Becoming King (37 page)

^5.
Garrow, ed.,
The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It,
48–50. B. J. Simms, in an interview with Steven M. Millner, discussed the Alabama State College president’s response to the boycott: “Trenholm just understood. He did not give any orders. He did not mention it. Did not try to curtail anybody. He was all for it. But officially he would never acknowledge it. He just didn’t know, so to speak. He could be hypocritical just like white folks were” (Simms, interview by Millner, January 9, 1979, 584).

^6.
Garrow, ed.,
The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It,
55; Ralph Abernathy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Jo Ann Robinson, leaflet,
Don’t Ride the Bus,
December 2, 1955, in
Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.,
3: 67. Abernathy, “The Natural History of a Social Movement,” in Garrow, ed.,
The Walking City,
118. In his thesis, Abernathy often referred to his own observations in the third person, as in his telling of this encounter between him and King, which he credits to “a distinguished Baptist preacher and perhaps the most effective leader of the movement in respect to strategies and operational tactics.” Participants in the meeting at Dexter have remembered the gathering differently. King asserted that Bennett was so excited about the boycott, and so eager to direct the efforts, that he charged, “This is no time to talk; it is time to act.” Only after nearly an hour of protests from the forty plus at the meeting did Bennett yield the floor, at which point plans for the boycott developed (King Jr.,
Stride toward Freedom,
46–48). Robinson remembered more than a hundred turning out for the meeting, highlighting the positive outcomes of the meeting rather than emphasizing any of its tension (Garrow, ed.,
The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It,
55–56). Rosa Parks recalled a more divided meeting: “Some of the ministers wanted to talk about how to support the protest, but others wanted to talk about whether or not to have a protest. Many of them left the meeting before any decisions were made” (Parks, Haskins,
Rosa Parks: My Story,
129). Uriah Fields asserts that Bennett opposed the boycott, which may have added to the aggravation of those gathered (Fields,
Inside the Montgomery Bus Boycott,
36). Ralph Abernathy elevated his role in the meeting, saying Nixon had left it to him to make sure things went well in Nixon’s absence. Believing he had arranged for Reverend Hubbard to lead the meeting, Abernathy was shocked when Hubbard announced Bennett would be presiding. After Bennett rambled on for some time, and with only around twenty people remaining, Abernathy claims he interrupted and took the chair for the rest of the meeting (Abernathy,
And the Walls Came Tumbling Down,
138–39).

^7.
Crawford, Rouse, and Woods, eds.,
Women in the Civil Rights Movement,
82–83; Edgar N. French, “The Beginning of a New Age,” 1962, in Garrow, ed.,
The Walking City,
177.

^8.
Crawford, Rouse, and Woods, eds.,
Women in the Civil Rights Movement,
83.

^9.
Ibid., 72–74.

^10.
King, “Why Does God Hide Himself?” December 4, 1955, in
Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.,
6: 241–42. King borrowed the title and theme of his sermon from Robert McCracken, “Why Does God Hide Himself?”
Radio Sermon, April 27, 1947. King kept a copy of McCracken’s sermon in his homiletic files (King Jr., Folder 165, Sermon File).

^11.
Abernathy, “The Natural History of a Social Movement,” in Garrow, ed.,
The Walking City,
119.

^12.
Warrant,
City of Montgomery vs. Rosa Parks,
December 5, 1955; Transcript of Record and Proceedings,
City of Montgomery vs. Rosa Parks,
December 5, 1955; Appeal Bond,
City of Montgomery vs. Rosa Parks,
December 5, 1955 (File 4559, Circuit Court, Montgomery County Records, Montgomery County Court House). Fred Gray mistakenly claimed Parks was found guilty of disorderly conduct (Gray,
Bus Ride to Justice,
55–56). See also Thornton,
Dividing Lines,
596–97n71. Nixon, interview by Millner, 547. Nixon also claimed regarding Parks’s court case: “But you know, King, he wasn’t there.” According to Fred Gray, Ralph Abernathy, and personal recollections in his memoir of the boycott, King was in fact at the courthouse that morning (Gray,
Bus Ride to Justice,
55–57; Abernathy,
And the Walls Came Tumbling Down,
142; King Jr.,
Stride toward Freedom,
55).

