The Other America (speech): Difference between revisions

 

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==Background==

==Background==

In January and February of 1967, King completed his final draft of his book ”[[Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community]]?” while on vacation in [[Jamaica]]. Many of the ideas in this book, such as King’s proposal for a [[guaranteed minimum income]], would make their way into “The Other America” speech.<ref name=”laurent-2018″/> On April 4, 1967, King delivered the speech “[[Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence]]” to a gathering of Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam at [[Riverside Church]] in New York City.<ref name=”bv“/> The title and theme of “The Other America” draws from [[Michael Harrington]]’s 1962 [[The Other America|book of the same name]].<ref name=”jones-1967″/>

In January and February of 1967, King completed his final draft of his book ”[[Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community]]?” while on vacation in [[Jamaica]]. Many of the ideas in this book, such as King’s proposal for a [[guaranteed minimum income]], would make their way into “The Other America” speech.<ref name=”laurent-2018″/> , King delivered the speech “[[Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence]]” at [[Riverside Church]] in New York City.<ref name=””/> The title and theme of “The Other America” draws from [[Michael Harrington]]’s 1962 [[The Other America|book of the same name]].<ref name=”jones-1967″/>

==Stanford==

==Stanford==

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{{Reflist|23em|refs=

{{Reflist|23em|refs=

<ref name=”laurent-2018″>Laurent, Sylvie (2018). ”King and the Other America: The Poor People’s Campaign and the Quest for Economic Equality”. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 12. {{ISBN|9780520963436}}. {{OCLC|1031415362}}.</ref>

<ref name=”laurent-2018″>Laurent, Sylvie (2018). ”King and the Other America: The Poor People’s Campaign and the Quest for Economic Equality”. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 12. {{ISBN|9780520963436}}. {{OCLC|1031415362}}.</ref>

<ref name=”bv“>[https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/beyond–vietnam”Beyond Vietnam“]. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. Retrieved January 8, 2025.</ref>

<ref name=””>[https://.stanford.edu//- “Martin Luther King, Jr. Education . Retrieved January , 2025.

*[https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/beyond-vietnam”Beyond Vietnam”]. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. Retrieved January 8, 2025.</ref>

<ref name=”jones-1967″>Jones, Steve (April 17, 1967). [https://archives.stanforddaily.com/1967/04/17?page=1&section=MODSMD_ARTICLE5&_gl=1*1wiyg3i*_ga*MTYxMDU2OTM2LjE3NTk2OTkwMzQ.*_ga_670VKRM1J5*czE3NTk2OTkwMzQkbzEkZzAkdDE3NTk2OTkwMzQkajYwJGwwJGgw*_ga_098QKBX2FB*czE3NTk2OTkwMzQkbzEkZzAkdDE3NTk2OTkwMzQkajYwJGwwJGgw*_ga_J2D2RWCL0Q*czE3NTk2OTkwMzQkbzEkZzAkdDE3NTk2OTkwMzQkajYwJGwwJGgw#article “Martin Luther King Sets ‘True Equality’ As Goal”]. ”The Stanford Daily”. 151 (40). p. 1.

<ref name=”jones-1967″>Jones, Steve (April 17, 1967). [https://archives.stanforddaily.com/1967/04/17?page=1&section=MODSMD_ARTICLE5&_gl=1*1wiyg3i*_ga*MTYxMDU2OTM2LjE3NTk2OTkwMzQ.*_ga_670VKRM1J5*czE3NTk2OTkwMzQkbzEkZzAkdDE3NTk2OTkwMzQkajYwJGwwJGgw*_ga_098QKBX2FB*czE3NTk2OTkwMzQkbzEkZzAkdDE3NTk2OTkwMzQkajYwJGwwJGgw*_ga_J2D2RWCL0Q*czE3NTk2OTkwMzQkbzEkZzAkdDE3NTk2OTkwMzQkajYwJGwwJGgw#article “Martin Luther King Sets ‘True Equality’ As Goal”]. ”The Stanford Daily”. 151 (40). p. 1.

*Harrington, Micahel (1962). ”The Other America: Poverty in the United States”. New York: Macmillan. See also: Kotz, Nick (2005). “Judgment days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the laws that changed America”.</ref>

*Harrington, Micahel (1962). ”The Other America: Poverty in the United States”. New York: Macmillan. See also: Kotz, Nick (2005). “Judgment days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the laws that changed America”.</ref>

1967–1968 series of speeches delivered by Martin Luther King Jr.

