1 00:00:01,960 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio, 2 00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:10,319 Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren boge obam here. Martin Luther King 3 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:13,760 Speaker 1: Junior's birthday is a national holiday here in the United States. 4 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:15,840 Speaker 1: His leadership in the struggle for civil rights and his 5 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:19,000 Speaker 1: promotion of non violent tactics have made him an international 6 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:22,440 Speaker 1: icon of social justice. But that wasn't always the case. 7 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:26,800 Speaker 1: King was assassinated on April fourth, ninety eight, but historians 8 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:29,200 Speaker 1: tell us that it wasn't King's work while he was alive, 9 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:32,239 Speaker 1: nor even his murder that changed his reputation in the 10 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:35,800 Speaker 1: minds of most Americans. In writing the article that this 11 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:38,920 Speaker 1: episode is based on, back in ten, we spoke with 12 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:42,280 Speaker 1: Jean Theo Harris, who teaches political science at Brooklyn College 13 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:45,200 Speaker 1: and is the author, most recently of A More Beautiful 14 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:49,199 Speaker 1: and Terrible History, The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History. 15 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:51,800 Speaker 1: Her book is an attempt to get beyond the myths 16 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:54,240 Speaker 1: that have arisen about the civil rights movement and look 17 00:00:54,280 --> 00:00:56,400 Speaker 1: at how it was really seen then and what it 18 00:00:56,440 --> 00:01:00,120 Speaker 1: means for us now. Many Northerners, for example, believe if 19 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:02,520 Speaker 1: the King was always a beloved figure, and that his 20 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:05,640 Speaker 1: crusade against the Jim Crow South was widely celebrated in 21 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:08,399 Speaker 1: the North, but the o'harris points to a New York 22 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:11,160 Speaker 1: Times pole from nineteen sixty four, the same year that 23 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:14,039 Speaker 1: the Civil Rights Act was passed, that shows a majority 24 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:16,680 Speaker 1: of white New Yorkers thought the civil rights movement had 25 00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:20,039 Speaker 1: gone too far, and a national pole in nineteen sixty six, 26 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:22,880 Speaker 1: just two years before King's death, found that only twenty 27 00:01:22,959 --> 00:01:25,959 Speaker 1: eight percent of white Americans had a favorable opinion of King. 28 00:01:26,319 --> 00:01:29,039 Speaker 1: A separate nineteen sixty six poll found that seventy eight 29 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:31,800 Speaker 1: percent of black Americans approved of King's work in the 30 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:34,800 Speaker 1: fight for civil rights. The o' harris said, the general 31 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:37,920 Speaker 1: public does not support the civil rights movement when it's happening. 32 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:41,039 Speaker 1: The same criticisms made against Colin Kaepernick and the Black 33 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:44,959 Speaker 1: Lives Matter movement today in were trotted out against Martin 34 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:48,360 Speaker 1: Luther King, and Rosa Parks sixty years ago. They were disruptive, 35 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:51,560 Speaker 1: they were called extremists. They were accused of moving too fast, 36 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:54,400 Speaker 1: going too far. All these things we see today have 37 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:58,200 Speaker 1: parallels in the civil rights movement. Even King's famous I 38 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:00,920 Speaker 1: Have a Dream speech at the nineteenth three March for 39 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:03,720 Speaker 1: Jobs and Freedom in Washington, d C. View today is 40 00:02:03,760 --> 00:02:06,160 Speaker 1: the high water mark of the movement, and King's short, 41 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:09,480 Speaker 1: yet impactful career was delivered under a cloud of fear 42 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:12,760 Speaker 1: and tention. THEO. Harris said, we think of the March 43 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:16,000 Speaker 1: on Washington as the most American event ever at the time, 44 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:19,359 Speaker 1: it wasn't seen like that local and federal law enforcement 45 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:22,600 Speaker 1: prepared for it, like it was an invasion. Many Americans 46 00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:25,200 Speaker 1: also believed that King's work ended with the passage of 47 00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:27,840 Speaker 1: the nineteen sixty four Civil Rights Act and the nineteen 48 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:31,359 Speaker 1: sixty five Voting Rights Act. We also spoke back in 49 00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:35,640 Speaker 1: tween the Claiborne Carson, history professor at Stanford University and 50 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:38,520 Speaker 1: founding director of the Martin Luther King Junior Research and 51 00:02:38,639 --> 00:02:42,520 Speaker 1: Education Institute. He pointed out that King didn't retire after 52 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:45,440 Speaker 1: the passage of the Voting Rights Act. Carson said, he 53 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:48,240 Speaker 1: was in Chicago the next year dealing with problems more 54 00:02:48,320 --> 00:02:50,560 Speaker 1: national in scope that are still with us today. He 55 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:53,160 Speaker 1: was dealing with the question of war, and now we're 56 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:55,720 Speaker 1: living in an era of perpetual war. He was dealing 57 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:57,840 Speaker 1: with the issue of poverty on the day that he died. 58 00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:00,799 Speaker 1: If Martin Luther King were alive today, he would say 59 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:03,679 Speaker 1: that the landmark legislation was a tremendous victory, but it's 60 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:06,560 Speaker 1: made us very complacent about his goal of global human 61 00:03:06,639 --> 00:03:10,560 Speaker 1: rights and social justice. That was his big picture. So 62 00:03:10,840 --> 00:03:14,560 Speaker 1: if King was distrusted and maligned by mainstream America during 63 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:17,400 