Bill of Rights

in Action
SUMMER 2017
Constitutional
Rights
Foundation
Volume 32 No4

MARTIN LUTHER KING AND

THE PHILOSOPHY OF NONVIOLENCE

Wikimedia Commons
Martin Luther King, Jr. addressing the crowd of about 250,000 people at the March on Washington in August 1963.

Martin Luther King, Jr. is remembered for his achievements The man, who turned out to be an American Nazi Party
in civil rights and for the methods he used to get there — member, continued to flail.
namely, nonviolence. More than just a catchphrase, more than
just the “absence of violence,” and more than just a tactic, The integrated audience at first thought the whole
nonviolence was a philosophy that King honed over the thing was staged, a mock demonstration of King’s non-
course of his adult life. It has had a profound, lasting influ- violent philosophy in action. But as King reeled, and real
ence on social justice movements at home and abroad.
blood spurted from his face, they began to realize it was
In September 1962, King convened a meeting of the no act. Finally, several SCLC members rushed the stage
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the to stop the attack.
main organizational force behind his civil rights activism, But they stopped short when King shouted, “Don’t
in Birmingham, Alabama. King was giving a talk on the touch him! Don’t touch him! We have to pray for him.”
need for nonviolent action in the face of violent white The SCLC men pulled the Nazi off King, who was beaten
racism when a white man jumped on stage and, without so badly he couldn’t continue the speech.
a word, punched him in the face repeatedly. Precisely because the attack wasn’t staged, it left an
King naturally put up his hands to deflect the blows. immense impression on the convention attendees, and
But after a few punches, he let his hands fall to his side. anyone else who heard about it in the coming days. King

