How was Martin Luther King Jr. viewed by white Americans at the time?
score:26
Actually, a good modern analogy might be to look at how white mainstream America views the Black Lives Matter movement currently1: open hostility from social conservatives, and a lot of patronizing disagreement on methods from Liberals and Moderates.
Where the analogy (probably?) breaks down is that there were a great many conservatives who flat out wanted the man dead (as evidenced by later events), and that the FBI felt he was a danger to the State, and treated him accordingly.
I think your best view of the attitude he had to deal with from white liberals comes from his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, which was written to address their criticisms.2 From it, we can discern the following criticisms from "Moderates" who claimed to be supportive:
- He was bringing in non-residents for his actions.
- The demonstrations themselves were problematic and frivolous.
- Private negotiation should be used instead of public disruption.
- He was creating lots of "tension".
- He was attacking a relatively supportive government before it had a fair chance it help them itself.
- He was demanding change too quickly.
- He was breaking laws.
- He was inducing whites to violence.
- He was inciting passions in his own people that might be leading to violence on their part.
Here's a video of MLK on NBC's Meet the Press in 1965 receiving this exact same treatment from a panel of white journalists two years later. All these criticisms will sound quite fresh, if you follow the discussions around current American social justice movements. Surprisingly little seems to have changed in that regard.
I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler 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; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season."
1 - I am not equating the two directly. I'm just comparing the response they have received.
2 - Linked here is the letter that was the main catalyst for King's letter, written to attempt to undercut his support while he was conveniently in jail. As the last thing his jailors wanted was him responding, King's letter was written in the margins of newspapers and smuggled out piecemeal. However, its clear from the response that he was addressing more than just that one letter.
More post
- 📝 Was Cleopatra technically a princess?
- 📝 Why did the Kingdom of Hawaii remain stagnant during an invasion?
- 📝 Did the date of 9/11 have significance, or was it chosen randomly?
- 📝 How is the accuracy of the Maya Calendar measured?
- 📝 Does the ancient Egyptian religion still have followers?
- 📝 Have the officials/leaders of the winning country ever been punished for war crimes?
- 📝 What paintings might these be (2 sketches made in the Tate Britain Gallery)?
- 📝 Did Muslim states hire Western European knights as mercenaries before the Crusades?
- 📝 Was the Pantheon completely underwater when Rome flooded?
- 📝 Were doctors who were drafted in the 1950/1960 years, compelled to take an officer's oath of allegiance?
- 📝 Is there an historical example for the possibility of peaceful resolution of Kashmir conflict?
- 📝 What was this building and what happend to it?
- 📝 Did early nineteenth century commoners know their royalty?
- 📝 What was the Western involvement in Finland's deal with the Soviets to be neutral?
- 📝 British colony in Berlin
- 📝 Which military commanders burned their own ships?
- 📝 How did the "Forty Niners" get to California in 1849?
- 📝 Did the Soviet Union get a net border gain from China during World War II?
- 📝 What did the English people during the Peasants' Revolt know about the Ciompi Revolt?
- 📝 Did Thomas Paine really give up book royalties?
- 📝 Was there trade among African empires?
- 📝 Did Abraham Lincoln have a duel with cannons?
- 📝 What was the "high Commissioner of the Police in Scotland" in 1777?
- 📝 What is the earliest reference to "space aliens"?
- 📝 What was Lester B. Pearson's motivation for instituting Canada's 40 hr. work week?
- 📝 What is this war machine shown on Trajan's column?
- 📝 How do functionalists explain the fact that Holocaust continued until the very end of the war?
- 📝 Is it true that all revolutions/uprising could only be "resolved" with the backing of an armed force?
- 📝 Have there been any countries that voted themselves out of existence?
- 📝 Did Anglo-Saxons make use of large-scale, non-military Roman ruins?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How was Martin Luther King Jr. viewed by white Americans at the time?
- 📝 What time of day was the White House burned in August of 1814?
- 📝 Approximately how much travel time was saved by the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869?
- 📝 How was Christian intermarriage with the Muslim Turks viewed by the Byzantines?
- 📝 How common was it for Americans to visit Europe in the late 19th century?
- 📝 How was Enguerrand VII de Coucy able to keep his allegiance to both king of England and France during the Hundred Years War?
- 📝 Did Viet Nam suffer a famine any time during the 1980s? And if not, how close was it to famine?
- 📝 How big was the percentage of white people in the USA who were not against granting the blacks equal rights?
- 📝 How much leisure time was enjoyed by English peasants in the 16th century?
- 📝 Was Columbus viewed as a failure at the time of his death?
- 📝 How did Martin Luther King Jr. Day become a day of service?
- 📝 How was the literacy rate of Americans impacted by the establishment of public schools?
- 📝 How old was the youngest white person sentenced to death in the U.S.A?
- 📝 What was the attitude towards Martin Luther among early non-Catholic Christians in Britain?
- 📝 How much damage was USSR already capable of doing by the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis?
- 📝 Was England called England in the days of King Arthur?
- 📝 How serious was Fermat's statement about the ancients?
- 📝 How and when was the modern company ownership structure invented?
- 📝 How was the United States able to produce excellent tanks in 1942?
- 📝 How did Native Americans refer to themselves in the 19th century?
- 📝 When was the last time a reigning monarch personally participated in battle?
- 📝 How popular was the Soviet Union?
- 📝 Was there a King of England, or an heir to the throne, in 1831 who idolized Michael Faraday?
- 📝 How difficult was to escape from a naval battle after engaging into one during the Age of Sail?
- 📝 How likely is it that any non-Celtic language was spoken in the British Isles when the Romans invaded?
- 📝 How significant was the Fall of Constantinople as an event leading to the Age of Exploration?
- 📝 How and why was the boundary between West and East Berlin decided to be where it was?
- 📝 How difficult was it to spoof the sender of a telegram in 1890-1920's in USA?
- 📝 How was the modern geographic boundary between Europe and Asia decided?
- 📝 How was the Luftwaffe able to destroy nearly 4000 Soviet aircraft in 3 days of operation Barbarossa?