King: A Life

The contemporary public image of Martin Luther King Jr. is one of boundless optimism and steely resolve. The statue of King in the National Mall places his body within a massive block of stone, his arms crossed with a visage of calm determination. This depiction is not inaccurate—as Eig emphasizes, King exhibited extraordinary courage throughout his career, fully aware that the coming day could bring him imprisonment, injury, or death. Yet this portrait is incomplete, Eig says, because King was courageous in spite of having profound doubts regarding the success of his movement and his own capacity to lead it. King’s early life had shown him both the promise and peril of American life. He grew up in relative comfort and stability, especially for a child of Jim Crow. He pursued education in both the South and the North, where he even dated a white woman. Although his life was easier in the North, conditions there still limited advancement for even the most accomplished Black people. Rather than remain there, King turned southward in the hope that “cultural and political reform might be possible” there as well (92). His activism began with a profound faith in the American project, and as an activist, King’s message was unfailingly optimistic, plausibly insisting that his cause was consistent with both fundamental American principles and the teachings of the Gospel.