The video explores the significant contributions and intricate political beliefs of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. beyond his well-recognized role in the modern Civil Rights Movement. While acknowledging King as a symbol of peace and leadership, it uncovers his work in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and his partnership with figures like Bayard Rustin, demonstrating the collaborative nature of civil rights advancements from 1956 to 1968.

Viewers will learn about King's early life, educational background, and influential relationships that shaped his commitment to advocacy. The video also highlights pivotal events such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Birmingham campaign, and collaborations with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which collectively led to impactful legislative changes like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Main takeaways from the video:

Please remember to turn on the CC button to view the subtitles.

Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. impeccable [ɪmˈpɛkəbl] - (adjective) - Flawless or without fault. - Synonyms: (flawless, perfect, unblemished)

Doctor King has become a symbol of peace, courage, sacrifice, and impeccable leadership.

2. pivotal [ˈpɪvətəl] - (adjective) - Of crucial importance in relation to the development or success of something. - Synonyms: (crucial, essential, decisive)

Doctor King played a pivotal role in changing the tide of civil rights legislation in the United States from 1956 to 1968.

3. nonviolence [nɒnˈvaɪələns] - (noun) - The use of peaceful means, not force, to bring about political or social change. - Synonyms: (pacifism, peaceableness, nonaggression)

From the beginning, the SCLC identified nonviolence as their cornerstone strategy.

4. caricature [ˈkærɪkətjʊə] - (noun) - A depiction of someone in which certain characteristics are exaggerated to create a comic or grotesque effect. - Synonyms: (parody, satire, lampoon)

Sometimes people can turn doctor King into a sort of caricature of himself that strips him of any political complexity that was actually central to who he was.

5. purview [ˈpɜːrvjuː] - (noun) - The scope of the influence or concerns of something or someone. - Synonyms: (scope, range, extent)

King advocated for a guaranteed, universal basic income and guaranteed employment for anyone willing to work.

6. imperialism [ɪmˈpɪəriəlɪzəm] - (noun) - A policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force. - Synonyms: (expansionism, colonialism, domination)

He spoke out against the war in Vietnam and American imperialism more broadly.

7. purveyor [pɜːrˈveɪər] - (noun) - A person or group that spreads or promotes an idea, view, etc. - Synonyms: (supplier, provider, disseminator)

He called the United States government, quote, the greatest purveyor of violence in the world.

8. vilified [ˈvɪlɪfʌɪd] - (verb) - To speak or write about in an abusively disparaging manner. - Synonyms: (defame, denigrate, malign)

In fact, you might be vilified just like King was.

9. doctrine [ˈdɒktrɪn] - (noun) - A belief or set of beliefs held and taught by a church, political party, or other group. - Synonyms: (creed, dogma, belief)

He was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. Unfortunately, the poor peoples campaign collapsed in his absence.

10. stumbling block [ˈstʌmblɪŋ blɒk] - (noun) - An obstacle or hindrance. - Synonyms: (obstacle, barrier, hindrance)

I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negros greatest stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the white citizens counselor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice.

Martin Luther King, Jr - Crash Course Black American History #36

Hi, I'm Clint Smith. And this is crash course black American history. Perhaps the most notable figure of the modern civil rights movement is Doctor Martin Luther King Junior. Doctor King has become a symbol of peace, courage, sacrifice, and impeccable leadership, but it's important to remember that he didn't do this alone. Together with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Doctor King played a pivotal role in changing the tide of civil rights legislation in the United States from 1956 to 1968. Another important thing is that we're often taught about Doctor King in a two-dimensional sort of way that often flattens and oversimplifies or just ignores the totality of his political beliefs. But we're not going to do that today, so let's start the show.

Martin Luther King Junior was born in 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. At just 15 years old, King was admitted into Morehouse College, which is an HBCU in Atlanta. There he pledged, Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, incorporate the oldest black fraternity in the United States and one that I joined when I was in college, too. At Morehouse, he studied law and medicine. At first, he had no intention of following in the footsteps of his father, who was a minister. That is, until he met Doctor Benjamin Elijah Mays. Mays was then the president of Morehouse College, and he was also a minister. He'd established a reputation of advocating for racial equality, and his work had an enormous influence on the young Martin.

So after graduating from Morehouse, King received a bachelor's of divinity in theology from Crozer Theological Seminary in Upland, Pennsylvania, and then a PhD in systematic theology from Boston University in 1955. While in Boston, he met the woman who would become his wife, Miss Coretta Scott, and they married and soon settled down in Montgomery, Alabama, where King began as pastor at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.

Not even a year into settling into their new home, the city began to bubble with tension because of the monumental Brown v. Board decision that declared key tenets of Plessy v. Ferguson unconstitutional. The desegregation of schools sparked unrest among black citizens in Montgomery who wanted to see Jim Crow segregation undone in all areas of life. And this is how Martin met Rosa Parks.

The black citizens of Montgomery had long awaited an opportunity to launch an attack on the horrid abuse that took place within the segregationist system of public transportation. The 1955 arrest of Rosa Parks was the last draw. While community members and leaders were ready to take action, they sought out a leader who had an impeccable reputation. And as someone new in town, King also had the benefit of having a clean slate to work with. So Doctor King got his first taste of leadership when he was asked to head the Montgomery Improvement Association and lead the Montgomery bus boycott.

