Newspaper Page Text
Dr. King called
‘most distinguished’
in U.S. history
Page 1
Vol. 8, No. 37
They remember Dr. M.L. King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr., as the leader of the civil rights
movement in the United States, helped break down the
barriers erected by segregation.
But before Rosa Parks was arrested for sitting in the front
He met hate
with peace...
By RALPH DAVID ABERNATHY
As his dearest friend and closest associ
ate (King began his final speech in Memphis
by saying, “Ralph David Abernathy is my
dearest friend and clos
est associate I have any
yjhere in the world”), I
would say that this giant
of a man was truly the ST Sn
most peaceful warrior of
the 20th century. z X ■-
I came to this con
elusion through my very
close association and t, i
daily work with Martin ■& y
all the.way from Mont
gomery to Memphis. f
This covered a span of Abernathy
14 years. He came to Montgomery in the
spring of 1954 to pastor the Dexter Avenue
Baptist Church, and I was already there pas
toring First Baptist.
Our close friendship and association
began on his first day in Montgomery around
the dinner table in my home. It closed only
when he died in my arms in Memphis on
April 4,1968.
When Martin first came to Montgomery,
everything was segregated. So all of our so
cial and recreational life took place in our
homes. At that time, there was no freedom
movement. Therefore Martin and his wife,
Coretta, and my wife, Juanita, and I would
spend all our evenings in our homes.
We talked about building a new social
order free from racial segregation, discrimi
nation and all forms of inequities. We planned
the movement, you might say.
We were both socially minded pastors.
And we talked about the movement and how
we were going to change things. We didn’t
know exactly how or when, but we would talk
about when the time was right, we were
going to start the movement.
A lot of people thought Martin was a
weakling. But he was not a weakling. He did
n’t choose nonviolence because he was a weak
man. He was the strongest little man I knew.
I mean he had real strength in his muscles.
And he loved food. He really enjoyed eat
ing. I remember one evening Juanita served
some homemade ice cream. And Martin said,
"Oh, Juanita, we can solve the race problem
If we just give (Gov. George) Wallace some
of this ice cream.”
Jesus of Nazareth said, “The meek shall
inherit the earth" and “Be thou faithful until
death and I will give thee a crown of life.”
Martin was meek and faithful.
The Rev. Ralph David Abernathy is
president emeritus of the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference. He served in this
position from King’s death in 1968 until he
stepped down in 1976.
If alive today, he’d tell
movement to March on’
By JULIAN BOND
Dr. King co-taught a survey course in
Klosopby at his alma mater, Morehouse Col
e, with the late Dr. Samuel Williams, I
was one of fewer than 10
Students.
The younger King
had earlier been Wil
liams’ student at More
house. In turn, each
would read a selection
from Plato or Locke or
Aristotle or Aquinas and
then lead the few of us
in discussion.
But each class
quickly degenerated—in
the nicest way—into a
discussion of the philosophy of the civil rights
movement, of King’s role and leadership in it,
with Williams serving as interlocutor and
King as respondent and explainer.
They even argued, quietly, Rev. Williams
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His dreams proved more powerful than Politics
By JESSE L. JACKSON
How could one man so touch and alter the
American conscience in such a short life? How
could such an ordinary man do so much?
And that is what Martin
Luther King Jr. was: an ordi
nary man.
Do you remember his sF W«3t
ordinary origins? A public t ** 1
school student with parents jfl
who taught the principles of a
conservative life. A man who,
for most of his life, was noted Mg
neither for his social con
science nor perfection in ius
own life. QBgßiMagiC
Martin Luther King Jr. IHI
learned the power of discipline Jackson
many times and in many ways. He began disciplin
ing his mind as a student at Morehouse College. His
mastery of himself next led him to Boston Univer-
challenging slyly and King answering slowly,
softly.
Sam Williams was known on the More
house campus as a man no one could win an
argument with; his mind was too quick and
full. So this class became a class in “move
ment,” and laid before us two of the greater
minds I will ever know.
This extraordinary man remains a hero
to millions. His picture appears in more
homes in Black America than any other his
torical figure except Christ
I like to think that Martin Luther King
alive today would still keep on pushing us—to
march, to protest to question, to grow.
Few men make much difference in our
lives. This one did, and his like will not be
seen again.
Julian Bond is a member of the Georgia
State Senate and president oi the Atlanta
Chapter of the NAACP.
