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SPECIAL EDITION
THE MAROON TIGER
THE 1968 MOREHOUSE
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MLK: THE CONTEXT BEHIND A LEGEND
D r. Tobe Johnson, a retired Political
Science professor who graduated
from Morehouse College only six years
after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., provid
ed important insight into people’s emo
tions toward the civil rights movement
during the 1960s, King’s legacy, and the
impact of King’s death.
Throughout the conversation,
Johnson raised and supported salient
arguments that demystified King’s legacy
and showed the practical results of his
death. What made Johnson’s interview
unique is that he knew King as a friend
in addition to the revolutionary figure
he became.
“The spring of 1968 was an unusually
tumultuous time anyway,” he said. “Even
before King’s death, a lot of things were
going on: the civil disorders, the Viet
nam War, and student revolt at
Morehouse.
“I would say Martin reached
his zenith of success in Amer
ican acceptance maybe around
’65 or ’66. It was slowly down
hill since then.”
Johnson said King’s popularity
dropped because of violence in
the cities, his failure to suc
cessfully achieve justice in the
North, “and his strong statements against
Vietnam brought him a lot of grief.
People believed he shouldn’t go there
because it was compromising civil rights.
“Many people had begun to doubt Mar
tin’s orientation and what he was trying
to do. In fact, many people who had
praised him earlier were beginning to say
negative things about him by 1968.”
Impact at Morehouse
Though he does not remember exactly
where he was on the day of King’s as
sassination, Johnson remembers things
taking place on Morehouse’s campus as a
direct result of King’s death. He also ex
plained that these changes were already
happening but King’s death accelerated
BY AARON JOHNSON, CONTRIBUTING WRITER
them.
“Things like African American Studies
became a really important part of curric
ulum,” Johnson said. “We [Morehouse]
had seminars, the equivalent of Crown
Forums at the time, in response to his
death.
“At the time we didn’t really have a space
on campus that could adequately support
the demands of a large event, so in effect
we had to use Spelman.” Consequently,
King’s body lay in state at Spelman.
After that, “People (at Morehouse)
were determined to create a facility that
could accommodate nice occasions, so
(President Hugh Gloster) went out and
raised money to build Gloster Hall and
King Chapel.”
Johnson also noted a shift in the direc
tion of the civil rights movement after
King’s death. He believes that the meth
od by which equality was sought differed
because there was a lot more student
involvement, aggression instead of peace,
and the Black Panthers started taking
the spotlight in King’s absence.
“The student movement led by Stokely
(Carmichael) and others was much more
aggressive,” Johnson said. “Not violence,
but the language was aggressive. It repu
diated Martin’s non-violence.
“As the civil rights movement unwound,
the Black Panthers got the spotlight in
the early 70s. There was no one who had
the personal charisma or authority to
pull the movement together again.”
Context on King’s legacy
After reflecting on the time period
throughout the conversation, Johnson
began to praise King for his uncanny
ability to bring people together. How
ever, when providing context around
the assassination, Johnson implied that
King’s work here on Earth had been
done, for he had contributed all that he
could to the movement.
Johnson also emphasized the strengths
King brought to the table by reflecting
on what was lost in the movement as a
result of his death. Lastly, he reflected
on how King’s legacy managed to live on
50+ years after his death.
“At the time of his death he was
really run down, tired, appre
hensive, and when he went to
Memphis the first time, follow
ing trying to promote and help
the sanitation workers there,
that excursion ended in vio
lence. He was virtually run out
of Memphis and that weighed
heavily on him. It took its toll.
“Shortly after that he was trying
to pull together another Wash
ington march, and he made up his mind
to return to Memphis to demonstrate
that he could lead a non-violent move
ment that wouldn’t get out of hand.”
The Aftermath
“His death brought to the forefront
his contributions and his narrative of
non-violence,” Johnson said. It also left
a vacuum in charisma and leadership of
the movement.
“The height of his popularity peaked
around 1966,” he said. “So to a very large
extent, Coretta King was responsible for
pushing the King holidays and getting a
statue on Morehouse’s campus. Without
her, I’m not sure if his legacy would’ve
been achieved.”
Photo By : Mo Barnes
Impact on the Movement
Photo By : CBS46 Atlanta