^13.
Fields,
Inside the Montgomery Bus Boycott,
41; Abernathy, “The Natural History of a Social Movement,” in Garrow, ed.,
The Walking City,
129–30.

^14.
King Jr., Stride toward Freedom, 56–57.

^15.
Ibid., 56–58.

^16.
Fields, interview by Millner, 534.

^17.
Garrow,
Bearing the Cross,
21–22. Steven M. Millner suggests the demand for black bus drivers was included to placate E. D. Nixon, “whose grass-roots organizing had put him in contact with hundreds of black men who had hopes that they could hold dignified and clean jobs. Many of these, who were called the ‘forgotten fellows’ by Nixon, had been ignored by their government and many local ‘tie and collar’ blacks, these individuals were appealed to by this request, and in other ways by leaders like E. D. Nixon” (Garrow, ed.,
The Walking City,
468). J. Mills Thornton also speculates that the demand to hire black bus drivers reflected the influence of Nixon in his meeting with French and Abernathy. He argues that Nixon was far more passionate about this demand than the clergy involved in the boycott (Thornton, “Challenge and Response in the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955–1956,” in Garrow, ed.,
The Walking City,
599); Edgar N. French, “The Beginning of a New Age,” 1962, ibid., 179.

^18.
Robinson, interview by Lee;
Alabama Tribune,
December 16, 1955.

^19.
King Jr., Stride toward Freedom, 59, 101.

^20.
MIA mass meeting at Holt Street Baptist Church, December 5, 1955, in
Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.,
3: 71–74; King Jr.,
Stride toward Freedom,
63.

^21.
Lewis and Ligon, interview by Lumpkin.

^22.
Gray, Leventhal, Sikora, and Thornton,
The Children Coming On,
137;
American Socialist
3, no. 4 (April 1956): 10.

^23.
Norman Walton, “The Walking City: A History of the Montgomery Bus Boycott,” in Garrow, ed.,
The Walking City,
30. Walton’s article was originally published in five installments in the
Negro History Bulletin,
beginning in October 1956 and ending in January 1958. Walton was a professor of history at Alabama State College. For more on the significance of early cab and carpool rides, see Millner, “The Montgomery Bus Boycott,” in Garrow, ed.,
The Walking City,
474.

^24.
James Cone incorrectly assumes King did not develop his love ethic until later, stressing the central role of justice as his grounding principle early in the boycott: “No interpreter of King has identified justice as the primary focus of his thinking at the start of the Montgomery bus boycott. Most are so eager to stress love as the center of his thought and actions (as King himself did when he reflected on the event) that they (like King) fail to note that this was a later development in his thinking” (Cone,
Martin and Malcolm and America,
63). While King did focus more of his Holt Street address on justice than love, his sermons prior to the bus protest reveal that the centrality of love was a core principle King brought to the movement, rather than one he gained through the struggle. Cone is right to emphasize the centrality of justice in King’s pre-boycott preaching as well. In King’s view, the love ethic of Jesus demanded a commitment to justice. For evidence of King’s emphasis on love prior to the boycott, see King, “Loving Your Enemies,” August 31,1952, in
Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.,
6: 126–28; and “God’s Love,” September 5, 1954, in
Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.,
6: 179–81. In his study of King’s preaching, Richard Lischer also argues a transformation occurred during the boycott. Although unaware of the gradual sharpening of King’s preaching in the months prior to his Holt Street address, Lischer captures the essence of the growth King experienced during this season: “After the Boycott had commenced, King’s Sunday morning sermons found a new purpose and vitality. The specificity of
race,
which he had assiduously avoided in his graduate education, now sharpened the point of his biblical interpretation and preaching. No one sermon captured the transformation that was taking place within him, but his first major rhetorical triumph, the address to the massed protesters at the Holt Street Baptist Church in Montgomery, left him changed utterly” (Lischer,
The Preacher King,
85).

^25.
Robinson, interview by Garrow. King included the story of Mother Pollard in his published sermon collection (King Jr., “Antidotes for Fear,” in
Strength to Love,
125).

^26.
Minutes, Alabama Council on Human Relations, December 7, 1955, in Burns, ed.,
Daybreak of Freedom,
97; Friedland,
Lift up Your Voice Like a Trumpet,
27–28.

