Andrew Young

Andrew Young portrayed King in a very different light. It was interesting to read that he may have been pushed into his role as a nonviolent leader, rather than choosing to do so from the beginning. His pursuit was not in leadership, even though he naturally displayed leadership characteristics. Young explained that the only reason King went to Montgomery in the first place was to have a quiet place to finish his doctoral dissertation.
It is hard for me to imagine that the same Martin Luther King, Jr. who delivered history altering speeches and was so integral to the civil rights movement, would have been pleased with a life of preaching and writing.

It was fascinating to read about King taking his role as a leader in the civil rights movement more serious as time progressed. So serious in fact, that Young expressed fear for King’s health. This was because he was not sleeping, and he was getting stressed about things. He would practice his speeches in front of Young even.

It seemed very odd to me that the government should bug King’s motels. Young described in some detail the government’s agents bugging the rooms of the civil rights activists. The history classes that I have taken have always portrayed King and the government as parallel entities, moving forward without necessarily keeping in check with one another. The fact that the government bugged his rooms seems to imply distrust as well as fear of opposition.

This reading taught me not to take contextually distorted history as fact. I had always assumed that King took leadership because of his desire for equality. Surely that wish was present, but this reading helped me better understand the struggles and the external influences that impacted the life and decisions of Martin Luther King, Jr.