Bearing the Cross

In his biography, Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (1986), David J. Garrow follows Martin Luther King Jr. and his role in the monumental civil rights protests throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Highly regarded by critics, the book won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography in 1987. Garrow, an American historian and nonfiction writer, typically writes about the Civil Rights Movement and the United States Supreme Court. He has taught history at numerous universities across America, and he contributes to academic publications.

Relying upon more than seven hundred recorded conversations, FBI files, personal writings, and interviews, Bearing the Cross is an account of the latter part of Dr. King’s life, from the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955 through to his death in 1968. The book’s central theme is that we must be prepared to make sacrifices to make the world a better place for future generations.

Garrow argues that, although Dr. King was undoubtedly a great man, he wasn’t a saint or a “messiah.” Garrow aims to pull back the myths surrounding Dr. King to show that we can all be heroic. If we are passionate about a cause, then we can always make a difference; we don’t need any special virtues to do so.



Garrow begins with a summary of Dr. King’s early life. The son of a Southern Baptist preacher, Dr. King grew up in the black church, but he wasn’t passionate about it. What he did inherit was his father’s strong sense of discipline and his mother’s compassion. Love was at the center of Dr. King’s home life, and his parents did their best to shelter him from the reality of racism.

Despite his parent’s best efforts, Dr. King was exposed to racism at school and around town. Before long, he despised white people, but his attitudes changed in college. He took bible studies and learned that it was impossible to hate his enemies, however they felt about him in return. From this point onwards, he developed a keen interest in religion; this interest saved him from despair when things got tough during the Civil Rights Movement.

Garrow moves on to describe the first major turning point in Dr. King’s adult life—the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Dr. King, who had just secured his first pastor seat in Montgomery, Alabama, offered his church for people to plan the boycott after a black woman refused to give up her seat for a white person. He then created the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to further facilitate racial integration and equality.



Before long, another organization emerged, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Dr. King supervised this organization, and together they planned further bus boycotts and integrated bus rides. Many of their buses were attacked but it didn’t deter anyone from fighting on. Dr. King inspired people to join the cause, and the movement went from strength to strength.

After some time, Dr. King wanted to branch out from Alabama. He planned to encourage the Kennedy administration to meet with black leaders and engage in equality talks. Dr. King focused on peaceful, non-aggressive demonstrations designed to encourage equal employment opportunities. For example, he staged sit-ins and store boycotts.

Eventually, white leaders were forced to engage with Dr. King and his followers, which encouraged further protests and meetings regarding white supremacy. Dr. King orchestrated a march on Washington to demand a meeting with the President, but after he publicly declared his commitment to civil rights, Dr. King turned his attention to Congress.



At all times, Dr. King strived to keep matters peaceful and purposeful, but protests soon turned violent when the Ku Klux Klan became involved. The KKK pressured local businessmen to support their cause, but in 1964, with the enactment of the Civil Rights Act, they could no longer bully anyone into supporting segregation.

Just when Dr. King thought that the future seemed bright for blacks across America, tragedy struck at a march in Chicago. James Meredith, who had recently become the first black man accepted at the University of Mississippi, was shot dead at a protest march. Dr. King realized that, although he had made some headway, the road to equality was far from over.

In solidarity with James, Dr. King and others finished his planned marches for him. Problems arose again when some black leaders turned violent, encouraging further separation. Dr. King’s greatest achievement was uniting these warring factions within his own group and healing the divisions that would otherwise ruin the progress he had already made.



By the time of his death, Dr. King had traveled all over America protesting segregation and white supremacy. He went where he was needed, lending a hand to local black leaders, and inspiring others to join the cause. Shot and killed during a protest, his legacy now endures as one of peace, diplomacy, and courage.