Parting the Waters (163 page)

church outreach programs: Ibid. Also E. Smith, “Ebenezer,” p. 5.

“tell you this morning, Ebenezer”: Int. Rev. Larry Williams, Dec. 27, 1983.

highest-paid Negro minister: King Sr.,
Daddy
, p. 94.

glorious trip for King: Ibid., p. 97.

“Royally Welcomed on Return”: ADW, Aug. 28, 1934, p. 1.

from Michael to Martin: Reddick,
Crusader
, pp. 50—51. Also King Sr.,
Daddy
, p. 88.

freedom to choose a name: See Litwack,
Storm
, pp. 247—55. See also Douglass,
Narrative
, pp. 114—15; and Fenderson,
Thurgood
, p. 23.

what to call themselves as a race: Litwack,
Storm
, pp. 541ff.

The New York Times
: Kluger,
Simple Justice
, p. 546.

Chicago
Defender
: Ottley,
Lonely
, pp. 109—10.

Abbott hated the word: Ibid., pp. 110, 213, 221, 287, 288.

J. H. Meredith: Meredith,
Three Years
, p. 53. See also Mays,
Born
, pp. 113—16.

Air Force: Lord,
The Past
, p. 33.

calling himself Martin: Reddick,
Crusader
, pp. 43, 48, 50—51.

autobiography, Reverend King: King Sr.,
Daddy
, pp. 26, 88.

State Department records: Passport application of Martin Luther King, Jr., filed Feb. 12, 1957. The clerk made a note on the passport after inspecting King's birth certificate.

“Big Mike”: Reddick,
Crusader
, p. 43.

“earned” his name:
Time
, Feb. 18, 1957, p. 17.

roughly two-thirds: Lewis,
King
, p. 7.

“anti-capitalistic feelings”: King Jr., “Autobiography.”

“get ahead of me”: Ibid.

five fingers: Reddick,
Crusader
, p. 54. Also Clayton,
King
, p. 18.

head with a telephone: This story first appeared in Reddick,
Crusader
, p. 59. Also King Sr.,
Daddy
, p. 127. Characterizations of the children drawn from the King biographies and from interviews, notably Alberta King's friend Lavata Lightner, Feb. 3, 1972, A/OH, and King Jr.'s high school friend Emmett Proctor, April 15, 1970, A/OH.

out the window: Reddick,
Crusader
, p. 60. Also Lewis,
King
, p. 13, and Oates,
Trumpet
, pp. 8—9.

reserved the primal “Mama”: Reddick,
Crusader
, p. 51. Also Clayton,
King
, p. 27.

“was Harvard's”: A common folklore, repeated for National Public Radios's 1980 profile of Du Bois. See also Wilkins,
Standing Fast
, p. 93.

by their first names: Arthur Spingarn, March 6, 1968, CRDPOH.

White had no brains: Ibid.

fashion show: Wilkins,
Standing Fast
, pp. 77-81.

“finest address in Harlem”: Ibid., pp. 106, 117.

“tucked among the most august”: Ibid.

word “nigger”: ADW, Jan. 30, 1934.

NBC Radio censored: Ross,
Spingarn
, p. 154. Also ADW, Feb. 15, 1934.

“embrace Jim Crow”: Wilkins,
Standing Fast
, p. 153.

“biggest plate-glass window”: Ibid.

hire him back at Atlanta: Davis,
Leadership
, p. 144.

“lick boots”:
The Crisis
, June 1934, p. 182.

Roy Wilkins first: Ross,
Spingarn
, p. 210.

rumors about his sex life: Ibid., p. 212. Also Arthur Spingarn, March 6, 1968, CRDPOH.

H. L. Mencken: H. L. Mencken, “Notes on Negro Strategy,”
The Crisis
, October 1934, p. 289.

led several hundred people: King Sr.,
Daddy
, pp. 99-102.

