MLK: An American Legacy: Bearing the Cross, Protest at Selma, and The FBI and Martin Luther King, Jr.

by David J. Garrow

Three meticulously researched works—including Pulitzer Prize winner Bearing the Cross—spanning the life of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. This collection from professor and historian David J. Garrow provides a multidimensional and fascinating portrait of Martin Luther King Jr., and his mission to upend deeply entrenched prejudices in society, and enact legal change that would achieve equality for African Americans one hundred years after their emancipation from slavery.  Bearing the Cross traces King’s evolution from the young pastor who spearheaded the 1955–56 bus boycott in Montgomery to the inspirational leader of America’s civil rights movement, focusing on King’s crucial role at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Garrow captures King’s charisma, his moral obligation to lead a nonviolent crusade against racism and inequality—and the toll this calling took on his life.   Garrow delves deeper into one of the civil rights movement’s most decisive moments in Protest at Selma. These demonstrations led to the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 that, along with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, remains a key aspect of King’s legacy. Garrow analyzes King’s political strategy and understanding of how media coverage—especially reports of white violence against peaceful African American protestors—elicited sympathy for the cause.   King’s fierce determination to overturn the status quo of racial relations antagonized FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. The FBI and Martin Luther King, Jr. follows Hoover’s personal obsession to destroy the civil rights leader. In an unprecedented abuse of governmental power, Hoover led one of the most invasive surveillance operations in American history, desperately trying to mar King’s image.   As a collection, these utterly engrossing books are a key to understanding King’s inner life, his public persona, and his legacy, and are a testament to his impact in forcing America to confront intolerance and bigotry at a critical time in the nation’s history.  

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Race

2326 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 28, 2016

About the author

David J. Garrow is Professor of Law & History and Distinguished Faculty Scholar at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

Reviews

[Tracy]

Painful, but all-encompassing and inspiring

I started this book near the MLK holiday, thinking that I should get to know this man better. Since grade school I have admired him and the movement he led. Raised on military bases in the 1960s, I didn’t realize that there were schools and communities that were not integrated. To me, we were all one. Kudos to my white southern parents for instilling in their children a sense of humanity. I’m nit sure that it would have been easy for them.

I readily admit that I’d put MLK on a pedestal. When people talked about his infidelity, I scoffed. I couldn’t believe that such a good person would indulge in something I find so deplorable. A man of integrity would not carry on multiple affairs while his wife waited at home and worried about him, would he? Apparently the answer is yes. I still find it deplorable. But I realize now that he did not seek to be a symbol of civil rights in America. If he had been able to stay home with his family and congregation, would he have done the same? Perhaps. What I do know now, though, is that he struggled- not with the cause, but with the slow progress of success, the infighting of his people that interferes with progress, with the violence in our society, with surprise that hatred and racism appeared to be so deeply imbedded in American society . I know I wouldn’t have had the strength to persevere in the face of all that. But he did because he trusted the Spirit. He trusted in God and the just cause he fought for.

This book is quite a slog. When you’ve been reading for ten hours and you’re not even half way through, well, it’s hard for me. I’m a fast reader usually, but there was so much detail, so many people, so much was happening that you had to focus on what you read. Nothing wrong with that, of course! The amount of research that went into this book is astounding, but it shows me the author and those he interviewed really wanted MLK to be accessible. They wanted us to get to know the man, not just the icon. And they succeeded. It is clear that JFK, Bobby Kennedy, and Johnson were not perfect either. And J Edgar Hoover? Well, he was clearly not a good person in so many ways. What shines through this book though is MLK’s desire for justice. Nit only the right to sit where you wish on a bus or in a restaurant, but the right to be who you are.

We still have so far to go, but I buy into the Dream and I will not give it up.