^27.
King Jr.,
Stride toward Freedom,
109–12; Tom Johnson, “4-Hour Huddle: Bus Boycott Conference Fails to Find Solution,”
Montgomery Advertiser,
December 9, 1955, in Burns, ed.,
Daybreak of Freedom,
98–99; King to the National City Lines, Inc., December 8, 1955, in
Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.
3: 80–81; King, “Statement of Negro Citizens on Bus Situation,” December 10, 1955, in
Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.,
3: 81–83.

^28.
Friedland, Lift up Your Voice Like a Trumpet, 28.

^29.
Juliette Morgan, “Lesson from Gandhi,”
Montgomery Advertiser,
December 12, 1955.

^30.
Robert Graetz, letter to editor,
Time,
December 22, 1955, Folder 30, Box 107, King Papers, Boston University.

^31.
Vaughn and Wills, eds.,
Reflections on Our Pastor,
5–6, 16–17, 28.

^32.
Rosa Parks, minutes, Montgomery branch executive committee special meeting, December 13, 1955, Montgomery NAACP Papers (NN-Sc).

^33.
Garrow, ed.,
The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It,
67. Michael Eric Dyson highlights the significant contributions of grassroots leaders in Montgomery whose efforts were minimized in
Stride toward Freedom:
“Without WPC’s ingenious tactical maneuvers, quick response, and organizational efficiency, the Montgomery bus boycott may have never occurred. But beyond a token nod to their efforts and those of Rosa Parks, King barely recognized WPC’s achievements in his account of the year-long boycott,
Stride toward Freedom.
Moreover, without the spur of grass-roots leaders like E. D. Nixon, the ministers who seized the helm of leadership, or were forced to take up the reins of the boycott—might never have acted bravely to exploit Parks’s act of social rebellion for the black community” (Dyson,
I May Not Get There with You,
203).

^34.
King, “Our God Is Able,” January 1, 1956, in
Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.,
6: 243–46.

^35.
Richard Lischer argues King’s sermons functioned similarly in 1968: “Although he is preaching to others the value of rising above the forces that threaten to destroy ‘our personalities,’ it is clear that the preacher, beleaguered by criticism of his anti-war activities and his plans for the Poor People’s Campaign, is ministering to his own spirit…. As King desperately exhorts his congregation to choose life over death, it is himself he is urging to persevere” (Lischer,
The Preacher King,
167–68). Cone,
Malcolm and Martin and America,
124.

^36.
Parks, Horton, and Nixon, interview by Terkel.

^37.
Allen, interview by Millner, 522–23.

^38.
Burns, ed., Daybreak of Freedom, 139; King Jr., Stride toward Freedom, 78.

^39.
Uriah J. Fields, “Negroes Cannot Compromise,”
Montgomery Advertiser,
January 5, 1956, in Burns, ed.,
Daybreak of Freedom,
113–14; Erna Dungee, MIA Executive Board minutes, January 23, 1956, ibid., 121–24.

^40.
“To the Commissioners of the City of Montgomery,” January 9, 1956, in
Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.,
3: 97–98.
Montgomery Advertiser,
January 10, 1956.

^41.
Alabama Tribune,
January 13, 1956.

^42.
King Jr., “How to Believe in a Good God in the Midst of Glaring Evil,” January 15, 1956, in
Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.,
6: 247–49.

^43.
Hughes, interview by Holden.

^44.
Anna Holden, “Notes from ACHR meeting,” January 20, 1956, Montgomery, Ala., Valien Collection.

^45.
King Jr.,
Stride toward Freedom,
125–26. The historian Steven M. Millner argues the response of the people to the settlement announcement was “a pointed warning to the MIA’s leaders that they too had no room for shabby backroom deals that might be perceived as the proverbial sellout. The protest’s leaders were thus put on notice that a firm refusal to back down was their sole leadership alternative. This strengthened the faction of militants with whom King increasingly aligned in backroom debates” (Millner, “The Montgomery Bus Boycott,” in Garrow, ed.,
The Walking City,
478). MIA press release, “The Bus Protest Is Still On,” January 22, 1956, in
Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.,
3: 100–101.