King abandoned the project: Ibid., pp. 104-7.

alleged embezzlement: English,
Prophet
, p. 42.

“Seven Minutes at the Mike”: Int. William H. Borders, March 7, 1984, and Larry Williams, Dec. 27, 1984.

unknown speeches: For examples of some of the better speeches made by Negro leaders during Reconstruction, see Woodson,
Negro Orators
.

U.S. Communist Party had to fire him: NYT, Dec. 22, 1939, p. 1, and Dec. 24, 1939, p. 14.

The Ebenezer choir: ADW, Dec. 15, 1939, p. 1.

ferocious attack: ADW, Dec. 20, 1939, p. 1. Also Raines,
My Soul
, p. 59; int. William H. Borders, March 7, 1984; NYT, Dec. 16, 1939, p. 1.

35,000 cheering Baptists: ADW, July 27, 1939, p. 1. Also int. Rev. Joel King, Jan. 7, 1984.

Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich: Stone,
Paul Tillich's
, p. 108.

offered Mays instead: Int. Benjamin Mays, March 6, 1984. Mays identified the Rockefeller associate as Trevor Arnett.

The tenor soloist: Int. Robert Williams, April 3, 1984.

and the violin case: Lewis,
King
, p. 16.

snatches of the “Moonlight Sonata”: Int. Robert Williams, April 3, 1984.

his grandmother was dead: King Sr.,
Daddy
, p. 109. Also Reddick,
Crusader
, p. 60, Oates,
Trumpet
, p. 13, and King Jr., “Autobiography.”

could not sleep: King Sr.,
Daddy
, p. 109.

young man overnight: Clayton,
King
, p. 31.

“dreaming about”: King Sr.,
Daddy
, p. 109. Settlement was on Nov. 1, 1941. Fulton County Deed Book 1872, p. 114.

executor and sole heir: Records of the Fulton County Court of Probate, Estate #31740. Also Deed Book 1540, p. 317.

“upper upper class”: King Jr., “Autobiography.”

“mostly lower middle class”: Reddick,
Crusader
, p. 55.

“middle middle class”: Emmett Proctor, April 15, 1970, A/OH.

penchant for tweed suits: Ibid.

“Sack,” and “Mole”: Reddick,
Crusader
, p. 55.

close for the duration: Mays,
Born
, p. 184.

Read finally triumphed: Davis,
Leadership
, p. 145.

two kinds of students: Int. Robert Williams, April 3, 1984. Such boastful sayings were rather common. Students spoke wryly of “Harvard, Yale, and Morehouse.” Also Reddick,
Crusader
, p. 65.

“larger than a hamburger”: Int. Samuel Du Bois Cook, April 4, 1984.

friends King made: Ibid. Also int. Robert Williams, April 3, 1984.

“revolutionary stage”: Walter McCall, A/OH.

“nobody there was afraid”: Bennett,
What Manner
, p. 26.

first frank discussions: Ibid.

dancing and card-playing: Walter McCall, A/OH.

“organically quiescent”: Oates,
Trumpet
, p. 18.

laugh out loud in disbelief: Int. Robert Williams, April 3, 1984.

calling him “nigger”: Lewis,
King
, p. 21.

six Negro war veterans: Grant,
Black Protest
, p. 218.

first multiple lynching since 1918: NYT, July 27, 1946, p. 1.

180 bullet holes: ADW, July 17, 1946, p. 1.

“best people in town”: AC, July 28, 1946, p. 1.

“My God!”: Donovan,
Conflict
, p. 244. Also Wilkins,
Standing Fast
, p. 193.

first campus chapter of the NAACP: Int. Samuel Du Bois Cook, April 4, 1984.

little interest: Ibid.

three Sundays a month: Int. Larry Williams, Dec. 27, 1983, and Rev. William Holmes Borders, March 7, 1984.

proof of intrigue: Int. Larry Williams, Dec. 27, 1983.

cut off his friendship: Int. Juanita Sellers Stone, March 6, 1984.

rejoined the Morehouse: Christine King Farris, “The Young Martin,”
Ebony
, Jan. 1986, pp. 56-58.

antics culminated: Int. Larry Williams, Dec. 27, 1983.

soften the blow: Ibid.

later they joked: Reddick,
Crusader
, p. 75.

