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7 Martin Luther King Jr. the Man How do you describe a man who was a son, brother, husband, student , scholar, theologian, orator, and author? i may have missed an adjective or two in describing Martin Luther King Jr. To this day, the question i am most often asked is, “Just what was Martin Luther King Jr. like?” Well how does a dictionary define the word “friend”? “one attached to another by affection or esteem.” My husband and i felt both affection and esteem for Martin. from 1958 until 1965 Martin was in and out of the house by the side of the road. These years after Sully and i were married really gave us time to get to know Martin the man. The four couples i have introduced to you—the Kings, Abernathys, Creecys, and Jacksons— went back and forth to visit each other during those years. These are also the years that have gone down in history—it is as simple as that. These friendships were formed by fate. in January 1964, the Dallas County voters League in Selma invited Dr. King, then president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), to speak in Selma at Tabernacle baptist Church, whose pastor was married to my cousin Mrs. Pauline Dinkins Anderson . Tabernacle was also the church my husband and his family attended. When Martin became a distinguished visitor in Selma and 28 / Chapter 7 eventually known across the nation and world, we still saw him as the dear friend he was to us, not as the icon and great hope for the masses he would become. Maybe this is why he felt so comfortable around us. There was no pressure, no demands. He could relax and be at home away from home. He could and would walk around the house in my husband’s pajamas and socks. of all the times he was in the house and out of his shoes, i never saw his feet—he always wore his socks. i don’t know if he slept in them or not. i often thought that maybe he did not like his feet! Through the years Martin slept in all of the bedrooms in our house and napped on chairs, couches—anything comfortable. There was a running joke in the house about the bathrooms. Whenever Martin was about to head to the bathroom, everyone knew it would be occupied for some time, so anyone needing to go should go now or hold your peace! Shaving took time for Martin also. During this exercise, he wouldshave, bathe, read, and dosome thinking.Ralph Abernathy was just as bad or worse. if you found both bathrooms occupied by Martin and Ralph everyone else in the house could forget it! Martin would always tell me, “Jean, you will go down in history for being a great cook.” i guess i could get his eggs just the way he liked them—the whites well done and the yellow soft, the bacon crisp. Another reason he may have liked my cooking is because none of my biscuits came out of the can. i made them from scratch as i still do to this day. During those days often i would cook around the clock and many times i had to have the stove going all day to feed the many people traveling with Martin who were in the house. it was never a problem for me, as i have always loved to cook and take pleasure in seeing those who eat my cooking enjoy it. Martin Luther King Jr. did not like to eat a heavy meal before he addressed a mass meeting or gave a sermon. He would always eat Martin Luther King Jr. the Man / 29 afterward, and though the meals i served were a bit heavy for late in the evening, that’s what he wanted to eat. i suppose he had built up an appetite by then and may have needed the energy for staff meetings he would then hold to review the day’s activities and plan for the next day. i tried to attend as many of the public meetings held in Selma as i could, but sometimes it became a problem. you must understand that if Martin was in town, our house was a hub of activity. There were always reporters, movement staff, and others who wanted to meet or just see the icon staying at the house by the side of the road. We knew a white...

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