 |
 |
 |
The
contribution of Martin Luther King Jr to the black freedom movement
was that of a leader who was able to turn protests into a crusade
and to translate local conflicts into moral issues of nationwide concern.
Successful in awakening the black masses and galvanizing them into
action, he won his greatest victories by appealing to the conscience
of white Americans and thus bringing political leverage to bear on
the federal government in Washington.
The strategy that broke the segregation laws of the South, however,
proved inadequate to solve more complex racial problems elsewhere.
King was only 39 at the time of his death – a leader in mid-passage
who never wavered in his insistence that nonviolence must remain the
essential tactic of the movement, nor in his faith that all Americans
would some day attain racial and economic justice.
King
wrote a number of books. The most important for to understand his
career are : Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story (1958),
Why We Can’t Wait (1964), and Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos
or Community? (1967).
|
