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What Makes a Political Martyr? the Cultural and Political Deification of Jesus and Martin Luther King, Jr

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What Makes a Political Martyr? the Cultural and Political Deification of Jesus and Martin Luther King, Jr What Makes a Political Martyr? The Cultural and Political Deification of Jesus and Martin Luther King, Jr. Undergraduate Research Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for graduation with “Honors Research Distinction” in the undergraduate colleges of The Ohio State University By Adam Levine The Ohio State University May 2017 Project Advisor: Professor Hassan Kwame-Jeffries, Department of History Acknowledgements I would like to thank my parents for their unconditional support of my pursuit of a liberal arts degree and for putting up with me complaining about my thesis. I would like to thank all of the teachers I have had from CJDS to Ohio State who only yelled at me after the fifth time to stop asking questions. Lastly, I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Jeffries, for working with me on this project, answering my questions and giving me advice as a mentor and a teacher. 2 Table of Contents 0. Abstract ……………………………………………………………………………… 4 1. Topic Choice ………………………………………………………………...………...5 2. Structure ……………………………………………………………………………... 6 3. Jesus ………………………………………………………………………………….. 8 i. Fact or Fiction …………………………………………………………………. 8 ii. The Apostles ………………………………………………………………….. 9 iii. Jesus’ Relationship with his Contemporaries ………………………………. 12 iv. Ready to Die …………………………………………………………………15 v. Life After Death ……………………………………………………………... 17 vi. The Spread of Christianity ………………………………………………….. 19 vii. Jesus Conclusion …………………………………………………………… 22 4. Dr. Martin Luther King …………………………………………………………… 25 i. Beginnings, Montgomery Bus Boycott and Fame …………………………… 26 ii. Voting Rights, Letter from Birmingham Jail, The March on Washington and Response ………………………………………………………………………...29 iii. Chicago, The Tail End and Assassination …………………………………...34 iv. The Holiday ………………………………………………………………… 41 v. MLK Conclusion ……………………………………………………………. 44 5. Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………...45 6. Works Cited ................................................................................................................48 3 0. Abstract In the western world, Jesus stands alone as a deified persona. Today he is seen as a symbol for peace, love and moral righteousness, often used by people who don’t even share his philosophy. Misuse happens, people will use things correctly or incorrectly to justify their actions. This thesis studies how a person, particularly a martyr, gets to that point. Moreover, his ascension to a deity-like figure in western culture has weight. His words and actions (or actions in the stories) are powerful symbols just like his philosophy. Likewise, during the middle twentieth century in America, Dr. Martin Luther King began his rise Jesus like rise as counter to the contemporary political and social culture. Similarly disliked for challenging the status quo, Dr. King is not the only American political figure assassinated for disrupting the status quo. Yet aside from Jesus, he remains the only figure in America society with his own day as a federal holiday. Why? What similarities are there to Jesus that might explain this and does Jesus’s path to cultural and societal deification explain King’s rise? Additionally this thesis will cover how close King is to Jesus as a political tool. Political and cultural deification is clearly a question that has no objective conclusion but it’s something I wanted to research more, to see if there was some path and formula for these martyrs, possibly even considering whether martyrdom is required. I argue a variety of factors contribute to this, as explained by their lives, but the main factor is their dual use as a symbol: one for political power and one for uniting against the political power. Other martyrs do not reach this dual status in the way Jesus and King do and I use political history to defend my idea. 4 1. Topic choice I’ve mentioned in the abstract some of the questions I will explorebut I want to take a moment to explain why I am researching this topic. Growing up in the Midwest, seeing a billboard depicting an image or message of “Jesus died for your sins” is fairly common across interstate travel. Curious, I wanted to learn why Jesus earned this status usually reserved for Apple products and casinos. I understood the story, whether a fabrication or grounded in truth, and decided if people believed in the story then he deserved the praise he got. However, as I grew up and read more about biblical and historical figures I didn’t quite understand why he was put ahead of other historical characters: Moses, Isaac, etc… To even further complicate the problem I discovered many people misused and misrepresented Jesus’s philosophy and sayings. Moreover I questioned Jesus’ historical significance and relevance today. Does he deserve this fame, recognition and memorialization? Likewise in American socio-political history it seemed to