[hr-education-na] MLK's Journey to Activism

(This short piece on MLK was written by Steve Chase, the Director of
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. It gets a laugh and an "aha." 

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. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 
Steve Chase, Ph.D. 
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) 

* 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.) 




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