Ring Out Freedom!: The Voice of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Making of the Civil Rights Movement

2. Western Intellectualism and American Ideals

Western Intellectualism and American Ideals 79 79 2. Western Intellectualism and American Ideals King used other texts, other authors, and other historical situations to legitimize the civil rights struggle and to ascribe meaning to his rhetoric that went beyond the context of the speaking situation. King’s dual background in the preaching tradition of the African-American church and the academic world positioned him to use a rhetorical technique in which the texts and thoughts of others were drawn into his project. Who and what does King use as references in his rhetoric? How do the allusions and references function in concrete and complex historical situations? Furthermore, and to paraphrase Cornel West; what does it mean to subscribe to a discourse of significant signifiers in Western cultural history?1 In other words, in what way is it possible to speak of a discursive formation tied to this often seemingly“innocent” rhetorical strategy , and in what ways does it represent an ideological act? To find the answers I will begin with a brief look at King’s account of his education and discuss it in relation to the various documents from that period. This does not mean evaluations of his academic work or long excursions into the content of the theology and philosophy he later used as references. Instead it is a necessary starting point for the argument that this education, represented in King’s rhetoric from the simplest name-dropping to the signifying of knowledge and truth, serves specific functions in the civil rights movement discourse. Education and Reproduction The central text for this purpose is “Pilgrimage to Nonviolence ,” first published as part of Stride toward Freedom and 80 Ring Out Freedom! later revised and updated in 1960 as an article for the journal Christian Century and once more for inclusion in Strength to Love.2 The first version is of greater interest here since it is longer and presents in a more detailed way King’s understanding of how he reached the theoretical position he was using at the time he wrote “Pilgrimage to Nonviolence.”3 The essay is placed in the middle of Stride toward Freedom, between the story of the conception of the Montgomery bus boycott and the description of the methods the opposition used in that struggle. The chapter has a distinct place in the narrative structure of the book as both a breathing space and a momentum builder. But more important for our purpose is that it is centrally placed and is constructed to give form and prestige to the leading character of the narrative—King himself. The three different Kings of the book meet in this chapter: King the author of the book, King the character in the book, and King the leader who stands at the forefront of the movement , both as an activist and, as “Pilgrimage to Nonviolence” establishes, a theorist.The intellectual journey presented in the chapter is a journey that tries to combine these three into one. The chapter’s autobiographical character raises some questions since this is how King wanted to present himself,his viewpoints , and the foundations for the struggle of the movement when he, at least theoretically, had the ear of the entire nation. This self-constructing is crucial when using “Pilgrimage to Nonviolence” as a way to understand King’s rhetoric and discourse . Together with the overt purpose of the chapter—to establish a foundation for an already implied philosophy of nonviolence —comes the construction and presentation of the public figure Martin Luther King, Jr. The chapter is, therefore, in a way twofold: It is about the position and philosophy of nonviolence and its benefits as the method of the modern civil rights struggle, and it is also about who King wants to be, what he wants to be portrayed as, how he wants to be understood, what language and understanding he uses, and what kind of dialogue and argumentation he wants to establish. It is about initializ- Western Intellectualism and American Ideals 81 ing and stabilizing a discursive structure around his and the movement’s project and establishing and incorporating a specific meaning into it. This further distinguishes the relationship between the public figure King and the civil rights movement discourse. When the book was written and published King had not yet reached the absolute height of his national (and international) fame. His persona, his intellectual identity, and the meaning of the struggle...