Biography of Martin Luther King, Jr - Book Report/Review Example

Biography Of Martin Luther King, Jr. Introduction Without any shadow of controversy, one of the great personalities that the 20th century has graced this world with is Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968). An American pastor, a political activist, a humanitarian, a theologian and a civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr. is famous for his indispensible role in advancing civil rights through the use of nonviolent civil disobedience and Christian values. As is usually the case, the lives and achievements of history makers are discussed and divulged upon in biographies. One of the most informative biographies is Lerone Bennnett’s What Manner of Man: A Biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. The biography was first published in 1964 by the Johnson Publishing Company, in Chicago. Information about the Author in the Review The identity and achievements of the author is one of the factors that give the biography more credence. Lerone Bennett, Jr. (b. October 17, 1928) is a respected African-American author, scholar and social historian who has mainly aided the analysis of race relations and its effects in the United States. Bennett, Jr. was born to Alma Reed and Lerone Bennett, M.R. in Clarksdale, Mississippi, before the entire Bennetts moved to Jackson, Mississippi. Bennett later graduated from Morehouse College in Georgia. Bennett also sits in the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity membership board. Bennett’s career is also checkered. For one, Bennett has served as Ebony Magazine’s executive editor. It is for this reason that Bennett was promoted in 1958. It is Bennett’s long tenure at Ebony Magazine that accorded him a base for the publication of a copious amount of articles which were collected together into anthologies and books. Most of Bennett’s articles were on African-American history. There are several books such as Forced into Glory: Abraham Lincoln’s White Dream and Before the Mayflower: A History of Black America, 1619–1962 that are attributed to Bennett. Bennett is a husband to Gloria Sylvester and father of four (Alma-Joy, Courtney, Constance and Lerone III). The biography in point comprises 227 pages. In the book, Bennett presents Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) as an extraordinary man who brought a lot of changes within a remarkably short time. At the moment, MLK hailed from a marginalized group and it is marvelous that MLK was able to lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955, while successfully keeping race riots and violence at bay. It is for this reason that Bennett considers MLK as a great leader and a respectable advocate of nonviolence. Benjamin E. Mays introduces MLK as being born Michael Luther King, Jr. though later, the name Michael was changed to Martin. MLK’s grandfather had been serving as Ebenezer Baptist Church pastor in Atlanta between 1914 and 1931. Bennett also speaks of MLK’s childhood, youth and rise into adulthood as a national leader and the events of his life that informed his civil rights activism. MLK’s father then served as the pastor of the self-same church until MLK took over. Before MLK took over the reins as senior pastor, he acted as an associate pastor. MLK had attended racially segregated public schools in Georgia. MLK graduated at 15 from high school and graduated with a B.A. degree from Morehouse College in 1948. Morehouse was a distinguished African-American institution in Atlanta, at the time. It is from the Morehouse College that MLK’s grandfather and father graduated. MLK then proceeded to Crozer Theological Seminary, Pennsylvania where he proceeded to serve as its president in 1951, the fact that the school, specifically, the white senior class was predominantly white notwithstanding. MLK graduated from this Crozer Theological Seminary three years after enrolment where he was awarded a Bachelor of Divinity. MLK then proceeded to Boston University where he completed his residence in 1953 for doctorate studies. He received the degree in 1955. It is in his tenure in Boston University that King met Coretta Scott and married her later. King would later accept the pastoral office of Montgomery’s Dexter Baptist Church. King had also become a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People executive committee. At the beginning of December 1955, King agreed to take the leadership of the first great African-American nonviolent demonstrations of the time in the US. Bennett also makes reference of Gunnar Jahn’s presentation of the Montgomery Bus Boycott which lasted for 382 days. One of the gains that stemmed from the Montgomery Bus Boycott was the declaration of the US Supreme Court which made a proscription on racial segregation in buses. During the Montgomery Bus Boycotts, MLK was subjected to personal abuse, arrested and had his home bombed. To show MLK’s greatness, Bennett divulges on an incidence in which MLK was called to his home which had been bombed- an event that missed his wife and child narrowly. Finding his followers gathered round his house and armed to the teeth, MLK reminded them that they were not advocating for violence agitation, but that instead, his followers were to love their enemies, be good to those who spited them and to let their opponents aware of the group’s love for them (p. 68). This address calmed down the crowd, iconized MLK and awed the world. The import of this development is that MLK had lost his home and nearly, his family yet he was still talking about forgiveness despite his ability to command his mammoth following which at this point was armed. Bennett uses this incident to show MLK as a person who not only used his strength and education, but also divine inspiration and motivation. Bennett shows MLK as a person who remained nonviolent, yet fearless and hopeful whether he was free or incarcerated. In 1957, MLK was elected the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s (SCLC) president. SCLC as an organization was formed to accord the burgeoning civil rights movement rights leadership. While at the helm of the SCLC, Bennett says that MLK used the ideals of the Christian faith and the operational strategies of Gandhi. Bennett divulges that during MLK’s quest for civil rights movement, he traveled more than 6 million miles and addressed people for over 25 times. King’s targets were places that were replete with injustice, protests against this injustice and mass action. Some of these places were Alabama and Birmingham where he also led mass protests. Alabama and Birmingham protests caught the entire world’s attention and thereby effectively helping him create collective conscience. In the same quest, King authored five book and several other articles. For instance, in his letter, Letter from a Birmingham City Jail he defends the legal legitimacy of mass action and peaceful protests and makes the manifesto of the African-American revolution whose cause he was charting, well known. King’s quest for the expansion of the civil rights was not limited to racial relations alone. Particularly, King’s drives in Alabama facilitated the registration of African-Americans as voters. MLK’s most famously known stunt was his I have a Dream speech which was a culmination of the March on Washington which he had led. This peaceful protest was attended by 250,000 people. The political astuteness and consciousness of MLK was also very remarkable. King campaigned for President Lyndon Johnson and conferred with President John F. Kennedy. While it is true that any other person could achieve these feats, it is true that true success is measured by the obstacles that have been conquered to have a specific goal achieved. MLK was arrested wrongfully for more than twenty times and was also assaulted more than four times. As already mentioned, King had his home torched and was vilified and misunderstood by mainstream clerics and preachers who accused him of leading the African-American masses to civil disobedience. All the same, the rewards accorded to MLK’s labor are worthy and stronger than the trials he underwent. MLK is the youngest man to receive the Nobel Peace Prize at 35. He was also named man of the year in 1963 by Time Magazine. The civil rights efforts that he expended is well rewarded by an all-inclusive nature of the US, the right of the African-Americans to vote and to realize the rights provided for in the Emancipation Proclamation- the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. References Bennett, L. (1964). What Manner of a Man a Biography of Martin Luther King. Chicago: Johnson Publishing Co. Read More