The autobiography of martin luther

God Good Friday is never the end. The man who shot Gandhi only shot

him into the hearts of humanity. Just as when Abraham Lincoln was

shot, mark you, for the same reason that Mahatma Gandhi was shot—

that is, the attempt to heal the wounds of the divided nation—when

Abraham Lincoln was shot. Secretary Stanton stood by and said, "Now

he belongs to the ages." The same thing could be said about Mahatma

Gandhi now: He belongs to the ages.

March 22, 1959, in Montgomery

federal laws against discrimination, but in India the leaders of gov-

ernment, of religious, educational, and other institutions, had pub-

licly endorsed the integration laws. The prime minister admitted to

me that many Indians still harbored a prejudice against these long-

oppressed people, but that it had become unpopular to exhibit this

prejudice in any form. In part, this change in climate was created

through the moral leadership of the late Mahatma Gandhi. In part,

it was the result of the Indian Constitution, which specified that

discrimination against the untouchables is a crime, punishable by

imprisonment.

The Indian government spent millions of rupees annually devel-

oping housing and job opportunities in villages heavily inhabited by

untouchables. Moreover, the prime minister said, if two applicants

compete for entrance into a college or university, one of the appli-

cants being an untouchable and the other of high caste, the school

is required to accept the untouchable.

Professor Lawrence Reddick, who was with me during the inter-

view, asked: "But isn't that discrimination?"

"Well, it,may be," the prime minister answered. "But this is our

way of atoning for the centuries of injustices we have inflicted upon

these people."

From the prime minister down to the village councilmen, every-

body declared publicly that untouchability is wrong. But in the

United States some of our highest officials declined to render a

moral judgment on segregation, and some from the South publicly

boasted of their determination to maintain segregation. That would

be unthinkable in India.

Although discrimination has not yet been eliminated in India, it

is a crime to practice discrimination against an untouchable. But

even without this coercion, so successfully has the government made

the issue a matter of moral and ethical responsibility that no govern-

ment figure or political leader on any level would dare defend dis-

criminatory practices. One could wish that we here in the United

States had reached this level of morality. America must seek its ovra

ways of atoning for the injustices she has inflicted upon her Negro

citizens.

The spirit of Gandhi was very much alive in India. Some of his

disciples remembered the drama of the fight for national indepen-

dence and, when they look around, find no one who comes near the

stature of the Mahatma. But any objective observer must report that

Gandhi is not only the greatest figure in India's history, but his in-

fluence is felt in almost every aspect of life and public policy.

Th e trip had a great impact upon me personally. It was wonderful

to be in Gandhi's land, to talk with his son, his grandsons, his

cousin, and other relatives; to share the reminiscences of his close

comrades; to visit his ashram; to see the countless memorials for

him; and, finally, to lay a wreath on his entombed ashes at Rajghat.

We had learned a lot, but we were not rash enough to presume that

we knew India—a vast subcontinent with all of its people, problems,

contrasts, and achievements.

I left India more convinced than ever before that nonviolent re-

sistance was the most potent weapon available to oppressed people

in their struggle for freedom. It was a marvelous thing to see the

amazing results of a nonviolent campaign. India won her indepen-

dence, but without violence on the part of Indians. The aftermath of

hatred and bitterness that usually follows a violent campaign was

found nowhere in India. The way of acquiescence leads to moral

and spiritual suicide. The way of violence leads to bitterness in the

survivors and brutality in the destroyers. But the way of nonviolence

leads to redemption and the creation of the beloved community.

I returned to America with a greater determination to achieve

freedom for my people through nonviolent means. As a result of my

visit to India, my understanding of nonviolence became greater and

my commitment deeper.

14

THE SIT-IN MOVEMENT

face naked state power; it has lost its fears, and experienced the ma-

jestic dignity of a direct struggle for its own liberation. These young

people have connected up with their own history—the slave revolts,

the incomplete revolution of the Civil War, the brotherhood of colo-

nial colored men in Africa and Asia. They are an integral part of the

history which is reshaping the world, replacing a dying order with

modern democracy.

FEBRUARY 1, 1960

King moves with family to Atlanta; in Greensboro, North Carolina,

lunch counter sit-in movement begins

FEBRUARY 17

Is arrested and charged with falsifying his 1956 and 1958 Alabama

state income tax returns

APRIL 15

Speaks at founding conference of the Student Nonviolent

Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

MAY 28

After four years as president of the Montgomery Improvement

Association and five years as a resident of Montgomery, I de-

cided to move from Montgomery to Atlanta. I would become co-

Pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and thereby have

more time and a better location to direct the Southwide campaigns

of the SCLC.

