Becoming King

by Troy Jackson

  56. William J. Powell, Montgomery Improvement Association, Special Committee Meeting minutes, September 25, 1956, Folder 16, Box 30, King Papers, Boston University.

  57. King Jr., “Living under the Tension of Modern Life,” September 1956, in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 6: 262–70.

  58. King Jr., “The Fellow Who Stayed at Home,” October 1956, ibid., 6: 272–75.

  59. King penned these words in the margin of J. Wallace Hamilton’s “The Fellow Who Stayed at Home,” a sermon published in his book Horns and Halos in Human Nature, 172–73.

  60. King Jr., Stride toward Freedom, 158–60; Garrow, Bearing the Cross, 80.

  61. “Annual of the Alabama Baptist State Convention,” One Hundred Thirty-Fourth Annual Session, November 13–16, 1956, 134–35, Alabama State Archives.

  62. King Jr., Stride toward Freedom, 170–72.

  63. Ibid., 69.

  64. King Jr., “Conquering Self-Centeredness,” August 11, 1957, in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 4: 255. Lerone Bennett later recalled his impressions of King during the boycott, remembering he had “a tremendous rapport with people from a platform. He had this—and even later—no matter how much it might have cost him personally—this ability to swing with people in the streets. People that he’d never seen. They’d say, ‘Hey, Reverend,’ and you know, he could deal with them” (Gray, Leventhal, Sikora, and Thornton, The Children Coming On, 238). Dexter Echo 1, no. 8, October 17, 1956, Folder 3, Box 2, Reddick Papers.

  65. The historian Stewart Burns aptly notes how much King learned from the people of Montgomery: “King’s responsiveness to ordinary people, his determination to learn from them and to absorb their varying perspectives, represented a distinguishing mark of his leadership from Montgomery until the end of his life.” He continues: “Subleaders and foot soldiers not only strengthened his commitment but also emboldened him to take further risks and to rise above his comfort zone and socialization” (Burns, ed., Daybreak of Freedom, 15).

  66. King Jr., “We Are Still Walking,” Liberation, December 1956. The articles listed six initiatives that would shape the MIA’s future direction: to establish the black-owned bank in Montgomery; to organize a credit union that would mobilize resources for cooperative economic programs; to expand the number of registered African American voters in the city; to establish institutions to train people in nonviolent direct action; to shoulder some of the load of black leadership in Alabama after the outlawing of the NAACP; and “to give aid to those who have sacrificed in our cause.” In Robert Graetz’s memoir of the boycott, he recalls division within the MIA leadership regarding the optimal direction the organization should take. While a group comprised largely of clergy wanted to focus on “largely ceremonial goals” such as integrating the airport facilities, the larger group, composed of nonclergy and Graetz, wanted a program that would connect with the needs of the masses. “Though the clergy, the natural leaders in this church movement, attracted most of the spotlight, the lay participants included some of the most courageous and hard-working people in the Negro community” (Graetz, A White Preacher’s Memoir, 109). Burns, ed., Daybreak of Freedom, 331–32.

  6. “Bigger Than Montgomery”

  1. King Jr., Stride toward Freedom, 175–76. For a detailed account of the agenda for the gathering in Atlanta, see “Montgomery Improvement Association Press Release, Bus Protestors Call Southern Negro Leaders Conference on Transportation and Nonviolent Integration,” January 7, 1957, in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 4: 94–95.

  2. King Jr., Stride toward Freedom, 176–77, 179–80.

  3. King Jr., “The Ways of God in the Midst of Glaring Evil,” January 13, 1957, in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 4: 107–9. King Jr., “Outline, Address to MIA Mass Meeting,” January 14, 1957, ibid., 4: 109–10.

  4. King Jr., Stride toward Freedom, 178; “King Says Vision Told Him to Lead Integration Forces,” Montgomery Advertiser, January 28, 1957, in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 4: 114–15.

  5. King Jr., interview by Richard Heffner, The Open Mind, February 10, 1957, in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 4: 126–31; Kwame Nkrumah to King, January 22, 1957, ibid., 4: 112–13; Vaughn and Wills, eds., Reflections on Our Pastor, 32. Fosdick published a book titled A Great Time to Be Alive.

  6. MIA Future Planning Committee, meeting minutes, March 14, 1957, Folder 10, Box 2, King Papers, Boston University.

  7. MIA Future Planning Committee, report, April 18, 1957, Folder 30, Box 16, King Papers, Boston University.

  8. King Jr., “The Birth of a New Nation,” April 7, 1957, in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 4: 155–67.

