Who Was Martin Luther King, Jr.?

This section thematically develops the theme of The Role of Nonviolence in the Civil Rights Movement as it describes how the struggle in the South intensified. King established a leading role in the movement, becoming the head of the SCLC and seeking more political action through what Bader describes as a “peaceful fight.” As a leader, King’s message insisted on nonviolence, emphasizing to Black people, “We must not return violence under any condition” (36). King’s trip to India, a pilgrimage to Gandhi’s homeland, inspired him: He learned about Gandhi’s long walks as a way to protest unjust laws and returned “convinced of the power of peaceful protest” (41). Bader explains King’s nonviolent methods in detail, indicating his influence on the development and achievements of the civil rights struggle. Despite the movement’s success in the bus desegregation, discrimination persisted. Though King led people to demand change, he endorsed nonviolent activism, and the sit-in protests that Black—and some white—college students initiated were a telling example of nonviolent resistance. Asserting their presence at lunch counters in the South, Black people demanded to be served like white people were. In addition to fighting for desegregation, King increased demands for civil rights and voting rights. Echoing Gandhi’s methods, he led marches as another form of peaceful protest indicating people’s collective desire for social change and equality. Such patterns of activism defined the course of the civil rights movement in the South and, for King, demonstrated the “evil” of racial injustice.

In addition, this section continues to thematically develop The Importance of Resilience and Perseverance in the Freedom Struggle. Bader illustrates that despite Black people’s nonviolent activism practices, violence and intimidation against activists and protesters increased as the movement gained momentum. The book describes how mob violence, extremism, and police brutality were predominant types of backlash against protesters. Houses and community churches were bombed, and as King participated in the protests himself, he was repeatedly arrested under wrongful accusations. Bader uses anaphora and pathos to describe King’s experience in prison: “Martin was hungry. He was thirsty. He was scared” (43). These sentences vividly convey King’s inner turmoil and agony, eliciting readers’ compassion and sympathy toward the struggles that King confronted while emphasizing his courage. Even though President Kennedy urged King’s release, the state was reluctant to directly battle discrimination where it persisted, which prompted protesters to increase their efforts. As civil rights activists persevered, violence against them in the South intensified.

To further depict activists’ endurance during the freedom struggle, the book provides more historical context, detailing the Freedom Riders and the Birmingham campaign. Because racism and segregation continued despite changes in legislation, students from the North rode buses into the South to challenge discrimination, infusing new energy into youth activism. Again, they faced violent retribution, as their buses were bombed, white mobs terrorized them, and many were imprisoned. For King, such obstacles were part of the freedom struggle, and despite attempts to break his and other activists’ courage, he anticipated that the fight would continue. The conflict culminated in the 1963 Birmingham campaign, which symbolizes Black people’s resilience in the quest for freedom and King’s philosophy of nonviolence and direct action. He and other activists organized mass meetings to plan marches, boycotts, and sit-ins. As the events escalated into unprecedented police brutality, King continued to insist on nonviolence as a powerful response against state violence. In his “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” responding to public accusations against civil rights activists, King argued that civil disobedience was a dutiful practice against injustice and reiterated his support for peaceful protests. The eventual success of the Birmingham campaign, which put economic pressure on white businesses, demonstrated the power of peaceful action to instigate social change.

King’s “I Have a Dream” speech thematically symbolizes The Ongoing Hope for Social Change and Equality. After the movement’s successes against segregation in the South, King and other leaders continued pushing for legislative reform and demanded a civil rights bill. However, King’s speech reached beyond policy changes to a vision of a radically transformed society, which he conveyed via the metaphor of the “dream.” In the speech, King voiced his hopes that one day Black and white people would “sit down together at the table of brotherhood” (65). King realized that despite the social shifts that the movement gradually brought about, the path to equality would be a longer process. Bader emphasizes this idea, paralleling King’s speech and Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. As she notes, the US had not realized Lincoln’s vision of freedom and democracy for all people a century later, as evident in the violent events that preceded the passing of the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act: the killing of four Black girls in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham and Kennedy’s assassination. Thus, while King’s speech recognized the necessity for political reform, it also indicated that the freedom struggle aspired to reclaim Black people’s full humanity and create a society free of racism where people could coexist in peace and love.