Posted: June 4th, 2018
Martin Luther King Jr: American History
Please answer both of the following questions in thorough, well-organized, clearly written essays. Each essay should be 1000-1500 words in length. The essays must have detailed knowledge of the facts and arguments pertinent to the question; you should support your answers by citing specific evidence drawn from the pertinent assigned texts; and you should take care to develop your own thoughtful, critical reflections where necessary. Please cite the sources of quotations and specific textual references by placing page numbers in parentheses at the close of the relevant sentence or paragraph. **I have included the books that you need to cite for these two essays- you may be able to Google Search for some of the books. I have also uploaded 4 documents that you can use to cite as well. BOOKS: 1. Martin Luther King, Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr., edited by James M. Washington. New York: HarperCollins, 1986. ISBN: 0-06-064691-8 (TH) 2. Martin Luther King, Jr., A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings. Boston: Beacon Press, 1963/2012. ISBN: 978-0-8070-0063-2 (GL) 1. In his most famous speech, Martin Luther King, Jr., declared that his dream was “a dream deeply rooted in the American Dream.” What did King mean by this? Did he believe it to be true throughout his career of activism, i.e. in the later as well as the earlier phase of his career? How (if at all) did King’s understanding of his “dream’s” meaning and prospects change over the course of his career? 2. “I am a profound advocate of the social gospel,” King stated near the outset of his career. Explain how King understood this “social gospel.” In other words, explain, by reference to major sermons, how King’s understanding of biblical religion informed his social activism and how he fashioned out of his biblical studies a distinctive contribution to the tradition of American civil religion