  9. King Jr., “Questions Easter Answers,” April 21, 1957, ibid., 6: 283–93.

  10. King to Samuel McCrea Cavert, November 27, 1959, Folder 32, Box 33A, King Papers, Boston University; A. Philip Randolph, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Roy Wilkins, “Call to a Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom,” April 5, 1957, in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 4: 151–53; William Holmes Borders to King, April 6, 1957, ibid., 4: 153–54.

  11. Bayard Rustin to King, May 10, 1957, in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 4: 199–201; King Jr., “Give Us the Ballot,” May 17, 1957, ibid., 4: 208–15. King’s reticence to draw strong connections between labor and the civil rights movement may be connected in part to the significant opposition he had faced from white unions in Montgomery during the bus boycott.

  12. E. D. Nixon to King, June 3, 1957, ibid., 4: 217–18; King Jr., “Statement on Meeting with Richard M. Nixon,” June 13, 1957, ibid., 4: 222–23; King Jr., “Remarks in Acceptance of the Forty-second Spingarn Medal at the Forty-eighth Annual NAACP Convention,” June 28, 1957, ibid., 4: 228–32.

  13. Clifford and Virginia Durr, interview by Lumpkin, 15–16.

  14. King Jr., Stride toward Freedom, 85.

  15. King Jr., “Conquering Self-Centeredness,” August 11, 1957, in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 4: 248–59.

  16. Durr to Horton, February 18, 1956, November 5, 1956, in Burns, ed., Daybreak of Freedom, 155, 298; Durr to Clark and Mairi Foreman, December 17, 1956, Durr Papers. The historian Steven M. Millner notes regarding the MIA’s leadership at the end of 1956: “By the boycott’s final days, the ‘tie and collar’ crowd and local ministers had become the dominant forces in the MIA. Grass roots leaders such as E. D. Nixon and Reverend Cherry became increasingly bitter about being pushed aside and left the MIA’s leadership circle. Though King and his successors tried, no major effort paralleling the bus protest emerged in Montgomery. Lacking local issues to organize around and faced with a growing usurpation of organizational positions by status seekers, the MIA became further removed from the local black masses. This process escalated after King’s permanent departure for Atlanta in early 1960” (Millner, “The Montgomery Bus Boycott,” in Garrow, ed., The Walking City, 516).

  17. King to Ralph Abernathy, February 26, 1957, in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 4: 143–44.

  18. Parks, interview by Millner, 564; Rosa Parks to King, August 23, 1957, in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 4: 261. King Jr., “A Look to the Future,” September 2, 1957, ibid., 4: 269–76; Nixon, interview by Lumpkin. See also Highlander Folk School, Program, “The South Thinking Ahead,” September 2, 1957, Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church Collection.

  19. King Jr., “Annual Report, Dexter Avenue Baptist Church,” October 23, 1957, in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 4: 287–90.

  20. King Jr., “Loving Your Enemies,” November 17, 1957, ibid., 4: 315–24.

  21. MIA newsletter, vol. 1, no. 7 (November 18, 1957), Montgomery Improvement Association Collection.

  22. King Jr., “Some Things We Must Do,” December 5, 1957, in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 4: 328–43.

  23. Trezzvant W. Anderson, “How Has Dramatic Bus Boycott Affected Montgomery Negroes?” Pittsburgh Courier, November 9, 1957.

  24. Ibid. See also John Henrik Clarke to King, December 20, 1957, in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 4: 344–45.
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br />   25. Pittsburgh Courier, November 16, 1957.

  26. Ibid., November 23, 30, 1957.

  27. “Anderson Criticized for ‘Boycott’ Article,” Pittsburgh Courier, December 7, 1957.

  28. Anderson, “How Has Dramatic Bus Boycott Affected Montgomery Negroes?” Pittsburgh Courier, December 14, 28, 1957.

  29. King Jr., press release, “Announcement of the Crusade for Citizenship,” November 5, 1957, in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 4: 307–8; King to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, February 4, 1958, ibid., 4: 358–60; King Jr., “Address Delivered at a Meeting Launching the SCLC Crusade for Citizenship at Greater Bethel AME Church,” February 12, 1958, ibid., 4: 367–71.

  30. E. D. Nixon to King, November 4, 1957, Folder 15, Box 106, King Papers, Boston University; King to E. D. Nixon, March 6, 1958, in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 4: 376–77; Vaughn and Wills, eds., Reflections on Our Pastor, 8.

