The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Page 41
The first result of these discussions was the development of a docudrama, Passages of Martin Luther King. With the assistance of Stanford drama professor Dr. Victor Leo Walker and Stanford undergraduate researcher Heather Williams, I explored ways of telling the story of King’s life through his own words and the words of those who knew him best. After several dramatic readings at Stanford, Passages was produced by the Stanford drama department in April 1993. Revised versions were presented as dramatic readings at Dartmouth College and the University of Washington in January 1996 and 1998, respectively. I am grateful for the contributions of all of the individuals who participated in these presentations, which increased my familiarity with the documentary resources concerning King and prepared a foundation for this comprehensive autobiographical account of King’s life.
Soon after Dexter King became the president and chief executive officer of the King Center in 1995, I found that we shared a common interest in facilitating the dissemination of King’s ideas through various media. In association with Philip Jones, president and CEO of Intellectual Properties Management (IPM) and the manager of the King literary estate, Mr. King established a partnership with Warner Books that will result in increasing public awareness of King’s ideas and achievements. I have greatly enjoyed the opportunity to work closely with Dexter and Philip to achieve our common goals, including the publication of this work. At every stage in the development of this work, their support and advice have been essential and available. Their energy and enthusiasm have been contagious.
My agent, Sandra Dijkstra, provided continuous encouragement for this project since its inception. Her expertise and that of her able staff made it possible for me to concentrate on research while they handled the financial and contractual matters. I especially appreciated the opportunity to work with a former student of mine, Rebecca Lowen, who is now with the Dijkstra Literary Agency.
Even before the book contract was signed, I became deeply involved in the task of searching for the source texts for the autobiography from the hundreds of thousands of King-related documents. My initial research assistant was Jennifer Marcus, a dedicated and talented researcher who helped produce the original prospectus for the autobiography and who remained involved in the project for most of her Stanford University undergraduate career.
Once I formally agreed to produce the autobiography in little more than a year, Randy Gellerman Mont-Reynaud became the principal researcher for the book. Randy examined thousands of documents and listened to hundreds of audio recordings to identify texts for possible inclusion and then assembled these texts in a preliminary chronological narrative. She brought to this difficult and daunting task considerable energy and enthusiasm—essential qualities for any effort of this scope.
The autobiography owes its completion to the extensive involvement of various members of the King Project staff. In particular, managing editor and archivist Susan Carson provided her unparalleled knowledge of the more than twenty thousand cataloged documents in the project’s database. During the final stages of manuscript preparation, she and researcher Erin Wood contributed valuable suggestions for revision, supervised the effort to locate appropriate additional documents, and checked the manuscript for accuracy.
Other King Project staff also made this book possible. I wish to thank especially Adrienne Clay, Kerry Taylor, and Elizabeth Baez who, despite the other demands of the project’s documentary edition, volunteered to read chapters and suggest necessary improvements. My assistant Vicki Brooks also contributed by proofreading chapters and by bringing a measure of organization to my office. Barbara Ifejika volunteered to help during the final stages of manuscript preparation.
Undergraduate and graduate student researchers have contributed to this work in a variety of ways. The following individuals have made significant contributions through the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research Fellowship summer internship program: Tenisha Armstrong (University of California, Santa Cruz), Brandi Brimmer (University of California, Los Angeles), Joy Clinkscales (American University), Andrew Davidson (Cornell University), Julian Davis (Brown University), Rashann Duvall (Yale University), Patrick Guarasci (Macalaster College), Lisa Marley (Brown University), and Maria-Theresa Robinson (Spelman College). Stanford students who worked on this volume include Stephanie Baca-Delancey, Joe Crespino, Elsa Cruz-Pearson, Nancy Farghalli, Hanan Hardy, Shaw-San Liu, Naila Moseley, Megan Thompkins, and Ali Zaidi.
I also appreciate the assistance of the following: Jeff Shram, Gail Westergard, and Christopher Carson.