Bond
Friends, colleagues
pay tribute
to Dr. Richardson
Page 2
Salute to Martin Luther King's 50th birthday
P.O. Box 953
of the bus in Montgomery, Ala., King was the son of a
minister trying to find his way.
As he became a symbol for social change through
nonviolence, there was an opportunity for those who knew and
sity and to his doctorate in systematic theology.
He was always hungry to know more. Up to
the week of his death in Memphis 10 years ago, he
read at least one book a week and not books of
entertainment, but of substance.
One day during the bitter and terrifying days
of the demonstrations in Selma, Ala., I remember, I
saw three books in his briefcase: one on Thoreau,
one by the theologian-thinker Paul Tillich and a
third on the life of Gandhi.
In those years of reading and thinking he had
mastered the theory, art and practices of non-vio
lence that Gandhi’s life exemplified.
But Dr. King never forgot who he was, and so
be delicately blended the ethnic, the ethical, the
economic and the Eternal to make his own for
midable contribution to nonviolent change.
Thousands have adopted the methods Dr. King
perfected most especially those of confrontation
politics, practiced today by such diverse interests
as farmers, gays, browns and women.
Daddy, first and last
By MARTIN LUTHER KING 111
as told to Alexis Scott Reeves
A lot of times, the question has been raised about
what I think of my father as a national leader or as a
symblol of nonviolence, and I always give the same an-
swer
No matter how great he was or
what great things he did, the only
way I’ll ever be able to perceive of
him is as a father first.
Whenever he was with us,
whether it was 20 minutes, 30
minutes or 24 hours, he always de
voted 100 percent of his attention to -
us. And that's how we were able to
accept his commitment to his work.
You know, everyone always
thought he was so serious. Well, I
guess he had to appear that way to
the public. But when he was with people who knew him
and when he was with us, he was jovial. He used to tell
jokes. Daddy was really funny.
"Marty” was 10 years old when his father was killed.
He is now . senior at Morehouse College majoring in po
litical science and theology.
Paine Co
T> • 1 1235 15
Preside Augusta *
racists have
no place on his staff
Page 3
January 20,1979
But it was his principles that gave his methods
their power. I heard him discuss the choice he had:
to be political, which is to be expedient, or to be
prophetic, which is to be morally activated.
He never yielded on this. He remained a public
opinion molder and never became a public opinion
leader that is, someone who reads the polls to
find out where to lead.
And he did it, this ordinary man. He did it so
well that his stature came to overshadow that of
the presidents of his day.
Martin Luther King Jr. won a Nobel Peace
Prize and the admiration of many world leaders,
but all that he really wanted was to continue to
prove that the dreams of ordinary people are more
powerful than any politics.
Jesse L. Jackson is a former official of the
Southern Christian Leadership Conference. After
King’s death, he established the Chicago-based civil
rights group People United to Save Humanity.
i'
Marty King
worked with him to know a side of Dr. King that was not
shown to the public. Here are selections of their recollections
of King, the man. (From the Atlanta Constitution)
Grave issues deprived him ;
of chance to ‘spice ’ talks '
3
By JOSEPH E. LOWERY
Martin Luther King’s rich sense of humor
hardly came through in his addresses and
public statements.
The grave issues he
addressed, the critical
nature of the period, and
the serious attention
given his pronounce
ments combined to deny
him the luxury of the
uspal humor utilized by
public speakers to
“spice” or “dress up”
their remarks.
Nevertheless, he
possessed a rich sense of
humor which was Lowery
characteristically warm, loving and never de
signed to humiliate or ridicule. He loved to
tease his friends, and seized ever,’ oppor
tunity (few as they were) to engage in “hors
ing around” with them.
Less than 75% Advertising
...As century’s
true militant
By HOSEA WILLIAMS
as told to Alexis Scott Reeves
I want to talk about Martin Luther King
Jr. the militant. He was the truest militant I
ever met. He not only talked that talk; he
walked that walk.
Unlike Malcolm X,
who would expound on
his black consciousness W
in the black havens of .
Harlem. Martin would Httt'
return to the battlefield
to face the Pharaoh.
When Martin fin- MEfer
ished his speeches in the Mrsto. ’SS
Harlems or in the south
side of Chicago, he was e
always willing to come
down off that mountain Williams
and go back to the valley and face death.
When Martin met me, I was a big official
in the NAACP field offices in the South. I got
all these memorandums from up in New York
about how to get free. And here was Dr. King
leading the marches and showing people how
to get free.
