From MLK to Black Power: Books trace the Civil Rights Movement
In a sermon titled 鈥淟oving Your Enemies鈥� that he delivered often in the early 1960s, Martin Luther King Jr. insisted that he had taken the biblical command to heart. 鈥淧ut us in jail, and we will go in with humble smiles on our faces, still loving you,鈥� he preached. 鈥淏omb our homes and threaten our children, and we will still love you ... But be assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer.鈥澛�
In the years leading up to King鈥檚 1968 assassination, he was jailed 29 times, assaulted repeatedly, and threatened constantly. He had to contend not only with die-hard segregationists but, appallingly, with his own government. The FBI, convinced he was being influenced by communists, tapped his phones. When the bureau found evidence not of communism but of the civil rights leader鈥檚 marital infidelities, it used that information to try to destroy him.
Jonathan Eig covers this ground, and much more, in his sweeping, edifying 鈥淜ing: A Life,鈥� one of three recent, excellent civil rights-themed books. Eig鈥檚 is the first major biography of King in decades, and with the help of newly available sources 鈥� from declassified FBI files to recently discovered audiotapes recorded by his widow, Coretta Scott King 鈥� the author presents the iconic MLK, who remained steadfastly committed to nonviolent protest, in full.
Why We Wrote This
As more primary sources become available 鈥� including declassified government documents 鈥� the history of the Civil Rights Movement is becoming richer and fuller.
The two other books focus on smaller pieces of the civil rights story. In the inspiring 鈥淵ou Have to Be Prepared to Die Before You Can Begin to Live: Ten Weeks in Birmingham That Changed America,鈥� author and journalist Paul Kix charts the 1963 campaign by King鈥檚 Southern 海角大神 Leadership Conference to end segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. Mark Whitaker鈥檚 riveting 鈥淪aying It Loud: 1966 鈥� The Year Black Power Challenged the Civil Rights Movement鈥� chronicles a turning point, when younger activists like Stokely Carmichael and Huey Newton increasingly repudiated King鈥檚 nonviolent tactics.
Eig, whose previous subjects include Muhammad Ali and Lou Gehrig, argues that 鈥渋n hallowing King we have hollowed him鈥�; his humane portrait presents MLK鈥檚 frailties alongside his heroism. The cradle-to-grave biography covers King鈥檚 relatively privileged Atlanta upbringing and his fraught relationship with his domineering father, which Eig cites as the source of King鈥檚 insecurity and occasional depression. 聽
The author鈥檚 description of the successful yearlong Montgomery bus boycott, which began in December 1955 and propelled King into a leadership role, is thrilling. The Alabama city was so聽committed to segregation that it closed all of its public parks for six years rather than integrate them. But at only age 26, King was, Eig writes, 鈥渢he right man at the right time鈥� to lead the difficult campaign to end segregated seating.聽
鈥淚f we are wrong, the Supreme Court of this nation is wrong,鈥� MLK preached to an adoring crowd. 鈥淚f we are wrong, the Constitution of the United States is wrong. If we are wrong, God Almighty is wrong.鈥�
King鈥檚 stature rose after the boycott, reaching its pinnacle when he delivered his indelible 鈥淚 Have a Dream鈥� speech on Washington鈥檚 National Mall in August 1963. In later years, however, his attempts to take on poverty and housing discrimination in the North cost him liberal white support. He was unprepared for the violent resistance he encountered when he tried to organize protests to desegregate Chicago neighborhoods. 鈥淚 think the people of Mississippi ought to come to Chicago to learn how to hate,鈥� he said.聽
His increasingly vocal opposition to the Vietnam War further eroded King鈥檚 popularity and led to a bitter break with President Lyndon Johnson, who had signed landmark civil rights legislation in 1964 and 1965. King鈥檚 mood grew dark in the months before he died. 鈥淗e said people expect me to have answers and I don鈥檛 have any answers,鈥� his wife later recalled.聽
Attacks on peaceful marchers
King is a major player in Kix鈥檚 book, but not the only one. 鈥淵ou Have to Be Prepared to Die Before You Can Begin to Live鈥� covers the Southern 海角大神 Leadership Conference鈥檚 bold plan to, in the author鈥檚 words, 鈥渟ubject itself to the full wrath of Birmingham, in the hope that white people outside the city might at last see, through the SCLC鈥檚 suffering, the plight of all Blacks in America.鈥� The source of that wrath would be the virulently racist Bull Connor, the city鈥檚 longtime public safety commissioner. In large part because of Connor, Kix writes, Birmingham 鈥渨as not so much a city in 1963 as a site of domestic terror.鈥�
King鈥檚 Birmingham colleagues included Wyatt Walker and James Bevel and local pastor Fred Shuttlesworth. The organizers often clashed, and the conflict-averse King could be painfully indecisive. The campaign, which initially flagged, was energized by the participation of children, a fiercely debated decision over which King agonized. After being trained in nonviolent direct action, 973 young marchers were arrested in one day for parading without a permit.聽
The SCLC gained leverage when it became clear that waves of peaceful protesters would keep coming, despite Connor鈥檚 use of fire hoses and police dogs to deter them; the city did not have enough jail space to contain them. (It was from a Birmingham jail, of course, that King wrote the blistering, enduring letter declaring that 鈥渋njustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.鈥�) The movement gained worldwide sympathy when newspapers published a sickening photograph of a police dog lunging at a Black teenager. The attacks on peaceful marchers finally galvanized John and Robert Kennedy to support civil rights legislation.
Rise of Black Power
In 鈥淪aying It Loud,鈥� journalist and author Whitaker focuses on a more radical set of activists, many of whom had lost patience with King鈥檚 slow and steady approach as movement leader. 鈥淭he presence of Malcolm X hovered over them,鈥� Whitaker writes. For them, King鈥檚 mantra of nonviolence had became synonymous with ineffectuality.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been saying 鈥楩reedom Now鈥� for six years and we ain鈥檛 got nothing,鈥� Carmichael, the most prominent figure in Whitaker鈥檚 book, famously told an energized Mississippi crowd in1966. 鈥淲hat we鈥檙e gonna start saying now is: 鈥楤lack Power鈥�!鈥澛�
The firebrand had become president of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee just weeks before when the younger members of the group ousted the moderate John Lewis. (After a painful debate, SNCC later voted to expel all white members from the organization.) Carmichael鈥檚 defiant 鈥淏lack Power鈥� chant, the author writes, 鈥渕ade him a nationally recognized figure virtually overnight.鈥� It helped inspire Newton and Bobby Seale to arm themselves and create the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in California.聽
Whitaker insightfully captures the young activists鈥� frustration with King 鈥� many of them mocked him with the nickname 鈥淒a Lawd鈥� 鈥� as well as their sense that nonviolence left them vulnerable to white brutality. He follows the threads of Black power from the establishment of Black studies programs in higher education to the reactionary rise of conservative politicians like Ronald Reagan, who courted the 鈥渨hite backlash鈥� vote in his 1966 run for California governor.聽
The Civil Rights Movement will continue to provide fertile material for authors. We can expect new accounts as additional information becomes available. For instance, we鈥檒l learn more about the FBI鈥檚 surveillance of King when additional records are unsealed in 2027. Moreover, different perspectives become appreciated over time. Women鈥檚 importance to civil rights has long been downplayed, but these histories properly credit women for their contributions, whether it鈥檚 Whitaker profiling the formidable SNCC staffer Ruby Doris Smith Robinson or Eig highlighting Coretta Scott King鈥檚 own work on behalf of the movement.
Finally, the battles of our own time remind us of the relevance of this history, and the lessons it has to teach. These books are up to the task.
