scholarly journals Remember, Celebrate, and Forget? The Martin Luther King Day and the Pitfalls of Civil Religion

2017 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 428-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
JANA WEISS
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Civil Religion ◽  
Promised Land ◽  
Religious Narrative ◽  
Twentieth Anniversary ◽  
The One ◽  
Turn Over ◽  
Martin Luther King

2016 marked the twentieth anniversary of the establishment of the Martin Luther King Day, which honors the civil rights leader and recognizes the contributions of African Americans. However, the holiday has also become a day of debate over King's legacy and, in turn, over the (mis)use of the nation's civil religion. On the one hand, the civil religious narrative of enduring unity, of the Promised Land, and of King as the nation's redeemer, which evolved around the implementation of the holiday during the 1970s and early 1980s, appealed to a broad audience and forged a sense of unity. On the other hand, it also masked real progress and lead to a symbolic “pseudo-integration” of African Americans. Hence, as the ideals of the Declaration of Independence seemed to be finally achieved, it is not surprising that King has been succcessfully turned into a poster boy against affirmative action.

Empowerment

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonja D. Williams
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
Boiling Point ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Nation Of Islam ◽  
Martin Luther King ◽  
Power Play

This chapter focuses on Richard Durham's days after his departure from the United Packinghouse Workers of America (UPWA). Forced to resign from the UPWA after his failed power play, Durham felt betrayed. He decided to write a novel based on his UPWA experiences. While he worked on his novel, Durham returned to freelancing. He found a national audience for Destination Freedom, reworked his “The Heart of George Cotton” and “Denmark Vesey” scripts for the CBS Radio Workshop, born in 1936 as The Columbia Workshop. He also got an offer from the Chicago-based Nation of Islam (NOI) to serve as editor of its newspaper, Muhammad Speaks, at a time when civil rights protests were intensifying as blatant racial discrimination and inequality continued to disenfranchise African Americans. The tensions reached a boiling point in April 1968, when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, sparking riots in various cities.

scholarly journals Race, Reform, and Retrenchment: Transformation and Legitimation in Antidiscrimination Law

2011 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 247-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberle Williams Crenshaw
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Racial Oppression ◽  
Socioeconomic Disparity ◽  
Antidiscrimination Law ◽  
The Face ◽  
History Of ◽  
Martin Luther King

In 1984, President Reagan signed a bill that created the Martin Luther King, Jr. Federal Holiday Commission. The Commission was charged with the responsibility of issuing guidelines for states and localities to follow in preparing their observances of Martin Luther King's birthday. The Commission's task would not be easy. Although King's birthday had come to symbolize the massive social movement that grew out of efforts of African-Americans to end the long history of racial oppression in America, the first official observance of the holiday would take place in the face of at least two disturbing obstacles: first, a constant, if not increasing, socioeconomic disparity between the races, and second, a hostile administration devoted to changing the path of civil rights reforms that some believe responsible for most of the movement's progress.

scholarly journals Closing Ranks: Montgomery Jews and Civil Rights, 1954–1960

1998 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 463-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
CLIVE WEBB
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Civil Rights Movement ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
Supreme Court Decision ◽  
Promised Land ◽  
Montgomery Bus Boycott ◽  
Bus Boycott ◽  
Martin Luther King

The arrest of Rosa Parks on 1 December 1955 provided the spark which ignited the long smouldering resentments of black Montgomerians. For 381 days they waged a boycott of the city bus lines, frustrating the opposition of white authorities and financially crippling the local transit company. More profoundly it resulted in a Supreme Court decision outlawing segregation on public transportation. Equally momentous was the emergence of the man who would serve as the spiritual figurehead of the civil rights movement: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.In the wake of the Montgomery bus boycott, one national black newspaper acclaimed King as “Alabama's Modern Moses.” Since the darkest days of slavery African-Americans had sought spiritual salvation by comparing their own condition to that of God's Chosen People, the Israelites of the Old Testament. Throughout their years of enslavement they prayed for the Moses who would deliver them from their suffering unto the Promised Land. During the boycott, the black citizens of Montgomery had similarly sustained their morale by singing the old slave spirituals, raising their voices at the nightly mass meetings in rousing renditions of “Go Down Moses, Way Down in Egypt Land.” “As sure as Moses got the children of Israel across the Red Sea,” King exhorted the black community, “we can stick together and win.” Others too drew the analogy between the historical experience of Jews and the contemporary predicament of African-Americans. Looking back on the boycott, white liberal activist Virginia Durr evoked the spectre of Nazi Germany in describing the strength of racist opposition.

scholarly journals Editorial

Transfers ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sunny Stalter-Pace ◽  
Gijs Mom
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Civil Rights Movement ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Voting Rights ◽  
Court Decision ◽  
Southern United States ◽  
State Capital ◽  
Martin Luther King

How do you represent a moment when crossing a bridge became a major historical fl ash point? Th e twenty-fi fth of March of this year marked the fiftieth anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s fifty-four-mile march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery, a march to protest the lack of voting rights for African Americans in the southern United States. Th e major point of contention, where infrastructure and politics met, was the Edmund Pettus Bridge leading out of Selma. Th e first attempt to march occurred on what was later known as Bloody Sunday. Black protestors attempted to cross the bridge, against the instruction of local and state troopers. Th ey were beaten mercilessly and the footage was broadcast on national television. Th e second attempt took place after Dr. King put out a call to all Americans who identify with the civil rights movement. Th ey gathered on the bridge and knelt to pray. King sensed trouble and called off the march. After a court decision in favor of the protestors, the march took place.

Claiming Martin Luther King, Jr. for the right: The Martin Luther King Day holiday in the Reagan era

2021 ◽  
pp. 175069802199593
Author(s):  
Francesca Polletta ◽  
Alex Maresca
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Historical Figures ◽  
General Abstract ◽  
The Right ◽  
Reagan Era ◽  
Martin Luther King ◽  
Roll Back

The article traces how American conservatives laid claim to the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. We focus on a key moment in that process, when Republicans in the early 1980s battled other Republicans to establish King’s birthday as a federal holiday and thereby distinguish a conservative position on racial inequality from that associated with southern opposition to civil rights. The victory was consequential, aiding the New Right’s efforts to roll back gains on affirmative action and other race-conscious policies. We use the case to explore the conditions in which political actors are able to lay claim to venerated historical figures who actually had very different beliefs and commitments. The prior popularization of the figure makes it politically advantageous to identify with his or her legacy but also makes it possible to do so credibly. As they are popularized, the figure’s beliefs are made general, abstract, and often vague in a way that lends them to appropriation by those on the other side of partisan lines. Such appropriation is further aided by access to a communicative infrastructure of foundations, think tanks, and media outlets that allows political actors to secure an audience for their reinterpretation of the past.

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