CHALLENGING IDEAS
This edition of Bill of Rights in Action focuses on ideas that provoke change. The first article traces the development of Martin
Luther King, Jr.’s nonviolent philosophy in the civil rights movement. The second article reviews political and economic changes
in Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam War. The third article analyzes conflicts over free speech on today’s college campuses.
U.S. History: Martin Luther King and the Philosophy of Nonviolence by guest writer and New York Times deputy op-ed editor
Clay Risen
World History: Vietnam Today by longtime contributor Carlton Martz
U.S. Government/Current Issues: Free Speech on Campus: Trigger Warnings, Safe Spaces, and Controversial Speech at U.S.
Colleges by guest writer Aimée Koeplin, Ph.D.
© 2017, Constitutional Rights Foundation, Los Angeles. All Constitutional Rights Foundation materials and publications, including Bill of Rights in Action, are protected by copyright. However, we hereby grant to all recipients a
license to reproduce all material contained herein for distribution to students, other school site personnel, and district administrators. (ISSN: 1534-9799)
 Wikimedia Commons
hadn’t been just preaching nonviolence; confronted,
without warning, by racist violence, he lived it, even at
great risk to himself.
King did not invent nonviolence as a doctrine for
achieving social justice. But he adapted it for an Amer-
ican context, and showed how compelling yet flexible it
could be.
Influences on King’s Nonviolence
King’s earliest exposure to the ideas that would
coalesce in his nonviolent philosophy occurred when
he was an undergraduate at Morehouse College, in At-
lanta. He read Henry David Thoreau’s “Essay on Civil
Mahatma Gandhi was a major leader of the movement for Indian
Disobedience,” which outlined the idea of resisting an independence from Great Britain from 1915 until 1947, when Britain
unjust government through nonviolent resistance, sev- granted independence. His nonviolent philosophy was a central in-
eral times. And yet he had a hard time seeing how fluence on Martin Luther King.
Thoreau’s highly intellectual New England mentality
doing the oppressing and questioned whether the Nazis
could provide much of a model for the problem of
– or racist American whites – would have allowed sim-
blacks in the American South, where lynching and
ilar flouting of the law, however nonviolent. King was
plain murder were common fates for African Ameri-
willing to take a chance that, at least in America, the
cans who challenged white supremacy.
answer was yes.
King continued his academic studies, and his per-
King also had to deal with another criticism. Some,
sonal research into nonviolence, at Pennsylvania’s
like the theologian Reinhold Neibuhr, said that nonvio-
Crozier Theological Seminary, where he began his grad-
lence too often became a way of sealing off one’s moral
uate studies in 1948. There he read deeply the growing
superiority, of accepting suffering at the hands of one’s
literature around Christianity as a social movement,
oppressors as a form of soul-cleansing, while losing
which placed the demands of political and economic
sight of the goal of social justice. “All too many had an
justice at the heart of a Christian’s religious calling.
unwarranted optimism concerning man and leaned un-
But it was not until he began to study the life and
consciously toward self-righteousness,” King wrote. It
works of Mahatma Gandhi that he began to see the pos-
was a point he took to heart – and it was one reason, he
sibility of applying nonviolence to the specific problems
said, “why I never joined a pacifist organization.”
of African Americans, especially in the South. As he
But nonviolence, he argued, was anything but pas-
later told it, in Philadelphia he listened to a sermon by
sive. “Nonviolent resistance is not a method of cow-
the president of Howard University, Mordecai Johnson,
ardice,” he said. “It does resist. It is not a method of
who spoke at length about the teachings and actions of
stagnant passivity and deadening complacency. The
Gandhi, and in particular his use of nonviolent mass
nonviolent resister is just as opposed to the evil that he
protest to challenge British control over India. King left
is standing against as the violent resister but he resists
the sermon transfixed.
without violence.”
Though Gandhi was Hindu, King saw immediately
What did King mean by nonviolence? It was not
the similarity with the teachings of Jesus Christ, and the
merely the refusal to hit back, an insistence on turn-
possibility of applying Gandhian nonviolence in an Amer-
ing the other cheek. It was, in its own way, aggres-
ican and Christian context. King had struggled to see how
sive. It meant putting oneself in the face of violence,
the lessons of the New Testament could be useful in the
of actively confronting it and, responding with love to
struggle for racial justice. “Prior to reading Gandhi, I had
the jabs and punches.
about concluded that the ethics of Jesus were only effec-
It also meant organizing thousands across the South
tive in individual relationship,” he wrote. “But after read-
in specific mass actions that would force face-to-face en-
ing Gandhi, I saw how utterly mistaken I was.”
counters with white, racist power. Doing so, King
Would Nonviolence Work? taught, would demonstrate both the impotence of white
For King, the heart of Gandhi’s nonviolence was violence and show the country that the black commu-
love, in the spiritual, transcendent form of the word. In nity was not afraid to insist on its rights. For King, re-
the face of coercive, racist British rule, Gandhi so loved sponding to violence in kind would show the weakness
his oppressors that he refused to take up arms against of the black community, not its strength.
them. But Gandhi was not without his critics. Some ob- Nonviolence would also strengthen the activist
servers said he was lucky that the British were the ones community through shared suffering and struggle.
BRIA 32:4 (Summer 2017) U.S. HISTORY 2
This experience would expand outward to encompass on a large enough scale would overwhelm any possible re-
the black community broadly and, King hoped, all sponse. Police could arrest several dozen marchers, but not
Americans in what he called “the beloved community.” several thousand. In late spring 1963, King decided to focus
Of course, King also understood the practical rea- on organizing a boycott by black shoppers of the down-
sons for nonviolence. Given that blacks were a minor- town retailers in Birmingham, Alabama, calling for inte-
ity, and that Southern whites often had the power of the gration of the city’s shops and restaurants.
local and state police behind them, violence was a dead When talks between King’s SCLC, the city govern-
end. Even demonstrating the possibility of a violent re- ment, and local business leaders faltered, King organ-
sponse would elicit a massive backlash, potentially de- ized hundreds of school children to march through
stroying the civil rights movement. And it would negate downtown Birmingham, despite not having a permit.
whatever good will the movement was building in the The city police and fire departments, under the com-
national community, and especially in Washington, mand of Theophilus “Bull” Connor, met them with dogs
where King and other leaders hoped to see federal civil and fire hoses. The water pressure was so high it
rights legislation. stripped the clothes off the children’s backs. Those who
didn’t turn around were arrested.
Testing Nonviolence
King and his associates had trained the students in
King’s first foray into nonviolent protest was with
nonviolence, however, and not a single one struck out.
the Montgomery bus boycott, which began in 1955
Images from Birmingham appeared in newspapers and
when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white
on evening news programs around the world. Not only
person while riding home from work. She was arrested,
did the protests force the city’s leaders to reach a com-
leading to an organized effort by Montgomery blacks to
promise with King and the SCLC, but the fear of more
avoid riding the bus system, relying in-
incidents such as the one in Birm-
stead on carpools. Nonviolence,King ingham spurred President Kennedy
The boycott was a classic Gandhian
move: a demonstration of economic in- argued,was anything (and later President Lyndon John-
son) to push for the landmark 1964
dependence as a way of eliciting con- but passive. Civil Rights Act, ending segregation
cessions from the white establishment.
across the South.
It was also classic King: intricately organized, well-pub-
King followed up on his success in Birmingham with
licized, and while noble in itself, also leading in a
the August 1963 March on Washington. Despite wide-
lengthy negotiation with the local white political estab-
spread fears of violence, the march of a quarter of a mil-
lishment to desegregate the bus service. And it worked.
