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Leadership Style of Dr. King

An account of the rhetorical strategies Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. used to become successful in motivating people to support his activism, and an evaluation of his leadership effectiveness. The historical context of his actions.

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The purpose of this research is to examine the leadership style of Dr Martin Luther King Jr The plan of the research will be to set forth thehistorical context in which Dr King's actions as a leader of the civilrights movement emerged and then to discuss the strategies he used tomotivate people to support his ideas as well as the accomplishments thatcame about because of his leadership ability and style with a view towardevaluating the basis on which King can be considered

Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. Similarly, the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 owedmuch to King's ability to inspire participants in the movement not to giveup hope. Most noteworthy were the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawedsegregation in public accommodations, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965,which outlawed discrimination in voter registration and voting practices. It is impossible to separate the leadership qualities of Dr. King,which defined his career, from his personal biography and from the historyof race relations in the United States, not least because the leadershipstyle that King was to adopt was dramatically different from what mighthave been expected of him. How long? How long? 86). King was able to drawpeople together and accomplish real social change in a way that other civilrights leaders and indeed other civil rights law had not. . Indeed, Hoover publicly referred to King as the "most notoriousliar in the country" (Lane & Gregory, 1977, p. "Daddy" King, as he wascalled, achieved and cultivated a reputation as a leader and civil rightsadvocate in Atlanta, before civil rights achieved the status of nationalconcern (C.S. From the beginning, King sought to challenge the statusquo in a fundamental way. Free at last. Although hemaintained his pastoral role, relocating in the 196 s to Atlanta andEbenezer Baptist Church, King achieved a high public profile and regularlyengaged the national political discourse. What wasto become known as the March on Washington, a massive nonviolentdemonstration for civil rights that gathered some 2 , people betweenthe Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, took place in August1963, with King the featured speaker. 11). Therefore hebreaks that law deliberately. King's willingness to criticize and confront governments that eithersponsored or cooperated in racial injustice left him open to criticism,such as that which occasioned the Letter from Birmingham Jail. King's advocacy positioned him as a social critic and activist, andhis outspoken criticism of the failure of the government to implementpolicy change in the service of social justice created enemies for him andthe movement. Indeed, the factthat Brown had taken years to get to the Supreme Court is evidence of theslow pace of judicial remedy. African Americans.net. Speeches. (1965, March 25). Not long, because mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord (King, 1965). Although black power activists not committed to nonviolence eclipsedKing's prestige, the evidence of his rhetoric is that it becameincreasingly radical over the years. 8). I may not get there with you: The True Martin Luther King, Jr. By the time ofthe Montgomery boycott that began King's public career, the famous Brown v.Board of Education decision, which was supposed to have mandated integratedschools, was two years old and had accomplished little. Not long, because you shall reap what you sow. When SCLC's attempt to integrate Albany, Georgia,failed, King criticized the failure of federal agents to protectdemonstrators who were beaten by local thugs, which meant that the movementcould not trust the federal government. . King: A Critical Biography. in1929, Michael Luther King, Sr. The boycott by blacks of Montgomery's public-transportation system lasted for more than a year and resulted in thedesegregation of the bus line (King, 1958) and is considered the provenanceof the late-2 th-century civil rights movement. The essential Gandhi: His life, work, and ideas. . . (1968, April 3). That ethos was in the background of King's decision to lead a march ofstriking garbage workers in Memphis, Tennessee. That condition meant that eventhough Ebenezer Baptist served a less wealthy demographic segment than,say, the Negro Episcopalian or Congregational churches, young King was"insulated against the most brutal aspects of Southern bigotry" (Lewis,197 , p. In the context of politicalpolarization in the US at the time, when he spoke in opposition to the war,US support of the corrupt government of South Vietnam, and thedisproportionate presence of soldiers of color on the front lines, he wasdeclared by many in and out of government to be unpatriotic (Lewis, 