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 Martin Luther King Jr: Non-violence resistance and the problem of terrorism in Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 259-274
Author(s):  
Gregory Ebalu Ogbenika ◽  
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Working Solution ◽  
The Face ◽  
History Of ◽  
Resistance Theory ◽  
Martin Luther King ◽  
Radical Approach

Martin Luther King Jr. cannot be said to have addressed the problem of terrorism in general because he proposed his philosophy of non-violence resistance within the context of the oppression, injustice, segregation, violence and discrimination suffered by the African Americans. Nevertheless, his philosophy captured ways by which we can fittingly address the problem of terrorism. Many of the methods of non-violence given by Martin Luther King Jr. are of paramount importance in the face of terrorism. His philosophy is basically important today in Nigeria owing to the fact that our unity as a country is threatened by the recurring activities of terrorism and as such we are at a cross road in the history of our country, where drastic decisions have to be taken to address this perilous trend. The philosophy of non-violent resistance as proposed by Martin Luther King Jr. is a veritable step towards a working solution, as it is not only an outcry against terrorism of any sort, but also an ideology that frowns against any form of action that results in the taking of human life or the carnage that comes with violence. His non-violent resistance theory which he developed after a deep study of Mahatma Gandhi’s theory of non-violence, is a radical approach towards the fight against violence of any sort inflicted on the African Americans of his time, an action borne of a passionate fight against racism. So, to aptly address the problem of terrorism in Nigeria, it is necessary we consult and apply some principles of the philosophy of non-violence resistance as postulated by Martin Luther King Jr.

The Heart of the Movement

2018 ◽  
pp. 54-88
Author(s):  
Elaine Allen Lechtreck
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Civil Rights Movement ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
White Supremacist ◽  
White People ◽  
Small Minority ◽  
The Face ◽  
Taxi Service ◽  
Martin Luther King

The chapter reveals the violence associated with the Civil Rights Movement, the courage of African American activists (Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers) and the small minority of southern white ministers who joined them. In Montgomery, Alabama, Robert Graetz provided taxi service for demonstrators. Andrew Turnipseed paid the salary of James Love, who signed the Mobile bus petition, when his parishioners would not. No southern white minister would participate in freedom rides, but John Morris organized a Freedom Ride after the violence subsided. The group was arrested. Joseph Ellwanger was harassed in Birmingham. Hundreds of black protestors were arrested and tortured. Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Edwin King was arrested and tortured. The Klan and other white supremacist groups flourished. Black activists and some whites were murdered in Mississippi. As Edwin King commented, “Good white people could do nothing in the face of madness.”

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.

Norway’s Democratic Challenge

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 34-62
Author(s):  
Michael Honey
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Labor Movement ◽  
Labor History ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
Third Way ◽  
American Capitalism ◽  
The Face ◽  
Civil Rights History ◽  
Martin Luther King

This article provides an overview of Norwegian labor history and social democracy, which challenges American capitalism and the labor movement to consider Martin Luther King, Jr.’s call for a “third way,” a more humane system mixing highly regulated and taxed capitalism with a strong social system powered by strong unions and a truce between workers and capitalists. The Nordic model flies in the face of American avaricious capitalism and challenges us to consider how a better society might exist even within capitalism. The author, a specialist in southern labor and civil rights history and Martin Luther King studies, urges historians to explore Norwegian and Scandinavian labor history and social democracy to see what it can teach us.

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 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.

Toward Jerusalem: A journey of the eternal now (A Sermon)

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-107
Author(s):  
Richard Francis Wilson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
The United States ◽  
Paul Tillich ◽  
Dietrich Bonhoeffer ◽  
As I Lay Dying ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face ◽  
Martin Luther King

This article is a theological-ethical Lenten sermon that attempts to discern the transcendent themes in the narrative of Luke 9-19 with an especial focus upon “setting the face toward Jerusalem” and the subsequent weeping over Jerusalem. The sermon moves from a passage from William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying through a series of hermeneutical turns that rely upon insights from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King, Jr., Will Campbell, Augustine, and Paul Tillich with the hope of illuminating what setting of the face on Jerusalem might mean. Tillich’s “eternal now” theme elaborates Augustine’s insight that memory and time reduce the present as, to paraphrase the Saint, that all we have is a present: a present remembered, a present experienced, and a present anticipated. The Gospel is a timeless message applicable to every moment in time and history. The sermon seeks to connect with recent events in the United States and the world that focus upon challenges to the ideals of social justice and political tyranny.

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