For a year the Southern Christian Leadership Conference had

been pleading with me to give it the maximum of my time, since the

time was ripe for expanded militant action across the South. After

giving the request serious and prayerful consideration, I came to the

conclusion that I had a moral obligation tojive more of my time

and energy to the whole South. This was only possible by moving

closer to the headquarters where transportation was more flexible

and time hitherto consumed in longer travel could be saved and

utihzed for planning, directing, and supervising.

So I had the painful experience of having to leave Montgomery

for Atlanta. It was not easy for me to decide to leave a community

where bravery, resourcefulness, and determination had shattered the

girders of the old order and weakened confidence of the rulers, de-

spite their centuries of unchallenged rule. It was not easy to decide

to leave a city whose Negroes resisted injustice magnificently and

followed a method of nonviolent struggle that became one of the

glowing epics of the twentieth century. I hated to leave Montgomery,

but the people there realized that the call from the whole South was

one that could not be denied.

This was the creative moment for a full-scale assault on the sys-

tem of segregation. The time had come for a bold, broad advance of

the Southern campaign for equality.

FAREWELL MESSAGE TO DEXTER CONGREGATION

Unknowingly and unexpectedly, I was catapulted into the leadership

of the Montgomery Movement. At points I was unprepared for the sym-

bolic role that history had thrust upon me. But there was no way out. I,

like everybody in Montgomery, was pulled into the mainstream by the

roUing tides of historical necessity. As a result of my leadership in the

Montgomery movement, my duties and activities tripled. A multiplicity of

new responsibilities poured in upon me in almost staggering torrents. So

I ended up futilely attempting to be four or five men in one. One would

have expected that many of these responsibilities would have tapered off

after the boycott. But now, three years after the termination of the bus

struggle, the same situation stands. At points the demands have in-

creased.

I felt terribly frustrated over my inability to retreat, concentrate,

and reflect. Even when I was writing Stride Toward Freedom I would

only take off one or two weeks at a time. After returning from India

I decided that I would take one day a week as a day of silence and

meditation. This I attempted on several occasions, but things began

to pile up so much that I found myself using that particular day as a

time to catch up on so many things that had accumulated. I knew

that I could not continue to live with such a tension-filled schedule.

My whole life seemed to be centered around giving something out

and only rarely taking something in. My failure to reflect would do

harm not only to me as a person, but to the total movement. For

that reason I felt a moral obligation to do it.

One of my reasons for moving to Atlanta was to meet this prob-

lem head-on. I felt that I would have more time to meditate and

think through the total struggle ahead. Unfortunately, however,

things happened which made my schedule more crowded in Atlanta

than it was in Montgomery.

"The student demonstrations"

In 1960 an electrifying movement of Negro students shattered the

placid surface of campuses and communities across the South. The

young students of the South, through sit-ins and other demonstra-

tions, gave America a glowing example of disciplined, dignified non-

violent action against the system of segregation. Though confronted

in many places by hoodlums, police guns, tear gas, arrests, and jail

sentences, the students tenaciously continued to sit down and de-

mand equal service at variety store lunch counters, and they ex-

tended their protest from city to city. Spontaneously born, but

guided by the theory of nonviolent resistance, the lunch counter

sit-ins accomplished integration in hundreds of communities at the

swiftest rate of change in the civil rights movement up to that time.

In communities like Montgomery, Alabama, the whole student body

rallied behind expelled students and staged a walkout while state

government intimidation was unleashed with a display of military

force appropriate to a wartime invasion. Nevertheless, the spirit of

self-sacrifice and commitment remained firm, and the state govern-

.,W.i./Jl.«.i-'-iUuu'j!:.u:,

ments found themselves dealing with students who had lost the fear

of jail and physical injury.

The campuses of Negro colleges were infused with a dynamism

of both action and philosophical discussion. Even in the thirties,

when the college campus was alive with social thought, only a mi-

nority were involved in action. During the sit-in phase, when a few

students were suspended or expelled, more than one college saw the

total student body involved in a walkout protest. This was a change

in student activity of profound significance. Seldom, if ever, in

American history had a student movement engulfed the whole stu-

dent body of a college.