“It won't hold 'em!”: Int. Larry Williams, Dec. 27, 1983.

oration had been borrowed: Ibid.

King became “Shady”: Int. Larry Williams, Dec. 27, 1983.

“The Wreckers”: Int. Emmett Proctor, Nov. 20, 1984; Garrow,
Bearing
, p. 36.

closing his sermon folder: Int. Emmett Proctor, Nov. 20, 1984.

first American president to address: Donovan,
Conflict
, p. 333.

“To Secure These Rights”: Released Oct. 27, 1947. Discussed in Kluger,
Simple Justice
, p. 253.

call McGill a “weasel”: Ashmore,
Hearts
, p. 110.

“The Purpose of Education”: Bennett,
What Manner
, p. 29.

apologize publicly: C. King,
My Life
, p. 99. Also int. Larry Williams, Dec. 27, 1983.

among his own: King Sr.,
Daddy
, p. 141.

“there are moral laws”: Int. Samuel Du Bois Cook, April 4, 1984.

Three
NIEBUHR AND THE POOL TABLES

possible for Jonah: Int. Rev. George W. Lawrence, Feb. 24, 1984.

naked children: Ibid.

gold cross: Int. Rev. Edward Spath, Oct. 4, 1983.

poolroom beneath: The poolroom was mentioned by all Crozer alumni interviewed for this chapter.

full third of the class: Int. Rev. Marcus Wood, Oct. 4, 1983.

pagan deities: Int. Rev. Francis Stewart, Dec. 23, 1983.

taught Benjamin Mays: Reddick,
Crusader
, p. 78.

least intelligent class: Int. Rev. Marcus Wood, Oct, 4, 1983, and Rev. Edward Spath, Oct, 4, 1983.

“he that is not against”: Mark 9:40 and Matthew 12:30.

Jesus and John: Int. Kenneth Lee Smith, Oct. 12, 1983. In spite of Mark 1:9, Matthew 2:13-14, etc.

Moses was an uncorroborated: Int. James B. Pritchard, June 25, 1984.

The standing joke: Int. Kenneth Lee Smith, Oct, 12, 1983.

B—in Pritchard's: Int. James B. Pritchard, June 25, 1984.

utterly transformed: Walter McCall, A/OH.

“One ever feels his twoness”: Du Bois,
Souls
, p. 45.

“loud and always laughing” and “grimly serious”: King interview in
Redbook
magazine, as cited in Reddick,
Crusader
, p. 86. In this passage, Reddick suggests that the interracial composition of Crozer was the principal cause of King's radically improved scholarship.

tear down the students' religious: Int. Rev. Lester Loder, Feb. 27, 1984, and other Crozer classmates.

read all night: Walter McCall, A/OH.

King would ever cite specifically: Smith and Zepp,
Search
, p. 37. This book, coauthored by one of King's teaches at Crozer, is the primary authority on his intellectual experience during the seminary years.

Pittsburgh steel mills: Ibid., p. 22.

Davis' personal copy: Ibid., p. 48.

King never accepted pacifism: Ibid., Ch. 3 generally. Also King Jr.,
Stride
, p. 95.

attacking A. J. Muste's: “War and Pacifism,” a book review King wrote for Kenneth L. Smith's course in Christian social philosophy in the spring of 1951, BUK.

nearly one-third: Smith and Zepp,
Search
, p. 21.

“fall in line”: King Jr., “Autobiography.”

his behavior eccentric: Int. James B. Pritchard, June 25, 1984.

something of a bigot: Int. Rev. Francis Stewart, Dec. 23, 1983.