MLK's Journey to Activism
Steve Chase
Antioch University New England's Environmental Advocacy and
Organizing Program. His contact information is at the bottom of this
email. The piece is adapted from a posting on "The Well-Trained
Activist" blog (http://eaop-blog.blogspot.com). Please feel free to
forward this on to anyone you think might be interested.)
MARTIN LUTHER KING'S JOURNEY TO ACTIVISM
For the last two years, I've broadcast a Martin Luther King Holiday
special on WKNH, the Keene State College radio station. The segment
that always gets the most listener comment is the little-known story
about how King actually became an activist during the Montgomery Bus
Boycott.
In 1955, King was fresh from seminary, only 26 years old, and new to
town. His church was one of the smallest, wealthiest, and most
conservative of the two-dozen African-American churches in Montgomery.
His personal ambitions at the time were to run a solid church program,
be well paid for it, have a nice house for his growing family, write
theology pieces for his denomination's magazine, and do a bit of
adjunct teaching at a nearby college. He was not dreaming of becoming a
leader in the struggle for civil rights, economic justice, and a
peaceful US foreign policy.
Indeed, if it had been left up to King, the Montgomery Bus Boycott
would never have happened. The real organizer of this effort was E.D.
Nixon, an experienced civil rights and labor activist who created the
Montgomery Improvement Association and launched the Montgomery Bus
Boycott within the first four days after Rosa Parks' arrest for
refusing to move to the back of the bus. It was Nixon who recruited
King to the civil rights movement. After bailing Rosa Parks out of
jail, Nixon went home and started calling local ministers to line up
their support for his boycott idea. As Nixon later explained: "I
recorded quite a few names. The first man I called was Reverend Ralph
Abernathy. He said, 'Yes, Brother Nixon, I'll go along. I think
it's a good thing.' The second person I called was the late
Reverend H.H. Hubbard. He said, 'Yes, I'll go along with you.'
And then I called Rev. King, who was number three on my list, and he
said, 'Brother Nixon, let me think about it awhile, and call you
back.'"
When King finally agreed to come to a meeting, Nixon chuckled and told
King, "I'm glad you agreed, because I already set up the first
meeting at your church." At this first ministers' meeting, King was
very nervous about Nixon's idea of conducting an illegal boycott
campaign. Several other ministers soon began to side with King against
the campaign. In his own memoir on the Bus Boycott, King recalls how
Nixon exploded towards the end of the meeting and shouted that the
ministers would have to decide if they were going to be like scared
little boys, or if they were going to stand up like grown men and take
a strong public stand against segregation. King's pride was so hurt
by Nixon's comment, he shouted back that nobody could call him a
coward. Then, to prove his courage, King immediately agreed to
Nixon's plan for an aggressive, community organizing campaign to
build up the boycott. Everyone in the room quickly agreed with King and
the matter was settled.
With that decision made, the group began to discuss who should lead the
effort. Everyone present had expected Nixon to become the president of
the newly formed Montgomery Improvement Association. But when he was
asked about serving, Nixon answered, "Naw, not unless'n you all
don't accept my man." When asked whom he was nominating, Nixon
said, "Martin Luther King." Having just loudly declared his courage
to the whole group, King felt that he had to agree to take on this
responsibility. Then, Nixon told King he would have to give the main
address at the mass rally scheduled that very night to announce the
boycott plan to the black community.
King rose to Nixon's challenge. Serving as the leader of the Montgomery
Bus Boycott for the next twelve months changed King. Watching 42,000
poor and working-class black people stay organized and do without
public transportation for a year, he discovered things about the
courage and capacity of ordinary people to resist oppression and move
toward freedom. Watching the conservative, rightwing city government
finally cave in to the boycott, he discovered the power of mass
nonviolent direct action campaigns to win real victories--even when
they are opposed by powerful interests. By seeing his own power to
inspire people to become active citizens for a noble cause, King
discovered just what kind of person he wanted to be in this life. He
now fully embraced his new mission as an activist leader for building
what he called the "Beloved Community."
There is an important lesson here for all of us. We don't have to be
born leaders. We don't have to know everything before we get started.
We just have to get started.
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Steve Chase, Ph.D.
Director, Environmental Advocacy and Organizing Program
Department of Environmental Studies @ Antioch University New England
40 Avon Street, Keene, NH 03431
Steven...@antiochne.edu; 603-283-2336 (office); 603-357-0718 (fax)
* EAOP's Main Website: http://www.antiochne.edu/es/eao/
* EAOP's "Well-Trained Activist" Blog: http://eaop-blog.blogspot.com
* EAOP's Online Activist Bookstore:
http://www.antiochne.edu/es/eao/bookstore.cfm
(7.5% of the purchase price is donated to the EAOP Scholarship Fund at
no extra cost to you)
Steve Chase
> Thank you so much for sharing this piece on the FAHE discussion site.
> I found it very interesting -- a deeper glimpse into the interpersonal
> dynamics that shape the development of movements and their leadership.
> Thanks again!
Dear Laura,
Thanks so much for your kind words about the piece.
Best,
Steve
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Steve Chase
Director, Environmental Advocacy and Organizing Program
Department of Environmental Studies at Antioch University New England
40 Avon Street, Keene, NH 03431
603-283-2336; 603-357-0618 (fax); Steven...@antiochne.edu
* EAOP's Main Website: http://www.antiochne.edu/es/eao/default.cfm
* EAOP's "The Well-Trained Activist" Blog: http://eaop-blog.blogspot.com
* EAOP's Online Bookstore: http://www.antiochne.edu/es/eao/bookstore.cfm
(7.5% of your purchase price will be donated to the EAOP Scholarship
Fund at not extra cost to you.)
To learn more, check out the study, ACTIVIST TRAINING IN THE ACADEMY:
DEVELOPING A MASTER'S PROGRAM IN ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCACY AND ORGANIZING,
at
http://www.antiochne.edu/directory/page.cfm?
page_id=230&id=1800014802&Type=Page