the NAACP's highest award, the Springarn Award, due to his contributions of race relations. As the
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Civil Rights Act of 1957 was passed, the SCLC made an effort to get the African-American race to go vote
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in free elections and to encourage the formation of local-voter registration committees. On October 29, he
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was blessed with the birth of a son, named Martin Luther King III. During a signing of his book Stride
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Toward Freedom, he was stabbed by Isola Curry, a mentally unstable woman; by staying calm, King Jr.
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suffered no fatal injuries. On November 29, 1959, King Jr. announces that he would be leaving Dexter
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Avenue Church to serve as co-pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. More civil rights sit-ins
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occurred, particualrly one in Greensboro, North Carolina, but students at North Carolina A&T College a
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the local Woolworth's Department Store - King Jr. gave his moral support. At another sit-in on October 19,
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1960, King Jr. was jailed.
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Early in 1960, King Jr. was stopped for having no license in the state of Georgia; while in jail, it
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was discovered that he had violated parole - he is released on $2,000 bond on October 28. On January 3,
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1961, his second son, Dexter, is born. In May 1961, King Jr. and James Farmer started launching 'Freedom
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Riders' throughout the South - they were met with white mobs, thus beginning the "Battle of Montgomery".
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On April 3, 1963, King Jr. issued the "Birmingham Manifesto", calling for the desegregation of all places
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within department and variety stores, which resulted in massive sit-ins. King Jr. staged a march on Good
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Friday on Birmingham's City Hall, which he was jailed for. He wrote his "Letter From a Birmingham
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Jail", which vindicated the non-violence approach he was taking.
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On August 28, 1963, he gave his now famous "I Have a Dream" speech in Washington, D.C. - as a
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result, he was honored as Time Magazine's Man of the Year. In June 1964 King's latest book, Why Can't
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We Wait, was published; it showed his perspective on the Birmingham campaign. In September 1964, he
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and Coretta took a trip to Europe, visiting such places as West Berlin, Rome, London, and Madrid. On
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December 10, 1964, King received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway.
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King received a package containing a crudely written letter and a tape, containing threats and
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sounds of love making - they concluded that it had to be the work of the FBI, and that indeed they had
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been tapping his phone. King led marchers in Selma, Alabama - King decided to go to Jail to promote
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national interest in the rally on February 1. While incarcerated, King wrote his "Letter From a Selma,
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Alabama Jail", which was published in the New York Times on February 5. He made it clear that even
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though the Civil Rights Act of 1964 had passed, much more was still needed to be done. An arrest of an
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SCLC member led to a mass rally at a nearby church - an attack by the local police and state troopers
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ensued, which led to King calling for a "Motorcade to Montgomery"; despite numerous warnings to halt the
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proceedings, the march was a success. After previous travels into the Northern states, it was concluded that
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the same problems afflicted the North as well as the South. On Friday, July 23, King went to Chicago for
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a marathon of speaking arrangements, rallies, and meetings; his visit was a huge success to African
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American causes in the North.
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By the end of March 1967, he had made the decision to speak out against the Vietnam War and on
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April 4 he addressed a large audience at New York City's Riverside Church, calling for an end to the war.
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His speech went unheralded, as almost everyone opposed it. His final book, Where Do We Go From Here?
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Chaos of Community, was written; it emphasized his belief that "it is morally right to insist that every
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person has a decent house, and adequate education and enough money to provide basic necessities for one's
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family." In March 1968, King had planned to give a speech in Memphis and promised to lead a march to
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support the city's sanitation workers. On Thursday, April 4, 1968 - four days before the march was to occur
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several shots rang out and hit King while he was standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel; King had
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been assassinated. King's funeral took place on April 9 at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta; an
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estimated 80,000 people attended the ceremonies, including Thurgood Marshall, Robert and Jacqueline
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Kennedy, Eugene McCarthy, and Richard Nixon. On the day of King's burial, a House committee agreed to
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the Senate's version of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, outlawing discriminatory practices that prevented
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African Americans and other minorities from obtaining housing in neighborhoods of their own choosing.
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Thesis
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Franklin's treatment reveals the public and the personal lives behind the man. Martin Luther
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King, Jr., dedicated his life to the cause of racial and economic justice and sought the creation of the
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Beloved Community. His message and vision for American society, given its long history of slavery,
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oppression, racism, and economic inequality, provides essential information for present and future
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generations who understand the need "to redeem the soul of America."ii This thesis is thoroughly presented
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in major events and times of the life of Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Sources
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The author has used many books to base his findings upon, by such authors as Martin Luther
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King, Jr., Ralph David Abernathy, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King. The author also used
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documentation from the historical events themselves.
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Opinion and Bias
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I thought this book was interesting, mostly because I did not know much about Martin Luther
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King, Jr. to begin with. I had no idea the harassment and struggles he went through just to express his point
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and he fought in such a way that proved what he believed in was right - he did what he did in a nonviolent
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manner. The African-American community had indeed been through many hardships - I believe King had
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a mission to change the way African Americans were treated - as free, equal men.
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Conclusion
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V. P. Franklin, the distinguished historian, gives us possibly the most succinct profile of Dr.
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Martin Luther King, Jr., to date. Concise, factually rich, and incisive, Martin Luther King Jr. reveals the
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roots of King's dream for the future of race relations in America.iii I believe that this book is very
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informative. It gave many instances of civil rights violations, and the struggles that the African American
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community went through just to live as free, equal citizens. Dr. King personified this culture, as he was
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jailed numerous times for expressing his opinion. Although I cannot give a conclusion one way or the
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other, I attribute this to not being directly affected by this movement. I do, however, have a greater
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understanding of what Dr. King wanted to do - fight for something he believed in, and to succeed in an
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equal, free chance for all African Americans. Therefore, I consider this book a must read for anyone who
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does not understand anything that occurred during the Civil Rights Movement, or is not informed of Martin
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Luther King, Jr. himself.
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i Page 186, Martin Luther King, Jr.
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ii Page 168, Martin Luther king, Jr.
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iii Front Cover, Martin Luther King, Jr.
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