Soon after the successful boycott, King was invited to Atlanta, Georgia, to create an effort similar to the Montgomery bus boycott that could be executed across the South. Over January 10 and 11th of 1957, 60 black ministers and civil rights leaders convened in Atlanta at the renowned Ebenezer Baptist Church to replicate the successful Montgomery strategy. This group would soon become known as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, or SCLC. As an organization inextricably linked to the black church, it is no surprise that the SCLC regarded churches as pivotal organizing spaces for civil rights activism. The ministers of the SCLC soon chose Reverend Martin Luther King Junior to be their first president, and in its later years, the SCLC would address other pressing issues like war and poverty.

Reverend Ralph Abernathy, Sr. co-founded the SCLC and served as the organization's treasurer. Another individual key to the success of Doctor King was Bayard Rustin. While he did not hold a specific leadership position, he served as King's advisor and right-hand man since the Montgomery bus boycott. During the Montgomery demonstrations, Rustin helped King develop the movement's nonviolent rhetoric that became the foundation of the SCLC's work.

From the beginning, the SCLC identified nonviolence as their cornerstone strategy. They also soon decided to make the SCLC movement open to all individuals, regardless of race, religion, or background. King and the SCLC grew determined to bring national attention to the plight of black Americans in Birmingham, a city that was regarded as one of the most segregated places in all of the United States. The objective of this campaign was to end discriminatory practices in hiring, desegregate stores, and accelerate the desegregation of schools.

And in a direct violation of a ruling against protests, King held a Good Friday demonstration on April 12, 1963. That day, he and 50 others were arrested, and later a friend smuggled a copy of the local newspaper to Doctor King. While he was in his cell, he opened the paper to find that eight white clergymen had published an essay that criticized the march that he had led and other similar demonstrations against racial inequality.

In the piece, entitled A Call for Unity, the clergyman urged black locals to refrain from letting outsiders sway them toward unwise and untimely behaviors that might incite violence and told them to stick to petitioning the local courts for their rights. Deeply frustrated by what he had just read, King in that moment began to write a response, doing so in the margins of the very newspaper he had read the column in. And King didn't hold back. And this document became one of the most central documents of the entire civil rights movement.

In his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, King rejected the idea that what was happening in Birmingham wasn't his business. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. He pushed back against the idea that if black people were just patient, equality would soon come. We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor. It must be demanded by the oppressed. For years now I have heard the word wait. It rings in the ear of every negro with piercing familiarity. This weight has almost always meant never.

And then he made his famous assertion that the white moderate was an immense danger to the success of the civil rights movement. I must confess that over the past few years I've been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's greatest stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the white citizens counselor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice, who prefers a negative peace, which is the absence of tension, to a positive peace, which is the presence of justice, who constantly says, I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action, who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom.

When he was finished, he had written nearly 7000 words, and with the help of his attorney, those words were smuggled out of the jail and printed in newspapers and magazines across the country. King's letter did not just speak directly to the clergyman, it was also an appeal to America's soul.

The SCLC was not the only organization working toward the desegregation of public services in search of racial equality. So too was the more radical Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, also known as SNCC. These two organizations were largely working toward a similar set of goals, but often had different ideas of how to get there. You see, the SCLC strictly applied a model of propping up one charismatic central leader, and in this case it was Doctor King. SNCC, on the other hand, emphasized group-centered leadership. But despite their differences in approach, there were also times when the two organizations worked together, like the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

In the 1965 March on Selma, the combined efforts of SNCC, the SCLC, black and white citizens and ministers from across the country proved successful, finally applying enough pressure to get Lyndon B. Johnson to sign the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

In late 1967, the SCLC opened a new chapter with its Poor People's Campaign. It was launched to close the wealth gap between whites and blacks and to combat the growing and racialized threat of poverty in the United States. As Doctor King put it, what good is having the right to sit at a lunch counter if you can't afford to buy a hamburger? Just as King was pivoting SCLC's work toward economic justice, he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. Unfortunately, the Poor People's Campaign collapsed in his absence.

After King's death, the SCLC remained active in aiding black voter registration and supporting protests across the South. But the late 1960s met the growth of a more militant sect of protesters, leaders, and intellectuals. The burgeoning black power movement was taking root, and people were becoming disillusioned with the idea of nonviolent, peaceful protests.

Speaking of nonviolence, there is another important point to make here. Sometimes people can turn Doctor King into a sort of caricature of himself that strips him of any political complexity that was actually central to who he was. People love to cite his line, I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. And in doing so, they basically turn him into a single line in the I Have a Dream speech, and make him out to be some sort of nonviolent kumbaya teddy bear. And while it is true that Doctor King was deeply committed to nonviolence, a deeper analysis of his work, writing and speeches revealed that King's political views were often more radical and more expansive than they have often been made out to be.

For example, King advocated for a guaranteed, universal basic income and guaranteed employment for anyone willing to work. One of his basic principles was that no one should be forced to live in poverty while others live in luxury. Additionally, he spoke out against the war in Vietnam and American imperialism more broadly. In a 1967 speech, he called the United States government, quote, the greatest purveyor of violence in the world.

And while King seems to be widely loved and respected today, it wasn't always that way. In 1966, just two years before he was killed, according to Gallup polls, two thirds of Americans didn't approve of him or his work. All of this is a reminder that advocating for social change, pushing against the status quo, and fighting against those in positions of power doesn’t mean you'll be popular when you’re doing it. In fact, you might be vilified just like King was. But attempting to build a better society has never been about being popular or well-liked. It's about trying to build the sort of world that we all deserve to live in, even if it means you won't get to see that world yourself. And King more than anyone, he knew this.

He famously said in the last speech he ever delivered, on the day before he was assassinated. I've been to the mountaintop. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land. Thanks for watching. I'll see you next time.

Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr., Leadership, Education, Motivation, Atlanta, Crashcourse