lion people who came to the city to hear King, Lewis, and
It would be several years before King’s next major
other civil rights leaders speak was entirely peaceful, a
action, but already others followed his model. The 1961
demonstration that Birmingham was no fluke and that
Freedom Riders, who traveled across the Deep South on
nonviolence could indeed become a mass movement.
desegregated interstate buses, demonstrated King’s
highest ideal when they reached Montgomery, Alabama, From Selma to Chicago
where a mob of angry whites attacked and beat them Perhaps the most powerful moment in the civil
savagely. Not a single rider, black or white, hit back. rights movement came a little over a year later, in early
Meanwhile, King was leading seminars and work- 1965, when King and Lewis joined local leaders James
shops on nonviolence. While King was trying to build a Bevel and Amelia Boynton in organizing a march from
mass movement, he also was preparing a vanguard of ex- Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery. The march would
perts in nonviolence who could walk in the front of protest the lack of voting rights protections in the South.
marches and absorb the brunt of any assault. They also King was unable to join the protesters when they
could do their own training in seminars across the South. first set off on Sunday, March 7, across the Edmund Pet-
Perhaps the most noteworthy trainee to come out of tus Bridge, headed east out of town. As they reached the
King’s workshops was John Lewis. Lewis was a young far side, they were met by dozens of state troopers. They
seminarian who became a leading activist in Nashville, pressed on and the officers set on them, raining down
participated in the Freedom Rides, spoke at the 1963 billy clubs and boot kicks. Lewis had his head split open.
March on Washington and, most famously, was beaten Eventually the marchers fled back over the bridge. This
severely in the so-called Bloody Sunday incident in incident became known as “Bloody Sunday.”
Selma, Alabama, in 1965. King arrived to lead a second march three days later
From Birmingham to D.C. but turned back at the last minute, fearing a trap. Finally,
As the ranks of the Southern civil rights movement with federal protection, the peaceful march set off on
grew, King began to set his sights higher. Nonviolent protest March 21 and reached Montgomery three days later. That
BRIA 32:4 (Summer 2017) U.S. HISTORY 3
summer, with images of Bloody Sunday still fresh in the Despite his violent end, nonviolent protest did not
nation’s mind, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act. die with King. In fact, protest movements have adopted
As a philosophy, nonviolence was unassailable. As it time and again in America and around the world –
a tactic, it worked well in the context of an embattled the gay rights movement, the Solidarity trade union in
South, where national attention focused on the shrink- Poland, the Green Revolution in Iran, and recent demon-
ing hard core of white racists who refused to give strations throughout the U.S. (such as Occupy Wall
ground to the civil rights movement. Street and the Women’s March on Washington). Not all
But nonviolence proved less effective as King tried to of them have referenced King specifically. But that’s all
take his movement national. In 1966, he launched the the more to his credit: Their reliance on the philosophy
Chicago campaign, a combination of marches and edu- of nonviolence as the cornerstone of protest politics is
cation intended to highlight the entrenched, but complex, the greatest tribute that the world could give to Martin
racial disparities in the Windy City. The marchers again Luther King, Jr.
encountered white racists who shouted epithets at them,
but many Northern whites saw racial disparities as merely WRITING & DISCUSSION
the unfortunate outcome of economic disparities. Markets, 1. What did the violent incident with the American Nazi
not men, were to blame, and they refused to see the moral in 1962 reveal about Martin Luther King’s philoso-
appeal behind King’s nonviolent activism. phy? What did it reveal about his character?
At the same time, while King dominated the civil 2. Describe the influences on Martin Luther King’s phi-
rights story in the media during the late 1950s and early losophy of nonviolence. How did he interpret those
1960s, other leaders and other factions of the movement influences in an American context?
were often just as active in demanding change but sig- 3. How was King’s philosophy of nonviolence more
nificantly less committed to nonviolence. As the 1960s than just an “absence of violence”? Use examples
progressed, these groups, especially the next generation from the article.
emerging from college, began to gain prominence by tak- 4. What do you think was the greatest success of the
ing a more aggressive, even violent stance, embracing civil rights movement described in the article. How
armed self-defense complete with automatic weapons. did King’s philosophy of nonviolence play a part in
King disparaged these activists, like Stokely its success?
Carmichael and H. Rap Brown, as immature and unso-
phisticated. But he could see as well as anyone the di-
ACTIVITY: Applying Nonviolence
minishing appeal of nonviolence in a country where
violence was spreading both at home and in the Viet- The class is a group of civil rights protesters planning
nam War. Indeed, Brown memorably argued that “vio- an action in a Southern town in 1962 calling for de-
lence is necessary. It’s as American as cherry pie.” segregation of a local lunch counter. Divide students
From Memphis to Today into groups of four. Each group will discuss and then
King’s last attempt at a nonviolent movement came answer the following questions:
in Memphis in 1968, where a garbage workers’ strike A. What is the best method to protest? (Choices in-
was dragging on. In late March, King arrived in the city clude: sitting at the lunch counter without mov-
to lead a protest march, but he couldn’t control it. Hood- ing (a sit-in), marching down the center of the
lums on the edges of the march began shattering win- town, boycotting the lunch counter, starting a
dows, and the police moved in. Dozens were injured, petition to deliver to the owner of the lunch
and one boy was killed. counter, etc.)
King returned to the city a few days later to try B. What sort of response do they expect from the
again, hoping that success in Memphis could illustrate owners and authorities?
the continued power of nonviolence. Instead, on the
early evening of April 4, 1968, he was shot and killed by C. Who are some local allies they can engage with?
James Earl Ray, a white drifter, while standing on the D. What is the best way to publicize the action?
balcony of the Lorraine Motel. E. What sort of training is necessary?
In the days that followed, riots broke out in more After answering the questions, each group’s
than 100 cities across America; scores were killed and spokesperson will share:
thousands injured; and active-duty military forces
• The method of protest his or her group chose,
occupied Washington, Baltimore, and Chicago. As
and
skeptics noted, it was a very violent end to the life of a
• Reasons for the choice (incorporating answers
proponent of nonviolence.
to the questions as part of the rationale).
4 U.S. HISTORY BRIA 32:4 (Summer 2017)
Standards Addressed
National United States History Standard 29. Understands the struggle for racial and gender equality and for the extension of
civil liberties. Middle School: (1) Understands individual and institutional influences on the civil rights movement (e.g., the origins
of the postwar civil rights movement; the effects of the constitutional steps taken in the executive, judicial, and legislative branches
of government; important milestones in the civil rights movement between 1954 and 1965. High School: (1) Understands how di-
verse groups united during the civil rights movement (e.g., the escalation from civil disobedience to more radical protest).
California History-Social Science Standard 11.10. Students analyze the development of federal civil rights and voting rights. (4)
Examine the roles of civil rights advocates (e.g., Martin Luther King, Jr.) . . . . (5) Discuss the diffusion of the civil rights movement
of African Americans from the churches of the rural South and the urban North, including the resistance to racial desegregation in
Little Rock and Birmingham, and how the advances influenced the agendas, strategies, and effectiveness of the quests of American
Indians, Asian Americans, and Hispanic Americans for civil rights and equal opportunities. (6) Analyze the passage and effects of
civil rights and voting rights legislation (e.g., 1964 Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act of 1965) and the Twenty-Fourth Amendment,
with an emphasis on equality of access to education and to the political process.
Common Core State Standards: SL.1, SL.3, RH.1, RH.2, RH.3, RH.4, RH.10,
WHST.1, WHST.2, WHST.9, WHST.10.