Several others offered helpful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. My editor at Warner Books, Rick Horgan, gave useful and tactful suggestions at various stages of manuscript preparation. I appreciate and benefited from the constructive criticisms of Candace Falk of the University of California, Berkeley, and of Michael Honey of the University of Washington, Tacoma. I am especially grateful for Coretta Scott King’s willingness to read this manuscript with the painstaking care and sensitive understanding that only she could provide.
Finally, I appreciate the remarkable fact that Martin Luther King, Jr., had the foresight to create and leave behind the autobiographical documents on which this book is based.
SOURCE NOTES
Abbreviations of Collections and Repositories:
ABSP, DHU
Arthur B. Spingarn Papers, Howard University, Washington, D.C.
AC, InU-N
Audiotape Collection, Indiana University, Northwest Regional Campus, Gary, Indiana
ACA-ARC, LNT
American Committee on Africa Papers, Amistad Research Center, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana
AFSCR, AFSCA
American Friends Service Committee Records, AFSC Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
CB, CtY
Chester Bowles Collection, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
CSKC, INP
Coretta Scott King Collection (in private hands)
DABCC, INP
Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church Collection (in private hands)
DCST, AB
Dallas County Sheriff’s Department Surveillance Tape, Birmingham Public Library, Birminghan, Alabama
DHSTR, WHi
Donald H. Smith Tape Recordings, State Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin
DJG, INP
David J. Garrow Collection (in private hands)
EMBC, INP
Etta Moten Barnett Collection (in private hands)
HG, GAMK
Hazel Gregory Papers, Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent Change, Inc., Atlanta, Georgia
JFKP, MWalk
John F. Kennedy Miscellaneous Papers, John F. Kennedy Library, Waltham, Massachusetts
JWWP, DHU
Julius Waties Waring Papers, Howard University, Washington, D.C.
MLKP, MBU
Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers, 1954–1968, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
MLKEC, INP
Martin Luther King Estate Collection (in private hands)
MLKJP, GAMK
Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers, 1954–1968, King Center, Atlanta, Georgia
MMFR, INP
Montgomery to Memphis Film Research Files (in private hands)
MVC, TMM
Mississippi Valley Collection, Memphis State University, Memphis, Tennessee
NAACPP, DLC
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
NBCC, NNNBC
National Broadcasting Company, Inc., Collection, NBC Library, New York, New York
NF, GEU
Newsweek File, Emory University Special Collections, Atlanta, Georgia
OGCP, MBU
Office of General Council Papers, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
PHBC, INP
Paul H. Brown Collection (in private hands)
SAVFC, WHi
Social Action Vertical File, State Hist
orical Society, Madison, Wisconsin
SCLCT, INP
Southern Christian Leadership Conference Tapes (in private hands)
TWUC, NNU-T
Transport Workers Union Collection, Tamiment Library, New York University, New York, New York
UPWP, WHi
United Packinghouse Workers Union Papers, State Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin
WAR, INP
William A. Robinson Miscellaneous Papers (in private hands)
1. EARLY YEARS
PRINCIPAL SOURCES:
“An Autobiography of Religious Development,” November 1950, in Clayborne Carson, Ralph E. Luker, and Penny A. Russell, eds., The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Volume I: Called to Serve, January 1929–June 1951 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992), pp. 359–363.
Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story (New York: Harper and Row, 1958), chapter 1; “Family in Siege,” drafts for Stride Toward Freedom (MLKP, MBU).
OTHER SOURCES:
“Facing the Challenge of the New Age,” address at NAACP Emancipation Day Rally, Atlanta, January 1, 1957 (PHBC, INP).
“Why Jesus Called a Man a Fool,” sermon at Mount Pisgah Missionary Baptist Church, Chicago, August 27, 1967, in Clayborne Carson and Peter Holloran, eds., A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. (New York: IPM/Warner Books, 1998), pp. 145–164.
Interview with Edward T. Ladd on Profile, WAII-TV, at Emory University, Atlanta, April 12, 1964 (MLKEC, INP).
