Martin Luther King Jr. Was ‘A Protest Leader Who Really Does Not Like Conflict,’ Says Biographer
Jonathan Eig, who wrote the acclaimed biography, ‘King: A Life,’ spoke about the civil rights leader in an interview with NPR
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Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968Despite being a revered leader of the civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was actually conflict avoidant, says biographer Jonathan Eig.
In an interview published by NPR’s Book of the Day podcast on Jan. 3, the author, who penned the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography King: A Life, looked back on the activist’s renowned life and legacy, as well as his inclination to avoid problems when he could.
“One of the interesting things about King is that he's a protest leader who really does not like conflict,” Eig told NPR. “He is always going out of his way to avoid conflict with people who are his elders, who seem to be his superiors in some ways, people like Roy Wilkins at the NAACP or A. Philip Randolph, and that plays out too when he becomes a negotiator with presidents, and he really doesn't like conflict.”
“He has to push himself, really, out of his comfort zone to argue, to debate, to really challenge some of the leaders of this country,” the author added.
Eig noted that King Jr.'s father, pastor Martin Luther King Sr., often clashed with his son, throughout his childhood and beyond. King Jr. "always wanted to exceed his father," the author said, and didn't approve of the "emotionalism" in his father's preaching.
Related: Remembering Martin Luther King Jr. with 15 of His Most Powerful Quotes
“He was a very difficult man,” Eig said of King Sr., who died in 1984. “He was very stubborn. He was violent at times. He used the belt to spank his children in public, sometimes out in the yard, and if one of the neighbors came by and yelled, he'd spank that kid too. So he was a difficult man who set very high standards for all three kids, and he also really was overly protective.”
Eig said that when King Jr. rose to prominence as a civil rights leader, his father disapproved of the decision, out of that sense of protectiveness.
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Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968“When Martin Luther King Jr. became the leader of the Montgomery bus boycott and his home was bombed, Martin Luther King Sr. was there the next day saying, ‘You're coming home with me. I'm not letting you stay here in this kind of risk your life in this danger,’” Eig said. “It was very difficult for Martin Luther King Jr. to stand up to his father. He struggled with that all his life.”
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King: A Life, which was published in May 2023 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, is a 600+ page biography that extensively details King Jr.’s multifaceted legacy, including his complicated relationships with his family and work prior to his assassination in 1968.
King’ Jr.s son, Martin Luther King III, will also publish a book about his father’s life. What Is My Legacy?: Realizing a New Dream of Connection, Love and Fulfillment, written with King III’s wife, Arndrea Waters King, as well as Marc Keilburger and Craig Keilberger, will hit shelves on Jan. 14.
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