197 ;Lane & Gregory, 1977). (2 ). The rhetoric of that speech and ofKing's oratory more generally fused the concept of integration and peace asAmerican national ideal with the diction of the Protestant Christianevangelical witness. This pattern of thought was to mark King's entire career as a civilrights leader. so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. When the march turned intoa riot, King quickly left town, abhorring the violence and stinging fromharsh criticism of his leadership. just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ . If King's dream died with him (for more than a week afterward theinner cities of the US blazed with violence), his reputation as aneffective leader and agent of social change did not. Not long, because truth crushed to earth will rise again. Despite the success in Montgomery in 1957 (indeed, despite the 1954Brown v. By 1967 he was saying that the "bombs that exploded in Vietnam werereally exploding within the American Spirit" (Lane & Gregory, 1977, pp. He did not get there; the following evening, on the eve ofthe planned march, he was murdered. In the voting rights speech, given on the steps of the MontgomeryCapitol after the mass march from Selma to Montgomery, King remarked thatsome people were asking how long they would have to wait for their rights.His answer referenced abolitionist poetry by James Russell Lowell and "TheBattle Hymn of the Republic": How long? New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.King, M. There is a creative power that works to pull down mountains of evil and level hilltops of injustice (King, 1958, pp. It has been said that King sawthe church as "the moral barometer of the nation" that should be dedicatedto justice or would not develop to its greatest potential (Lane & Gregory,1977). Now Ifeel quite differently. Edgar Hoover. His creationof the Poor People's Campaign, calling for across-the-board economicjustice and brought the problems of underclass to pubic attention fellbefore the economic imperatives of the Vietnam War and the view that apreacher should stay out of economic discourse. In 1963, the SCLC, in concert with local civil rightsactivists, organized demonstrations against segregation in Birmingham,Alabama. . Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. . S. New York: Praeger Publishers. How long? New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers.King, M. I think you've got to have a reconstruction of theentire society, a revolution of values" (Lewis, 197 , p. "For years," he commented after thefailure in Chicago, "I labored with the idea of reforming the existinginstitutions of society, a little change here, a little change there. L., Jr. It was in Montgomery thatKing's career as a leading advocate of social change took shape. The plan of the research will be to set forth thehistorical context in which Dr. King's actions as a leader of the civilrights movement emerged and then to discuss the strategies he used tomotivate people to support his ideas, as well as the accomplishments thatcame about because of his leadership ability and style, with a view towardevaluating the basis on which King can be considered an effective leader. 49). King spearheaded notable successes that changed the content and formof law and custom throughout the United States, gathering thousands of like-minded persons of good will--black and white, rich and poor--along the way.Targeting segregation and poverty as injustice, the civil rights movementgained traction and got results, in significant part as a result of King'sefforts. First published in April 1963, the Letter presaged a certain momentumfor the civil rights movement that was abetted by King's rhetoric. Citing theMontgomery case in particular, he claims a species of divine inspirationand legitimation for these actions more generally. L. L. (1962). changed his first name and that of his son to Martin,presumably to achieve a properly evangelical ring. 354; emphasisadded). How long? The FBI's reaction to this was thatit was proof that King was a communist and therefore made him liable toincreasing investigation and surveillance, much of which was later found tobe illegal. King was a product and example of a privileged class. New York: Vintage.King, C. Retrieved January 31, 2 4, from <http://www.udel.edu/poscir/lesl/mlk2.htm>King, M. The following week, he returned inanticipation of reclaiming his leadership mantle by leading a peaceful buteffective march. Retrieved February 1, 2 4, from http://www.africanamericans.com/MLKjrOurGodIsMarchingOn.htmKing, M. . Whatever the name, some extra-human force labors to create a harmony out of the discords of the universe. New York: Free Press.Fischer, L. But I wantyou to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land"(King, 1968). When clergymen criticized King for leading others to break the law andupset the civil order, King responded in Letter From Birmingham Jail, whichjustifies his leadership of nonviolent civil disobedience as a properresponse to the injustice of segregation. When we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "Free at last. African Americans.net. There is something about the protest that is suprarational; it cannot be explained without a divine dimension. The purpose of this research is to examine the leadership style of Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. King's oratory articulated a moral vision for America and positionedhim as an advocate of civil rights and social justice. This strategy owed much to the example of Mohandas K. King explains the value of civil disobedience as a tool of socialchange and the role that religious leaders should play in it. . Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.Lewis, D. These exercises in civil disobedience, which King termednonviolent direct action, were the principal strategy that King used tocall attention to the gap in civil rights between whites and blacks in theU.S. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last" (Lane & Gregory, 1977, p. Retrieved February 1, 2 4, from http://www.africanamericans.com/MLKjrI'veBeentotheMountaintop.htmLane, M., & Gregory, D. . Between 1957 and 1968, as head of the Southern ChristianLeadership Conference, King engaged in a series of protests,demonstrations, speeches, and lobbying efforts that aimed at enlisting theUS government in overturning discriminatory laws. Speeches. Yet it was King and not Hoover who in 1964 was awarded the Nobel PeacePrize, which symbolized international recognition of King's effectivenessat mobilizing people for the purpose of transforming the structure ofAmerican society. At the birth of Michael Luther King, Jr. King says that a just law "is aman-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God" and thatan unjust law "is out of harmony" with moral law (King, 1963). My life with Martin Luther King, Jr. was pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church inAtlanta, Georgia and also a member of what has been aptly called "blackbourgeois Atlanta" (Lewis, 197 , p. His rhetoric--the rhetoric of Christianevangelism, American idealism, and political activism--was his principalinstrument of challenge. Not long: Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne, yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown standeth God within the shadow keeping watch above his own. L. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. (1958). (1977). (1969). Letter From Birmingham Jail. Our God is marching on! Inresponse, Dr. King organized the Montgomery Improvement Association, whichsupervised the famed Montgomery bus boycott that thrust him into sudden andlasting national and international prominence; he was named Time's Man ofthe Year in 1958. . Undoubtedly, the rhetorical success of the "I Have a Dream" speech atthe March on Washington in 1963 influenced the passage of the Civil RightsAct of 1964. (197 ). King demonstrated that if masses--even, orespecially, powerless masses--could unite around an issue and be inspiredby strong rhetoric, they could gather unbeatable strength and practicalresults. Moving together, blacks learned that they did notnecessarily have to get killed when asserting rights. Theinciting incident came in 1955, after the arrest of one Rosa Parks, amiddle-aged seamstress who had also once been a secretary for the localNAACP chapter, refused to follow the law that obligated Negroes to givetheir bus seats up to any white passenger who wanted them (Lewis, 197 ). It encouraged people in the idea that to coalesceand mobilize for nonviolent direct action could effect materialtransformation of experience. ReferencesDyson, M.E. Stride toward freedom: The Montgomery story. Not long, because no lie can live forever. (1963, April 16). Gandhi, whosenonviolent demonstrations of civil disobedience were a major factor in theestablishment of India's independence from the British Empire in 1947(Fischer, 1962). 69- 7 ). What King appears to have achieved over the long haul was topull people together in masses, which gave them protection, and withtangible results. Board of Education decision, which mandated desegregation ofpublic schools), the American South remained segregated as a matter of bothcustom and law. 52-3). In1935, King, Sr. Code name "Zorro": The murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. That reputationremains intact despite rather abundant evidence of a chaotic personal life(Dyson, 2 ). L., Jr. Most notable was the antipathy of the FBI and its longtimedirector J. I've been to the mountaintop. How long? King, 1969): Daddy King expected that son Martin would inherit the mantle atEbenezer Baptist, but younger King took a pastorate at the Dexter AvenueBaptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1954. On April 3, 1968, he spoke to "thirteen hundred of God'schildren here suffering," assuring them that he had been to the mountaintopand had seen the Promised Land: "I may not get there with you. He explains that Birmingham activists invitedhim and his organization to the city, but the issue of injustice is largerthan an invitation: I am in Birmingham because injustice is here . So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be (King, 1963).

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