I’ve Been to the Mountaintop (1969). Detailed description

Martin Luther King, Jr., gave this speech at the Bishop Charles Mason Temple Church of God in Christ on April 3, 1969. Memphis sanitation workers, mostly African American, were on strike, demanding that the city pay them the federal minimum wage. King’s speech at the rally reminded the workers that they were fighting for dignity, proclaiming the eventual success of unified, nonviolent action. Presciently, King assured them that their cause would succeed regardless of what happened to him. He was assassinated soon after.

There are several significant features of this speech. Key among these is the context within which he gave it. The strike had been difficult: Rather than participate in good faith negotiations with the strikers, city officials had refused all talks. They declared the strike to be illegal and local courts agreed, issuing injunctions that prevented demonstrations. A previous march by the workers had been met with tear gas, and violence had erupted. For the first time in King’s career, a peaceful demonstration he had organized developed into a riot that resulted in vandalizing and looting of businesses. Protesters engaged in hand-to-hand fights with police.

Another major element of the speech’s context was the ever-present harassment of King by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) led by J. Edgar Hoover. Few knew that the FBI had targeted King for years and that Hoover considered him “one of the most dangerous Negroes” in the United States. Congress did not even know about the FBI’s secret counterintelligence program called COINTEL- PRO. Its purpose was to monitor and disrupt the organizations and activities of groups identified by Hoover as “un-American.” Congressional hearings that followed King’s assassination revealed that Hoover had placed tremendous pressure on King to commit suicide. The FBI director used anonymous notes, scandalous rumors, and death threats designed to dispirit and discredit King as a leader. Many who were close to King recalled that he was suffering from severe depression and fatigue at the time of the speech.

King was a master of the delivery style of southern black Baptist ministers. He did not just deliver a speech by reading prepared notes. On this night, he spoke without notes because he had not actually planned to attend the rally. It was not until his aides saw the packed church that they returned to the hotel and pleaded with him to go there and say a few words of encouragement. In the spirit and style of the black pulpit, King used a “call and response” delivery that was familiar to his audience. This style invited the strikers and their families to join in with words of encouragement as King reached his climatic conclusion. On several occasions, spontaneous applause interrupted his impromptu address. And that was to be expected and accepted as approval of the specific points being made.

The imagery used by King took his listeners through history as he compared great events in the development of the West to what was happening in Memphis that night. He intertwined this with references to biblical scenes. By the end of the speech, it became apparent that King used the journey of Moses and the children of Israel as a simile for the journey he had made with the Civil Rights movement over the past 13 years. And like Moses looking down into the promised land from the summit of Mount Nebo he, too, must be satisfied with having successfully made the journey.

He suggested that like Moses he was willing to die and not share freedom with his people. The audience grew still as King concluded his remarks by saying that he had received threats from “some of our sick white brothers” but that “it doesn’t matter with me now.” At that moment the audience grew still as rain, thunder, and lightning seemed to emphasize his points.

Despite the personal distress he was feeling, King offered an optimistic message. As a feature of most of his work, it must be remembered that he was extraordinarily hopeful, even in the face of overwhelming odds. The conclusion of this speech was no exception. He clearly believed that his people would be free and so his safety did not matter. “I’m not worried about anything! I’m not fearing any man! Mine eyes have seen the coming of the Lord!”

For Discussion or Writing
1. King frequently used hymns and Negro spirituals in his speeches and sermons. Visit http:// www.negrospirituals.com/ and determine from what song the last phrase of this speech is taken. Why would it be familiar to his audience? After thinking through the song and its meaning, write a well-developed essay that argues why King deliberately chose this song to support his message and connect with the audience.

2. If the assassination attempt had failed, would this still be considered one of King’s most memorable speeches? Why? Why not?

3. King believed in progress. He used history to confirm that events are connected and culminate in expressions of God’s will. Are there other views that might challenge these assumptions?

4. King spoke to an African-American audience at the Mason Temple. In 2009, a significant number of the sanitation workers and others living in society’s periphery may be Latino. In what ways would this event have been altered?

5. To understand King’s speech and see it in a cultural context, visit http://www.archives.gov/ education/lessons/memphis-v-mlk/activities. html, consulting the primary documents there and completing the “Documents Lesson Plan: Court Documents Related to Martin Luther King, Jr. and Memphis Sanitation Workers.”