Speaker 1: his life, was it his martyrdom at age thirty nine 64 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:20,480 Speaker 1: that changed public opinion and transformed him into an almost 65 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:25,080 Speaker 1: saintly American hero. Not immediately, says THEA. Harris, explaining that 66 00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:28,000 Speaker 1: it took fifteen years of lobbying by civil rights leaders 67 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:31,800 Speaker 1: and sympathetic legislators to finally convince Congress to commemorate Martin 68 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:35,520 Speaker 1: Luther King Day. President Ronald Reagan, who was against the 69 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:38,200 Speaker 1: holiday during his first term in office because he agreed 70 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:41,040 Speaker 1: with former FBI Director J Edgar Hoover the King was 71 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:43,560 Speaker 1: a Communist, changed his tune when he was running for 72 00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:46,320 Speaker 1: re election and needed to close a sensitivity gap with 73 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:50,200 Speaker 1: minorities and women. By signing the bill in three that 74 00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:53,840 Speaker 1: made King's birthday in national holiday. Reagan's skillfully laid out 75 00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:57,440 Speaker 1: the elements that would become the national fable, Reagan said 76 00:03:57,440 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 1: in a statement at the time. Now our nation has 77 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:02,840 Speaker 1: decid to honor Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. By setting 78 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:05,000 Speaker 1: aside a day each year to remember him and the 79 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:08,080 Speaker 1: just cause he stood for. We've made historic strides since 80 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:10,560 Speaker 1: Rosa Parks refused to go to the back of the bus. 81 00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:13,200 Speaker 1: As a democratic people, we can take pride in the 82 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:16,560 Speaker 1: knowledge that we Americans recognized a grave injustice and took 83 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:19,240 Speaker 1: action to correct it. And we should remember that in 84 00:04:19,320 --> 00:04:22,240 Speaker 1: far too many countries, people like doctor King never have 85 00:04:22,360 --> 00:04:25,800 Speaker 1: the opportunity to speak out at all. THEO. Harris says 86 00:04:25,839 --> 00:04:29,039 Speaker 1: that Reagan's genius was to frame King's story as another 87 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:33,320 Speaker 1: example of American exceptionalism. Quote, we had an injustice and 88 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:36,120 Speaker 1: we corrected it. It's all about the power of individuals 89 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:38,960 Speaker 1: and the power of American democracy. These will be key 90 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:41,640 Speaker 1: elements in terms of how the civil rights movement comes 91 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:45,760 Speaker 1: to be memorialized in our national culture. By nineteen eighty seven, 92 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:48,000 Speaker 1: four years after the creation of m L. K Day 93 00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:50,719 Speaker 1: and nearly twenty years after King's murder on a hotel 94 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:54,039 Speaker 1: balcony in Memphis, Tennessee, a full seventy six percent of 95 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:57,520 Speaker 1: Americans had a favorable opinion of King, and those numbers 96 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:01,320 Speaker 1: only continued to grow. By nine nine, King came in 97 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:04,120 Speaker 1: second on a gallop survey of twentieth century individuals that 98 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:09,359 Speaker 1: Americans admired most, behind Mother Teresa. Political scientist Sheldon Appleton 99 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:13,640 Speaker 1: wrote in that younger, college educated white Americans tended to 100 00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:16,719 Speaker 1: support King, and both of these demographics were larger in 101 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:19,880 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty seven than in nineteen sixty six. He also 102 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:22,479 Speaker 1: noted that the widespread lack of knowledge about King and 103 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:25,360 Speaker 1: the civil rights movement in general might have also influenced 104 00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:29,840 Speaker 1: earlier perceptions. Appleton wrote, perhaps recent media treatment of King 105 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:32,960 Speaker 1: has helped to induce selective memory by some middle aged 106 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:36,920 Speaker 1: and older Americans. Of course, Americans have every reason to 107 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:40,400 Speaker 1: venerate Martin Luther King and to celebrate his accomplishments. He 108 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:42,640 Speaker 1: didn't do it alone, and he had his flaws like 109 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:46,400 Speaker 1: any other human. But as Carton explains, he also had 110 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:49,880 Speaker 1: an undeniable gift for challenging Americans then and now to 111 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:53,359 Speaker 1: make good on the promise of our founding principles. Carson 112 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:55,719 Speaker 1: said he had that ability to link the goals of 113 00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:58,839 Speaker 1: the civil rights struggle to ideals that most Americans believe 114 00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:00,960 Speaker 1: that they have. That that's what he was doing in 115 00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:03,640 Speaker 1: the I Have a Dream speech in Washington. We as 116 00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:06,760 Speaker 1: a nation justified our independence with a human rights statement 117 00:06:06,839 --> 00:06:09,880 Speaker 1: called the Declaration of Independence. The question is can we 118 00:06:09,960 --> 00:06:17,400 Speaker 1: live up to that? Today's episode was written by Dave 119 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:19,719 Speaker 1: Ruse and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this 120 00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:22,280 Speaker 1: and lots of other topics, visit has Stuff works dot com. 121 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:24,600 Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is a production of by heart Radio. More 122 00:06:24,640 --> 00:06:27,080 Speaker 1: podcasts of my heart Radio visit the iHeart Radio app, 123 00:06:27,240 --> 00:06:29,800 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.