Interview with John Freeman on BBC’s Face to Face, London, England, October 24, 1961 (MLKJP, GAMK).
Interview with Alex Haley, Playboy 12 (January 1965): 65–68, 70–74, 76–78.
Statement on Meredith March, Grenada, Mississippi, June 16, 1966 (MLKJP, GAMK).
Quoted in Ted Poston, “Fighting Pastor,” New York Post, April 10, 1957.
“The Negro and the Constitution,” May 1944, Papers I, pp. 110–111.
Letters to Alberta Williams King, June 11 and 18, 1944; Martin Luther King, Sr., June 15, 1944, Papers I, pp. 112–116.
2. MOREHOUSE COLLEGE
PRINCIPAL SOURCE:
“An Autobiography of Religious Development.”
OTHER SOURCES:
Stride Toward Freedom, pp. 91, 145.
“A Legacy of Creative Protest,” in Massachusetts Review 4 (September 1962): 43.
“Martin Luther King Explains Nonviolent Resistance,” in William Katz, The Negro in American History (New York: Pitman, 1967), pp. 511–513.
“May 17—11 Years Later,” New York Amsterdam News, May 22, 1965.
Interview with Edward T. Ladd.
Interview with John Freeman.
Quoted in Ted Poston, “Fighting Pastor” and “The Boycott and the ‘New Dawn,’ ” New York Post, May 13, 1956.
Quoted in William Peters, “ ‘Our Weapon Is Love,’ ” Redbook 107 (August 1956): 42–43, 71–73.
Quoted in L. D. Reddick, Crusader Without Violence (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1959), p. 74.
“Kick Up Dust,” Letter to Editor, Atlanta Constitution, August 6, 1946, Papers I, p. 121.
3. CROZER SEMINARY
PRINCIPAL SOURCES:
Stride Toward Freedom, chapter 6.
“Pilgrimage to Nonviolence,” Christian Century 77 (April 13, 1960): 439–441; “How my mind has changed,” draft of Christian Century article (MLKP, MBU).
Strength to Love (New York: Harper and Row, 1963), chapter 17.
OTHER SOURCES:
“Autobiography of Religious Development.”
“Preaching Ministry,” 1949(?), course paper submitted at Crozer Theological Seminary, Chester, Pennsylvania (CSKC, INP).
“How Modern Christians Should Think of Man,” 1949–50, Papers I, pp. 273–279.
“His Influence Speaks to World Conscience,” Hindustan Times, January 30, 1958.
“The Theology of Reinhold Niebuhr,” 1954(?), in Clayborne Carson, Ralph E. Luker, Penny A. Russell, and Peter Holloran, eds., The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Volume II: Rediscovering Precious Values, July 1951–November 1955 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), pp. 269–279.
Fragment of Application to Boston University, December 1950(?), Papers I, p. 390.
Letter to Sankey L. Blanton, January 1951, Papers I, p. 391.
Letter to Alberta Williams King, October 1948, Papers I, p. 161.
Quoted in Peters, “ ‘Our Weapon Is Love.’ ”
“The Significant Contributions of Jeremiah to Religious Thought,” November 1948, Papers I, pp. 181–194.
“A Conception and Impression of Religion Drawn from Dr. Edgar S. Brightman’s Book Entitled ‘A Philosophy of Religion,’ ” March 28, 1951, Papers I, pp. 407–416.
4. BOSTON UNIVERSITY
PRINCIPAL SOURCE:
Stride Toward Freedom, chapter 6.
OTHER SOURCES:
“Rediscovering Lost Values,” sermon at Second Baptist Church, Detroit, Michigan, February 28, 1954, Papers II, pp. 248–256.
Press conference on donation of papers to Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, September 11, 1964 (OGCP, MBU).
Letter to George W. Davis, December 1, 1953, Papers II, pp. 223–224.
Abstract of “A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman,” April 15, 1955, Papers II, pp. 545–548.