  31. Burns, To the Mountaintop, 1; King Jr., “Statement Delivered at the Prayer Pilgrimage Protesting the Electrocution of Jeremiah Reeves,” April 6, 1958, in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 4: 396–98. See also King Jr., Stride toward Freedom, 31–32; “Ministerial Group Scores Easter Negro Mass Meet” and “King’s Group Accepts Invitation to Talks,” Montgomery Advertiser, April 13, 1958.

  32. For examples of the types of questions King fielded, and his responses, see King Jr., “Advice for Living,” from September 1957 to December 1958, in vol. 4 of Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. A. Philip Randolph, Lester B. Granger, Martin Luther King, and Roy Wilkins, “A Statement to the President of the United States,” June 23, 1958, ibid., 4: 426–29.

  33. Davis accused Abernathy of having an extramarital affair with his wife, who was a member of Abernathy’s First Baptist Church. Davis threatened Abernathy with a gun and a hatchet. A few months later, the jury dismissed assault charges against Davis (“Negro Jailed after Attack on Leader of Bus Boycott,” Montgomery Advertiser August 30 1958; “Jury Rejects Abernathy Charges,” Montgomery Advertiser, November 22, 1958); “King Charges Police Brutal after Arrest,” Montgomery Advertiser, September 4, 1958; King Jr., “Statement to Eugene Loe,” in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 4: 487–90.

  34. E. D. Nixon to King, September 9, 1958, in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 4: 492. Nixon refers to Rustin’s 1947 conviction for breaking North Carolina’s segregation laws, following which Rustin spent twenty-two days on a chain gang to complete his sentence. For Rustin’s journal entries during his incarceration, see Carbado and Weise, eds., Time on Two Crosses, 31–57. King to E. D. Nixon, September 16, 1958, in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 4: 494–95.

  35. King, “Some Things We Must Do,” December 5, 1957, in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 4: 328–43; Pittsburgh Courier, December 7, 1957.

  36. Friedland, Lift up Your Voice Like a Trumpet, 30. See also Durr, Outside the Magic Circle, 309. Andrews, interview by Durr.

  37. Andrews, interview by Durr.

  38. King Jr., “A Knock at Midnight,” September 14, 1958, in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 6: 347–50. King borrowed portions of this sermon from Niles, “Summons at Midnight.”

  39. King Jr., “Statement upon Return to Montgomery,” October 24, 1958, in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 4: 513–14.

  40. Vaughn and Wills, Reflections on Our Pastor, 31.

  41. King, annual report, Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, November 18, 1958, in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 4: 537–39.

  42. Kenneth L. Buford, William C. Patton, and King to Dwight D. Eisenhower, January 25, 1959, ibid., 5: 111–12; King to G. Mennen Williams, January 28, 1959, ibid., 5: 112–13.

  43. “Account by Lawrence Dunbar Reddick of Press Conference in New Delhi on 10 February 1959,” ibid., 5: 125–29; James E. Bristol to Corinne B. Johnson, March 10, 1959, ibid., 5: 137–42.

  44. King, “A Walk through the Holy Land,” March 29, 1959, ibid., 5: 164–75.

  45. MIA newsletter, vol. 1, no. 12 (April 30, 1959), Montgomery Improvement Association Collection; Montgomery Advertiser, March 21, 1959.

  46. Session of Trinity Presbyterian Church to Mrs. Arnold Smith, April 13, 1959, Folder 1, Andrews Collection; Fred L. Shuttlesworth to King, April 24, 1959, in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 5: 189–90. In the mid-1940s, Horace G. Bell had been one of Nixon’s greatest critics, denouncing him in several letters to the NAACP national office in New York. See, for instance, Horace G. Bell to Ella Baker, November 25, 1945, Group II, Box C-4, Montgomery NAACP Papers; King to John Malcolm Patterson, May 28, 1959, in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 5: 216–17.

  47. King, “A Tough Mind and a Tender Heart,” August 30, 1959, in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 6: 372–78. King borrowed portions of this sermon from Gerald Kennedy, “The Mind and Heart,” in Kennedy’s The Lion and the Lamb.

  48. Ibid. A number of Alabama State College professors lost their jobs in the spring of 1960 for supporting thirty-five ASC students who were arrested for staging a sit-in at the Montgomery County Court House snack bar. Among those losing their jobs were Lawrence Reddick, Jo Ann Robinson, and Mary Fair Burks (MIA newsletter, vol. 2, no. 3 [September 21, 1960], Gregory Papers, 1955–1965).

