preview

Martin Luther King Legacy

Decent Essays

The legacy of the great civil right leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. continues to be a topic of much debate nearly a half century after his assassination. This literature review on a more broad and complete view of Dr. Kings legacy and ideals. Dr. King was for racial integration but later on in his life he developed more radical economic views on the distribution of wealth in the United States. Dr. King was a lot more complex then the saint he has been portrayed as in history textbooks. This review will discuss Dr. King as a civil rights leader who had a radical philosophy on economics. Dr. King early in his career as an activist focused on racial integration but later he broadened his focus on fighting for broader economic and social justice according to Dreier (2014). Dr. Kings’ early work involved leading people in the freedom rides and Montgomery Bus boycotts. Dreier (2014) argues that Dr. Kings more radical stance on poverty was strongly influenced by a civil rights campaign he organized in Chicago in 1965. King saw that the big problem in the ghettos was not legal separation but economic exploitation. King had a radical stance on economic poverty a side of him some argue is not adequately portrayed in American textbooks. …show more content…

King as a saint or Moses like figure who led the blacks the same way Moses led the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt. Aldridge (2006) explains that this portrayal prevents people from having a more complete view on Dr. King, what he stood for, and how his ideologies changed over time based on his experiences. Dr. King had such radical economic views that the FBI feared he had communist ties and as a result wiretapped him from 1962 until his death. The complexities of Dr. King can cause one to ask the question; was king an integrationist preacher or leftist social

Get Access