me there were two men who stood above the rest in terms of long-term perseverance and relevancy as symbols. Abraham Lincoln and Dr. Martin Luther King. In the beginning I chose to study all three characters but as the year progressed I felt more strongly about producing a more concise thesis focusing on King and Jesus alone. Growing up I knew King faced push back during the Civil Rights movement but I assumed after time became universally accepted like Jesus, transcending even his opposition’s views. After taking an African American history course with Dr. Jeffries I 5 realized my naiveté. Although King’s transcendence rivals most American if not all American figures I wanted to find out if connections existed between King and Jesus. This thesis is not just for my own intellectual curiosity. I think it is important to study grandiose historical figures like King and Jesus. Learning about them helps put in perspective how we view, criticize and project the legacies of contemporary leaders. Likewise it allows us to criticize people who misuse them in the future. It also gives us a sense of what is important in a world dominated by 24/7 news coverage. We see the bigger picture. At least that is the goal of this paper. When people misuse people as symbols for some cause this type of study allows us to accurately see if that symbol represents the cause. Ultimately this thesis hopes to uncover trends, US cultural history, and anything else to help us determine legacy. 2. Structure The question I’m looking to answer is if there is anything in Jesus’ rise as a deity and the world’s use of him posthumously that helps predict King’s rise in American history. If it does, understanding whether this theory holds prescriptive or merely descriptive powers is important too. The thesis will be divided into three parts. First, an examination of the events, philosophy and sayings by Jesus’, resonating throughout his time and throughout the expansion of Christianity, then a subsequent section examines King’s life and his use posthumously and finally a conclusion section discussing the prescriptive and descriptive powers of the thesis. The outcome here is to identify both the accuracy of using Jesus as justification as well as what Jesus as a symbol has come to mean in the two thousand years since his story started. 6 Moreover, it is important to know characters like King and Jesus were not like artists discovered years after their death. They both had followings during their time in addition to their opposition. Therefore it will be important to know why Paul and the apostles followed Jesus in addition to knowing why Churches and countries embraced him. Likewise it will be important to know why King had the following and opposition he had during the civil rights era. In comparing how they were viewed contemporarily in light of their legacy will provide the crux of what we’re looking for. It must matter somewhat what people do or else the storytellers (apostles, etc…) could make up similar stories for fictional characters and they might become American political martyrs just like King. I initially hypothesize it matters up to a certain point of fame, legacy and infamy. After some time the original story gets misconstrued; people misquote King or misinterpret Jesus. The next section will cover Dr. King in a similar manner to how I covered Jesus; Researching what events gained him an initial following and notoriety. After that the thesis will look into certain events like the creation of the MLK holiday as to how the public perceived his legacy. Obviously King has not reached complete deified status in America or the world, but as far as his place in American political history it seems to me that King, Lincoln and Washington stand above the rest. Part of the end goal of this thesis is to determine if that his legacy is actually cemented as one of the American political and cultural fathers. As part of a comprehensive look at King in America it will be important to compare him with other highly thought of American figures like JFK, Lincoln and others as to why he ranks higher than them in legacy. 7 Lastly I’ll conclude the research with an answer about King’s place in American political deification. Ideally I’ll develop a formula or rough sketch of the criteria necessary for pseudo-deification and offer some brief insights on characters like Obama. 3. Jesus Jesus’s legacy arguably singlehandedly affected western culture more than any one person. Whether it was interpreting his meaning through Catholicism or Protestantism and dividing up Western Europe or influencing the enlightenment philosophy that gave birth to America and the New World, Jesus’ name found its way into almost every contentious idea and debate (e.g. slavery). i. Fact or Fiction? Jesus miraculous acts live in infamy: turning water to wine, walking on water, multiplying bread, etc… Does it matter though? Does it matter if Jesus actually did those things or if they are partial-truths, full fibs or exaggerations? Conventional thought convinces me that praising another person for miraculous acts requires those acts to occur.
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