“Memories of Housing Bias in Boston,” Boston Globe, April 23, 1965.
5. CORETTA
PRINCIPAL SOURCES:
Stride Toward Freedom, chapter 1, and “Family in siege,” unpublished draft.
Coretta Scott King, My Life with Martin (New York: Henry Holt, 1969, rev. 1993), chapter 3.
Interview with Edward T. Ladd.
Interview with Arnold Michaelis, Martin Luther King; Jr.: A Personal Portrait (videotape), December 1966 (MLKEC, INP).
OTHER SOURCES:
“Remarks in Acceptance of the NAACP Spingarn Medal,” Detroit, Michigan, June 28, 1957 (ABSP, DHU).
Interview with Martin Agronsky, NBC’s Look Here, Montgomery, October 27, 1957 (NBCC, NNNBC).
Interview with John Freeman.
Quoted in Poston, “Fighting Pastor.”
Letter to Coretta Scott King, Atlanta, July 18, 1952; and letter to Coretta Scott King, Boston, July 23, 1954 (CSKC, INP).
6. DEXTER AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH
PRINCIPAL SOURCE:
Stride Toward Freedom, chapters 1, and 2; and “Montgomery Before the Protest,” unpublished draft of Stride Toward Freedom (MLKP, MBU).
OTHER SOURCES:
“Recommendations to the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church for the Fiscal Year 1954–55,” September 5, 1954, Papers II, pp. 287–294.
Address to Dexter Avenue Baptist Church Congregation, Montgomery, May 2, 1954 (CSKC, INP).
“The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life,” sermon at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, January 24, 1954 (CSKC, INP).
“Looking Beyond Your Circumstances,” sermon at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, September 18, 1955 (CSKC, INP).
Letter to Francis E. Stewart, July 26, 1954, Papers II, pp. 280–281.
Letter to Walter R. McCall, October 19, 1954, Papers II, pp. 301–302.
Letter to Ebenezer Baptist Church Members, November 6, 1954, Papers II, pp. 313–314.
Letter to Howard Thurman, October 31, 1955, Papers II, pp. 583–584.
Letter to John Thomas Porter, November 18, 1955, Papers II, p. 590.
Letter to L. Harold DeWolf, January 4, 1957 (MLKP, MBU).
Letter to Edward H. Whitaker, November 30, 1955, Papers II, p. 593.
Quoted in Poston, “The Boycott and the New Dawn.”
Quoted in “My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr.,” interview with Coretta Scott King, SCLC radio program, December 1969 (SCLCT, INP).
7. MONTGOMERY MOVEMENT BEGINS
PRINCIPAL SOURCES:
Stride Toward Freedom, chapters 1 and 2; and “The Decisive Arrest
,” unpublished draft of Stride Toward Freedom, May 1958 (MLKP, MBU).
“The Montgomery Story,” address at Forty-seventh Annual NAACP Convention, San Francisco, California, June 27, 1956, in Clayborne Carson, Stewart Burns, Susan Carson, Peter Holloran, and Dana L. H. Powell, eds., The Papers of Martin Luther King, Ir., Volume III: Birth of a New Age, December 1955–December 1956 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997), pp. 299–310.
OTHER SOURCES:
Address at Montgomery Improvement Association Mass Meeting at Holt Street Baptist Church, December 5, 1955, Papers III, pp. 71–79.
“Facing the Challenge of a New Age,” address at First Institute for Nonviolence and Social Change, Atlanta, December 3, 1956, Papers III, pp. 451–463.
Quoted in Poston, “Fighting Pastor.”
8. THE VIOLENCE OF DESPERATE MEN
PRINCIPAL SOURCE:
Stride Toward Freedom, chapters 5, 7, and 8; and “Family in Siege,” draft.
OTHER SOURCES:
“Walk for Freedom,” May 1956, Papers III, pp. 277–280.
“Why Jesus Called a Man a Fool.”
“A Testament of Hope,” Playboy 16 (January 1969): 175.