  49. King to Simeon Booker, October 20, 1959, in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 5: 313–15.

  50. King, “Draft, Resignation from Dexter Avenue Baptist Church,” November 29, 1959, ibid., 5: 328–29. Based on his own experience and having explored the symbolic role Gandhi played in the Indian independence movement, King believed a successful freedom movement was enhanced by the presence of a symbolic leader. During the summer of 1959, King replied to a letter from an Angolan student who sought some assistance and advice for her nation’s independence movement. Significantly, King suggested a good starting place would be to find an individual who would “stand as a symbol for your independence movement. As soon as your symbol is set up it is not difficult to get people to follow, and the more the oppressor seeks to stop and defeat the symbol, the more it solidifies the movement” (King to Deolinda Rodrigues, July 21, 1959, ibid., 5: 250–51). T. H. Randall to King, December 1, 1959, ibid., 5: 332.

  51. King, “Address at the Fourth Annual Institute on Nonviolence and Social Change,” December 3, 1959, ibid., 5: 333–43.

  52. King to the Montgomery County Board of Education, August 28, 1959, ibid., 5: 270–72.

  53. King, “Address at the Fourth Annual Institute on Nonviolence and Social Change,” December 3, 1959, ibid., 5: 333–43.

  54. Gray, Leventhal, Sikora, and Thornton, The Children Coming On, 131.

  55. Underwood, interview by Lumpkin; Vaughn and Wills, eds., Reflections on Our Pastor, 12, 51. Richard Lischer believes a large part of the reason for King’s departure was the difficulty sustaining growth at the church, given King’s frequent absences: “Despite the fame of its pastor, the church was not thriving. In response to King’s absenteeism and his delegation of his duties to others, the power of the deacons reasserted itself, and the pastor found himself ‘under fire.’ King was encouraged either to cut back on his outside commitments or to leave Dexter. When his responsibilities in the Movement led him back to Atlanta and his father’s church, he left a congregation both saddened and relieved by his departure” (Lischer, The Preacher King, 79).

  56. Vaughn and Wills, eds., Reflections on Our Pastor, 62, 80–81, 100.

  57. “Dexter Honors Dr. & Mrs. King!!” Dexter Echo, February 3, 1960, MS 22 #722, Coretta Scott King Collection.

  58. King, “Address Delivered during ‘A Salute to Dr. and Mrs. Martin Luther King’ at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church,” January 31, 1960, ET-56, Martin Luther King Estate Collection.

  59. King, “Address Delivered at the Montgomery Improvement Association’s ‘Testimonial of Love and Loyalty,’” February 1, 1960, ET-53, ET-54, Martin Luther King Estate Collection.

  60. SCLC press release, “Dr King Leaves Montgomery for Atlanta,” December 1, 1959, Folder 40, Box 35, King Papers, Boston University.


  61. Lewis and Ligon, interview by Lumpkin.

  Epilogue

  1. Lawrence Dunbar Reddick, “The Montgomery Situation,” April 1960, Folder 5, Box 2, Reddick Papers; H. Councill Trenholm to James McFadden, March 4, 1960, Folder 15, Box 2, ibid.

  2. Virginia Durr to Clark Foreman, March 1960, in Sullivan, ed., Freedom Writer, 198–99.

  3. Garrow, ed., The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It, 168; Mary Fair Burks to King, March 31, 1960, Box 20, King Papers, Boston University; King to Mary Fair Burks, April 5, 1960, in Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 5: 406–8; Mary Fair Burks, “Trailblazers: Women in the Montgomery Bus Boycott,” in Crawford, Rouse, and Woods, eds., Women in the Civil Rights Movement, 76.

  4. Friedland, Lift up Your Voice Like a Trumpet, 30. See also Durr, Outside the Magic Circle, 309.

  5. King, “Statement at Mass Meeting Supporting Freedom Riders,” May 21, 1961, Montgomery to Memphis Film Research Files; Montgomery Improvement Association Bulletin, November 25, 1961, box 4, White House Staff Files, Harris Wofford Files.

  6. Thornton, Dividing Lines, 599n76.

  7. Millner, “The Montgomery Bus Boycott,” in Garrow, ed., The Walking City, 517.

  8. King, “Address at the Steps of the State Capitol at the conclusion of the Selma to Montgomery March,” March 25, 1965, Coretta Scott King Collection.

  9. Nixon, interview by Millner, 551; King Jr., Strength to Love, 151–52; James Baldwin, “The Dangerous Road before Martin Luther King,” Harper’s Magazine, February 1961.

  Bibliography

  Primary Sources

  Abernathy, Ralph David. And the Walls Came Tumbling Down. New York: Harper and Row, 1989.

  Alabama Religious Organizations Publications. Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery.

  Allen, Erna Dungee. Interview by Steven M. Millner. August 6, 1977. In Garrow, The Walking City, 521–25.