Martin Luther King Jr.

===Nonviolence===
[[File:BayardRustinAug1963-LibraryOfCongress crop.jpg|upright|thumb|alt=A close-up of Rustin|King worked alongside Quakers such as [[Bayard Rustin]] to develop nonviolent tactics.]]
{{quote box|width=23em|World peace through nonviolent means is neither absurd nor unattainable. All other methods have failed. Thus we must begin anew. Nonviolence is a good starting point. Those of us who believe in this method can be voices of reason, sanity, and understanding amid the voices of violence, hatred, and emotion. We can very well set a mood of peace out of which a system of peace can be built.|salign=right|source=—Martin Luther King Jr.<ref name=Amherst>{{cite web|last1=Luther King|first1=Martin Jr.|title=Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking at The New School|url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/liberation-curriculum/classroom-resources/king-quotes-war-and-peace|access-date=21 Jan 2013|archive-date=September 8, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908025618/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/liberation-curriculum/classroom-resources/king-quotes-war-and-peace|url-status=dead}}</ref>}}

African-American civil rights activist [[Bayard Rustin]] was King's first regular advisor on [[nonviolence]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Spirit of the Sixties: Making Postwar Radicalism| last= Farrell|first= James J.|page= 90|isbn= 0-415-91385-3|publisher= Routledge| year= 1997}}</ref> King was also advised by the white activists [[Harris Wofford]] and [[Glenn Smiley]].<ref name="wofford">{{cite web|url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/wofford-harris-llewellyn|title=Wofford, Harris Llewellyn|access-date=December 3, 2019|date=July 5, 2017|archive-date=December 3, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191203095816/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/wofford-harris-llewellyn|url-status=live}}</ref> Rustin and Smiley came from the [[Christian pacifist]] tradition, and Wofford and Rustin both studied [[Mahatma Gandhi]]'s teachings. Rustin had applied nonviolence with the [[Journey of Reconciliation]] campaign in the 1940s,<ref>{{cite news|title=Book Review: Bayard Rustin: Troubles I've Seen |last=Kahlenberg |first=Richard D. |work=Washington Monthly |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1316/is_n4_v29/ai_19279952 |access-date=June 12, 2008 |year=1997 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081005121547/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1316/is_n4_v29/ai_19279952 |archive-date=October 5, 2008 }}</ref> and Wofford had been promoting [[Gandhism]] to Southern blacks since the early 1950s.<ref name="wofford"/>

King initially knew little about Gandhi and rarely used the term "nonviolence" during his early activism. King initially believed in and practiced self-defense, even obtaining guns to defend against possible attackers. The pacifists showing him the alternative of [[Nonviolent revolution|nonviolent resistance]], arguing that this would be a better means to accomplish his goals. King then vowed to no longer personally use arms.<ref>{{cite web|last=Enger|first=Mark and Paul|title=When Martin Luther King Jr. gave up his guns|url=http://www.salon.com/2014/01/20/when_martin_luther_king_jr_gave_up_his_guns_partner/|date=January 20, 2014|access-date=June 24, 2014|archive-date=February 24, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150224035720/http://www.salon.com/2014/01/20/when_martin_luther_king_jr_gave_up_his_guns_partner/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| page= 217| last=Bennett | first=Scott H.| title=Radical Pacifism: The War Resisters League and Gandhian Nonviolence in America, 1915–1963 | publisher=Syracuse University Press| year=2003| isbn=0-8156-3003-4}}</ref>

In a chapter of ''[[Stride Toward Freedom]]'', King outlined his understanding of nonviolence, which seeks to win an opponent to friendship, rather than to humiliate or defeat him. The chapter draws from an address by Wofford, with Rustin and [[Stanley Levison]] also providing guidance and ghostwriting.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/stride-toward-freedom-montgomery-story|title=Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story|access-date=December 3, 2019|date=July 5, 2017|archive-date=December 11, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191211142835/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/stride-toward-freedom-montgomery-story|url-status=live}}</ref>