Standards reprinted with permission:

National Standards © 2000 McREL, Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning, 2550 S. Parker Road, Ste. 500, Aurora, CO 80014, (303)337.0990.
California Standards copyrighted by the California Dept. of Education, P.O. Box 271, Sacramento, CA 95812.
Common Core State Standards used under public license. © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of
Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.

Sources
Martin Luther King and the Philosophy of Nonviolence
Branch, Taylor. Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989. • Dabashi, Hamid. “What happened to
the Green Movement in Iran?” Al Jazeera. 6/12/13. URL: aljazeera.com. • King, Martin Luther, Jr. Stride Toward Freedom: the Montgomery Story.
Boston: Beacon Press, 2010. • ______. “Nonviolence and Racial Justice.” The Christian Century. 2/6/57: 165-167. • ______. “The Power of Non-Vi-
olence.” The Intercollegian. May 1958: 7-9. • ______. Why We Can’t Wait. New York: Signet, 2000. • “Nonviolent Resistance.” King Encyclopedia.
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. URL: kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu. • Rosenbaum, Ron. “The Radical Paradox of Mar-
tin Luther King’s Devotion to Nonviolence.” Smithsonian. January 2015. URL: smithsonianmag.com. • “The King Philosophy.” The King Center.
4/24/17. URL: thekingcenter.org/king-philosophy.

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