Many of the students, when pressed to express their inner feel-

ings, identified themselves with students in Africa, Asia, and South

America. The liberation struggle in Africa was the great single inter-

national influence on American Negro students. Frequently, I heard

them say that if their African brothers could break the bonds of

colonialism, surely the American Negro could break Jim Crow.

I felt we had to continue to challenge the system of segregation,

whether it was in the schools, public parks, churches, lunch count-

ers, or pubHc libraries. Segregation had to be removed from our

STATEMENT AT YOUTH MARCH FOR INTEGRATED SCHOOLS

As June approaches, with its graduation ceremonies and speeches, a

thought suggests itself. You will hear much about careers, security, and

prosperity. I will leave the discussion of such matters to your deans, your

principals, and your valedictorians. But I do have a graduation thought to

pass along to you. Whatever career you may choose for yourself—doctor,

lawyer, teacher—let me propose an avocation to be pursued along with

it. Become a dedicated fighter for civil rights. Make it a central part of

your life.

It will make you a better doctor, a better lawyer, a better teacher. It

will enrich your spirit as nothing else possibly can. It will give you that

rare sense of nobility that can only spring from love and selflessly help-

ing your fellow man. Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the

noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a greater person of your-

self, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in.

April 18, 1959, Washington, D.C.

society. And Negroes had to be prepared tp suffer, sacrifice, and even

die to gain their goals. We could not rest until we had achieved the

ideals of our democracy. I prayed much over our Southern situation,

and I came to the conclusion that we were in for a season of suf-

fering.

dignity. They had rightly chosen to follow the path of nonviolence.

Our ultimate aim was not to defeat or humiliate the white man but

to win his friendship and understanding. We had a moral obligation

to remind him that segregation is wrong. We protested with the ulti-

mate aim of being reconciled with our white brothers.

A period began in which the emphasis shifted from the slow court

process to direct action in the form of bus protests, economic boy-

cotts, and mass marches to and demonstrations in the nation's capi-

tal and state capitals. The most significant aspect of this student

movement was that the young people knocked some of the oldsters

out of their state of apathy and complacency. What we saw was that

segregation could not be maintained in the South without resultant

chaos and social disintegration. One may wonder why the move-

ment started with the lunch counters. The answer lay in the fact that

there the Negro had suffered indignities and injustices that could

not be justified or explained. Almost every Negro had experienced

the tragic inconveniences of lunch counter segregation. He could

not understand why he was welcomed with open arms at most

counters in the store, but was denied service at a certain counter

because it happened to be selling food and drink. In a real sense the

"sit-in" represented more than a demand for service; it represented

a demand for respect.

I was convinced that the student movement that was taking place

all over the South in 1960 was one of the most significant develop-

ments in the whole civil rights struggle. It was no overstatement to

characterize these events as historic. Never before in the United

States had so large a body of students spread a struggle over so great

an area in pursuit of a goal of human dignity and freedom. The

student movement finally refuted the idea that the Negro was con-

tent with segregation. The students had taken the struggle for justice

into their own hands. Negro freedom fighters revealed to the nation

and the world their determination and courage. They were moving

away from tactics which were suitable merely for gradual and long-

term change. This was an era of offensive on the part of oppressed

people. All peoples deprived of dignity and freedom marched on

every continent throughout the world.

"A turning point in my life"

I can recall what may very well have been a turning point in my life

as a participant in the Negro struggle in the South. It was the year

1960, in Montgomery, Alabama, when the glorious sit-ins at lunch

STATEMENT AT FOUNDING CONFERENCE OF STUDENT NONVIOLENT

COORDINATING COMMITTEE

Today the leaders of the sit-in movement are assembled here from ten

states and some forty communities to evaluate these recent sit-ins and to

chart future goals. They realize that they must now evolve a strategy for

victory. Some elements which suggest themselves for discussion are: (1)

The need for some type of continuing organization. ... (2) The students

must consider calling for a nationwide campaign of "selective buying."