I knew then that I was going to go with
him. There is a definite effort on the part of
America to change Martin Luther King Jr. .
from what he really was all about— to make
him the Uncle Tom of the century. In my
mind, he was the militant of the century.
A lot of those pseudo-militants said he
was afraid and shy and uncertain and unopin
ionated. But that was not true. I was with this
man on a couple of occasions that I had so
much fear the flesh trembled on my bones.
One time in Selma, we were supposed to
march from the Brown Chapel Methodist
Church to the courthouse to face (Sheriff)
Jim Clark.
as we got close to the courthouse, there
was a mob spitting and cursing, and Dr. King
kept walking. Clark came out of the court
house and walked right down the steps and
got in a car and left. This shocked everybody.
Right then I knew something was funny.
Then one of Clark’s deputy’s came out
and made Dr. King move off the sidewalk,
and I realized they were trying to get him ar
rested. Then someone else came over and told
me there was a mob of white men waiting in- ;
side the courthouse.
We tried to get him to get in the car, but
he said, “No, I’m going to walk.” Well, he ,
turned and crossed the street and walked
right up to that mob across the street.
They all got so quiet. All the cursing and
shouting stopped. He said, “Excuse me !
please,” and they parted like the Red Sea
opening up for the children of Israel. *
Hosea Williams is the executive director
of the Southern Christian Leadership Confer- !
ence and a member of the Georgia State ‘
House of Representatives. t
The demands on his time and leadership
permitted too few such occurences but did ,
serve to provide much-needed relief from the v
tension created by the series of crises which .-
punctuated his career.
His genuine love for persons came a
through in his humor, which was usually F
related to actual incidents and not in jokes
and. fictitious tales. He gave others a new t
sense of worth by the very fact that he cared e
enough to kid them and knew enough about k
them to do so.
His humor was consistent with his status
and calling and was never “shady.” It made t j
him all the more attractive to those who ,
knew him and admired him.
Likewise, he could take a tease and b
would roll with laughter when friends retali- P
ated with loving jibes.
The Rev. Joseph E. Lowery was chairman K
of the board of the Southern Christian Lead- s
ership Conference before becoming its
president in 1976.
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office burned,
arson is charged
Page 3
President
for holiday
for Dr. King
By
MALLORY MILLENDER
ATLANTA - President
Jimmy Carter pledged Sunday to
support the move to make
Martin Luther King’s birthday
a national holiday.
“I particularly hope that in
this 50th anniversary year that
I will be able to sign a bill
making Jan. 15 a national
holiday in honor of Dr. King,”
he said.
The President said Dr. King
called out the best in people.
“We can now speak out as a
nation with one voice on the
sensitive issue of human rights
all around the world because
Martin Luther King and the
civil rights movement helped to
liberate all Americans from the
chains of official racism here at
home.
“Had he not lived, had his
voice not been heard, had his
actions not prevailed, it would
now be an embarrassment for
the United States to mention
the word human rights in
international councils.’” *
See “KING” Page 2
Dr. Gloster
King most
distinguished
American
Dr. Hugh M. Gloster,
president of Morehouse College
said Sunday at Paine College
that Martin Luther King Jr. is
perhaps the most distinguished
American in the history of the
United States.
He said that King was much
like Christ. “King and Christ
were committed to religious
teachings and actions. King and
Christ preached and practiced
brotherhood and nonviolence.
Both were preoccupied with
helping the poor and the
oppressed, and both died in
their 30s because of their
unselfish doctrines and deeds.”
Dr. Gloster was the speaker
at the 50th anniversary
celebration of the birth of
Martin Luther King Jr. in the
Gilbert-La mb uth Chapel.
He said King, in death, is a
far more effective advocate of
love and nonviolence than he
ever was in life. Before King
died, young blacks, he said,
were adopting the “Burn,
baby, burn” philogophy of H.
Rap Brown and Stokeley
Carmichael.
A month before King died
he spoke at. Morehouse and
attendance was sparse.
Carmichael, he said, spoke a
mat th later and “attendance
was so heavy we had to move
from our chapel in order to
accomodate the number of
people.”
“The man who pulled the
trigger that ended the earthly
existence of Martin Luther
King Jr. lifted him into the
select company of Christ and
jhandi, great leaders who gave
:heir lives in defense of
lumanitarian views and
eecame more effective in the
aroqess.”
Dr. Gloster said that had
ting lived he might have
juffered a decline of
See “DR. GLOSTER”
Page 2
25 e
