Bearing The Cross

Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference by David J. Garrow. New York: Quill William Morrow, 1986. 800 p., $12.50.

I did not plan it this way, but today marks the 42nd anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and today I finished this exhaustive and exhausting biography of the great civil rights leader. My utter lack of knowledge concerning the civil rights movement coupled with Garrow's fast-paced writing style led me to inhale this book during the past week. Due to the author's unbelievable attention to details and primary sources, the novel is a unique and invaluable insight into a volatile period in our nation's history and the one man who probably epitomized the era best. But since Garrow leaves no stone uncovered, I am also left with an unsettled feeling. Heroes have warts--can they still be heroes?

Unlike traditional biographies that begin with a leisurely stroll through the subject's childhood, this novel jumps right to the moment of King's rise to prominence during the Montgomery bus boycotts of 1955-1956. The timing is perfect, for Garrow makes it clear from the onset that "the movement made Martin rather than Martin making the movement" (Epilogue, p. 625). MLK, a young new minister begrudgingly accepts the call to lead a new organization dedicated to seeking racial justice in the one city in the Deep South. But events continue to sweep the charismatic leader along, from Montgomery, to Albany to Birmingham to Selma to Chicago, and ultimately, to Memphis.

Dr. King was a figure that inspired millions in his bold calls for nonviolence and in his righteous demands for a more equitable society. But being a figurehead is also a burden, the cross referred to in the book's title. For though many saw him as the moral leader of a struggling nation, Dr. King was but a mortal man with serious flaws that he only too clearly recognized. How does one reconcile the great public figure who helped bring about so much good with the private man who was a chauvinist womanizer that neglected his family? What should we sacrifice on the altar of "the greater good?" The author--and indeed Martin Luther King Jr.--do not have a ready answer.

The author does an excellent job of piecing together an enormous amount of information. Details from FBI records along with personal interviews weave a comprehensive picture of the man and the Movement. Having a woeful lack of knowledge concerning this era in our country's history, I was surprised at every page by the internecine conflict of the movement, the sheer bigotry of so many Americans, the significant effect of Dr. King's protest efforts, and the paranoid state of government affairs both domestically and abroad. Perhaps because the book is directed towards those more knowledgeable on the period, I found myself wishing for more background and synthesis with other events occurring from 1955-1968. At Garrow likely could have written a book 200 pages shorter if he had removed some mundane details and redundant sections. But considering how captivated I remained throughout, these are minor faults.

Ultimately, I am left struggling with this accurate and real-life depiction of an American hero. For I do believe MLK was a hero, called by God (as he recounts) at his kitchen table on January 27, 1956 to help transform America for the better. I am impressed by his courage and peaceful leadership at a time of heightened anxiety and fear. At the same time, how can I account for his infidelity and faults in his role as a husband and father? If no success can compensate for failure in the home, is Dr. King a true hero? I have no perfect conclusion. But I suspect that it is for this very reason that we are enjoined not to judge others. We all have a purpose in this life; at the same time, we all have serious mortal flaws. The two aspects of our nature are not mutually exclusive.