... It is immoral to spend one's money where one cannot be treated

with respect. (3) The students must seriously consider training a group of

volunteers who will willingly go to jail rather than pay bail or fines. This

courageous willingness to go to jail may well be the thing to awaken the

dozing conscience of many of our white brothers. We are in an era in

which a prison term for a freedom struggle is a badge of honor. (4) The

youth must take the freedom struggle into every community in the South

without exception. The struggle must be spread into every nook and

cranny. Inevitably, this broadening of the struggle and the determination

which it represents will arouse vocal and vigorous support and place

pressure on the federal government that will compel its intervention. (5)

The students will certainly want to delve deeper into the philosophy of

nonviolence. It must be made palpably clear that resistance and nonvio-

lence are not in themselves good. There is another element that must be

present in our struggle that then makes our resistance and nonviolence

truly meaningful. That element is reconciliation. Our ultimate end must

be the creation of the beloved community.

April 15, 1960, in Raleigh, North Carolina

counters had seized the attention of all Americans. The white South-

ern power structure, in an attempt to blunt and divert that effort,

indicted me for perjury and openly proclaimed that I would be im-

prisoned for at least ten years.

This case was tried before an all-white Southern jury. All of the

State's witnesses were white. The judge and the prosecutor were

white. The courtroom was segregated. Passions were inflamed. Feel-

ings ran high. The press and other communications media were hos-

tile. Defeat seemed certain, and we in the freedom struggle braced

ourselves for the inevitable. There were two men among us who

persevered with the conviction that it was possible, in this context,

to marshal facts and law and thus win vindication. These men were

our lawyers—Negro lawyers from the North: William Ming of Chi-

cago and Hubert Delaney from New York.

They brought to the courtroom wisdom, courage, and a highly

developed art of advocacy; but most important, they brought the

lawyers' indomitable determination to win. After a trial of three

days, by the sheer strength of their legal arsenal, they overcame the

most vicious Southern taboos festering in a virulent and inflamed

atmosphere and they persuaded an all-white jury to accept the word

of a Negro over that of white men. The jury, after a few hours of

deliberation, returned a verdict of acquittal.

I am frank to confess that on this occasion I learned that truth

and conviction in the hands of a skillful advocate could make what

started out as a bigoted, prejudiced jury, choose the path of justice.

I cannot help but wish in my heart that the same kind of skill and

devotion which Bill Ming and Hubert Delaney accorded to me could

be available to thousands of civil rights workers, to thousands of

ordinary Negroes, who are every day facing prejudiced courtrooms.

ATLANTA ARREST AND

PRESIDENTIAL

POLITICS

sense of history and genuine morality.

JUNE 23, 1960

King discusses civil rights with presidential candidate Senator

John F. Kennedy

OCTOBER 19

Is arrested at Atlanta sit-in

OCTOBER 25

Charges are dropped for sit-in arrest but King is held for violating

probation for earlier traffic offense and transferred to Reidsville

State Prison

OCTOBER 26

Presidential candidate John F, Kennedy calls Coretta Scott King to

express sympathy and offer assistance; Robert Kermedy calls

Georgia governor S, Ernest Vandiver and Judge Oscar Mitchell

seeking King's release on bail

OCTOBER 27

King's attorney Donald L. Hollowell arranges release from prison

NOVEMBER 1

King applauds Senator Kennedy for support

NOVEMBER 8

Kennedy v/ins close election, receiving strong support from black

voters

My first contact with John Kennedy was when he was a senator

had tried to work out a meeting and every time I could go he was

away. Finally we worked out an engagement at his apartment in New

York. That was June of 1960, about a month before the convention.

We talked for about an hour over the breakfast table. I was very

frank about what I thought: that there was a need for a strong execu-

tive leadership and that we hadn't gotten this during the Eisenhower

administration. If we didn't get it in the new administration, we

would be set back even more. I was very impressed by the forthright

and honest manner in which he discussed the civil rights question,

and with his concern and his willingness to learn more about civil

rights.

discrimination in federally assisted housing. I also mentioned to him

the need for strong civil rights legislation, and I stressed voting issues

because we were deeply involved at that time in voter registration

drives and had encountered a number of difficulties in states like

Alabama and Mississippi.

As I recall, he agreed with all of these things. He agreed that

there was a need for strong executive leadership and that this had

not existed, and he felt if he received the nomination and was elected

he could give this kind of leadership. He assured me also that he felt

the whole question of the right to vote was a key and basic, and that

this would be one of the immediate things that he would look into.

He said that he had voted consistently for civil rights. I raised the

question with him about 1957, when he voted against what we con-

sidered as a very important section of the civil rights bill. He said

that since that time, if he had to face the issue again, he would re-

verse his position because many of the developments during the sit-