King was inspired by Gandhi and his success with nonviolent activism, and as a theology student, King described Gandhi as being one of the "individuals who greatly reveal the working of the Spirit of God".<ref>{{Cite web|date=April 25, 2017|title=Gandhi, Mohandas K.|url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/gandhi-mohandas-k|access-date=March 18, 2022|website=The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute|publisher=Stanford University|language=en|archive-date=March 24, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324053637/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/gandhi-mohandas-k|url-status=live}}</ref> King had "for a long time&nbsp;... wanted to take a trip to India."<ref>{{cite book|last1=King |first1=Martin Luther Jr. |first2=Clayborne |last2=Carson |title=The Papers of Martin Luther King Jr., Volume V: Threshold of a New Decade, January 1959&nbsp;– December 1960 |publisher=University of California Press |year=2005 |page=231 |url=http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/primarydocuments/Vol5/July1959_MyTriptotheLandofGandhi.pdf |isbn=0-520-24239-4 |display-authors=etal |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615084051/http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/primarydocuments/Vol5/July1959_MyTriptotheLandofGandhi.pdf |archive-date=June 15, 2013 }}</ref> With assistance from Harris Wofford, the [[American Friends Service Committee]], and other supporters, he was able to fund the journey in April 1959.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/india-trip|title=India Trip (1959)|date=June 20, 2017|access-date=December 3, 2019|archive-date=December 11, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191211144903/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/india-trip|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|King|1992|p=13}} The trip deepened his understanding of [[nonviolent resistance]] and his commitment to America's struggle for civil rights. In a radio address made during his final evening in India, King reflected, "Since being in India, I am more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity."

When receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, King hailed the "successful precedent" of using nonviolence "in a magnificent way by Mohandas K. Gandhi to challenge the might of the British Empire&nbsp;... He struggled only with the weapons of truth, soul force, non-injury and courage."<ref>{{cite web|title=Nobel Lecture by MLK|date=December 11, 1964|author=Martin Luther King|page=12|url=http://www.thekingcenter.org/archive/document/nobel-lecture-mlk|publisher=The King Center|access-date=August 30, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315071306/http://www.thekingcenter.org/archive/document/nobel-lecture-mlk|archive-date=March 15, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Another influence for King's nonviolent method was [[Henry David Thoreau]]'s essay ''[[Civil Disobedience (Thoreau)|On Civil Disobedience]]'' and its theme of refusing to cooperate with an evil system.<ref>King, M. L. Morehouse College (Chapter 2 of The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.)</ref> He also was greatly influenced by the works of Protestant theologians [[Reinhold Niebuhr]] and [[Paul Tillich]],<ref>Reinhold Niebuhr and Contemporary Politics: God and Power</ref> and said that [[Walter Rauschenbusch]]'s ''Christianity and the Social Crisis'' left an "indelible imprint" on his thinking by giving him a theological grounding for his social concerns.<ref name="Ansbro 1982 p. 163">{{cite book | last=Ansbro | first=J.J. | title=Martin Luther King, Jr.: The Making of a Mind | publisher=Orbis Books | chapter=Ch. 5: The Social Mission of the Christian Church | year=1982 | isbn=0-88344-333-3 | chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking0000ansb_j7f7/page/163 | page=[https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking0000ansb/page/163 163] | url=https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking0000ansb | url-access=registration }}</ref><ref name="Baldwin Burrow Fairclough 2013 p. 133">{{cite book | last1=Baldwin | first1=L.V. | last2=Burrow | first2=R. | last3=Fairclough | first3=A. | title=The Domestication of Martin Luther King Jr.: Clarence B. Jones, Right-Wing Conservatism, and the Manipulation of the King Legacy | publisher=Cascade Books | year=2013 | isbn=978-1-61097-954-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c15NAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA133 | page=133 | access-date=February 22, 2018 | archive-date=July 27, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727202906/https://books.google.com/books?id=c15NAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA133 | url-status=live }}</ref> King was moved by Rauschenbusch's vision of Christians spreading social unrest in "perpetual but friendly conflict" with the state, simultaneously critiquing it and calling it to act as an instrument of justice.<ref name="Long 2002 p. 53">{{cite book | last=Long | first=M.G. | title=Against Us, But for Us: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the State | publisher=Mercer University Press | year=2002 | isbn=978-0-86554-768-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XJpVWyQGKbsC&pg=PA53 | page=53 | access-date=February 22, 2018 | archive-date=July 27, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727203409/https://books.google.com/books?id=XJpVWyQGKbsC&pg=PA53 | url-status=live }}</ref> However, he was apparently unaware of the [[Pacifism in the United States|American tradition]] of [[Christian pacifism]] exemplified by [[Adin Ballou]] and [[William Lloyd Garrison]].<ref name="Perry 1973 p. 4">{{cite book | last=Perry | first=L. | title=[[Radical Abolitionism: Anarchy and the Government of God in Antislavery Thought]] | publisher=University of Tennessee Press | year=1973 | isbn= 978-0-8014-0754-3 | page=[https://archive.org/details/radicalabolition00lewi/page/4 4]}}</ref> King frequently referred to Jesus' [[Sermon on the Mount]] as central for his work.<ref name="Baldwin Burrow Fairclough 2013 p. 133" /><ref name="Burrow 2014 p. 313">{{cite book | last=Burrow | first=R. | title=Extremist for Love: Martin Luther King Jr., Man of Ideas and Nonviolent Social Action | publisher=Fortress Press | series=Book collections on Project MUSE | year=2014 | isbn=978-1-4514-8027-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZVffAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT313 | page=313 | access-date=February 22, 2018 | archive-date=July 27, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727203419/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZVffAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT313 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Deats Lenker Perry 2004 p. 37">{{cite book | last1=Deats | first1=S.M. | last2=Lenker | first2=L.T. | last3=Perry | first3=M.G. | title=War and Words: Horror and Heroism in the Literature of Warfare | publisher=Lexington Books | series=G – Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series | year=2004 | isbn=978-0-7391-0579-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v-mkw-NBGbAC&pg=PA37 | page=37 | access-date=February 22, 2018 | archive-date=July 27, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727203921/https://books.google.com/books?id=v-mkw-NBGbAC&pg=PA37 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Stott 2004 p. 149">{{cite book | last=Stott | first=J. | title=The Incomparable Christ | publisher=InterVarsity Press | year=2004 | isbn=978-0-8308-3222-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kPYUUaYZH_UC&pg=PA149 | page=149 | access-date=February 22, 2018 | archive-date=July 27, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727203934/https://books.google.com/books?id=kPYUUaYZH_UC&pg=PA149 | url-status=live }}</ref> Before 1960, King also sometimes used the concept of "[[agape]]" (brotherly Christian love).<ref>{{cite web|title=Agape|url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/agape|website=Martin Luther King Jr. and the Global Freedom Struggle|publisher=The Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute|access-date=December 3, 2019|date=April 24, 2017|archive-date=December 3, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191203095827/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/agape|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Wang|first1=Lisa|title=Martin Luther King Jr.'s Troubled Attitude toward Nonviolent Resistance|url=http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~expose/issues/issue_2011/pdf/2010_wang.pdf|website=Exposé|publisher=Harvard College Writing Program|access-date=January 19, 2015|archive-date=January 20, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150120044541/http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~expose/issues/issue_2011/pdf/2010_wang.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Even after renouncing personal use of guns, King had a complex relationship with self-defense in the movement. He publicly discouraged it as a widespread practice but acknowledged that it was sometimes necessary.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/nonviolence-the-only-road-to-freedom/|title=Nonviolence: The Only Road to Freedom&nbsp;– Teaching American History|work=teachingamericanhistory.org|access-date=May 8, 2015|archive-date=January 11, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190111133412/http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/nonviolence-the-only-road-to-freedom/|url-status=live}}</ref> Throughout his career King was frequently protected by other civil rights activists who carried arms, such as [[Colonel Stone Johnson]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/01/birmingham_civil_rights_activi.html|title=Birmingham civil rights activist Colonel Stone Johnson has died (slideshow)|work=AL.com|date=January 19, 2012|access-date=May 8, 2015|archive-date=January 22, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120122083911/http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/01/birmingham_civil_rights_activi.html|url-status=live}}</ref> [[St. Augustine Movement|Robert Hayling]], and the [[Deacons for Defense and Justice]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://prospect.org/article/armed-resistance-civil-rights-movement-charles-e-cobb-and-danielle-l-mcguire-forgotten|title=Armed Resistance in the Civil Rights Movement: Charles E. Cobb and Danielle L. McGuire on Forgotten History|work=The American Prospect|date=June 11, 2014|access-date=May 8, 2015|archive-date=December 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215121811/http://prospect.org/article/armed-resistance-civil-rights-movement-charles-e-cobb-and-danielle-l-mcguire-forgotten|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8H9Me8LZ488C&pg=PA246 |first=Lance |last=Hill |title=The Deacons for Defense: Armed Resistance and the Civil Rights Movement |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |pages=245–250 |year=2006 |access-date=July 12, 2016 |isbn=978-0-8078-5702-1 |archive-date=July 27, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727204458/https://books.google.com/books?id=8H9Me8LZ488C&pg=PA246 |url-status=live }}</ref>