“The Other America” is a speech by Martin Luther King Jr. delivered in various forms at least five times from 1967 until 1968. It was first given in its recognized form on Friday, April 14, 1967, at the Memorial Auditorium at Stanford University, where it was filmed and recorded by KQED-TV. King delivered three well known variations that have transcriptions, including the speech at Stanford, Grosse Pointe High School, and Hunter College. In the original 49 minute speech, King addresses the problem of Two Americas, the history of the civil rights movement, the long-term problem of racism in the United States, arguments for and against addressing it, a proposal for a comprehensive anti-poverty program with a guaranteed minimum income, and touches briefly on the Vietnam War.

In January and February of 1967, King completed his final draft of his book Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? while on vacation in Jamaica. Many of the ideas in this book, such as King’s proposal for a guaranteed minimum income, would make their way into “The Other America” speech.^[1] Ten days before giving his address at Stanford, King delivered the speech “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” at Riverside Church in New York City on April 4. In that speech, King called for an end to the war, eliciting a negative response from the media establishment and the NAACP.^[2] The title and theme of “The Other America” draws from Michael Harrington‘s 1962 book of the same name.^[3]

During his lifetime, King delivered two speeches on the Stanford University campus. The first was the keynote address at the Western States Civil Rights Conference, held at the Stanford Memorial Auditorium on April 23, 1964.^[4] Three years later, on Friday afternoon, April 14, 1967, he returned to the same venue. Both speeches are commemorated with wall plaques near the auditorium’s entrance.^[5] “The Other America” was delivered in front of a mostly white audience of 1800 people at the Memorial Auditorium in a speech lasting approximately 49 minutes. An overflow crowd of 100 listened outside over loudspeakers. One man was arrested at the scene for disorderly conduct.^[6]

King began his speech by addressing the problem of racial inequality,^[7] describing what he called the “Two Americas“, one where white people prosper, while in another, Black Americans live “in rat-infested, vermin-filled slums”, with Black children taught by whites that they are inferior. King summarizes the problem as one of race, poverty, and misery, describing the harsh economic conditions of Black Americans, their mass unemployment, and housing discrimination.^[8]

King spends time discussing the white backlash to every step forward in the struggle for civil rights, noting historically how for every two steps forward that the U.S. moves, it tends to also move one step back. King provides numerous examples from Black history illustrating this problem, such as the failed promise of forty acres and a mule to native born Black Americans while white European immigrants received land and other benefits. Throughout American history, King maintains, Black Americans were denied the same rights as whites.^[8]

King then addresses three major arguments the civil rights movement faces: those of time, legislation, and the “bootstrap” argument. Those who say the time is not right to enact major social changes betray a kind of non-neutrality that is hostile to civil rights. “The time is always right to do right”, King argues. Addressing the argument against civil rights legislation, King notes that there are those who say morality cannot be legislated, that you have to change the people by converting them, by changing their very hearts. King argues that legislation allows behavior to be moderated: “Even though it may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, it can restrain him from lynching me.”^[8]

Finally, to address the bootstrap argument, King says that he is often told that Black people should just help themselves and solve their own problems in their communities, just as other white immigrant groups have done. King counters this notion, noting that Black Americans were the only people who were forced to come to this country more than three centuries ago against their will and are the only group that were made slaves and discriminated against because of the color of their skin. No other group has been treated this way in the United States, argues King. He then proposes a guaranteed minimum income for all Americans as a way to partly address the economic conditions in the Black community.^[8]

King briefly touches upon the war in Vietnam to great applause,^[7] noting that it is harming the lives of American soldiers and Vietnamese children alike, and diluting efforts of the Great Society by wasting money on the war abroad instead of using those resources at home where they are most needed. King observes, “if we can spend $35 billion a year to fight an ill-considered war in Vietnam, and $20 billion to put a man on the Moon, our nation can spend billions of dollars to put God’s children on their own two feet right here on earth.”^[6] King closes the speech with a small homily, optimistic that the future will be brighter and that justice will eventually prevail.^[8]

King delivered a variation of the original speech as part of the main address at the 18th annual “Salute to Freedom” at Hunter College in New York, on March 10, 1968.^[9] The fundraising event was attended by more than 2000 people affiliated with Local 1199, representing healthcare workers for the Drug and Hospital Union, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).^[10] Local 1199 was known for its high representation of people of color, including Black and Puerto Rican members. Cornel West notes this was part of King’s larger strategy of building a multiracial coalition for his Poor People’s Campaign.^[9]

The Grosse Pointe Human Relations Council, a citizens group concerned about housing discrimination in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, invited King to speak at Grosse Pointe High School.^[11] On Thursday, March 14, 1968, King addressed a crowd of 2500 people in the high school gymnasium, where he delivered a variation of “The Other America” speech.^[12]

From the beginning, the event was marred by 150 protesters from different factions carrying anti-communist and religious signs outside chanting “Commie go home!” Inside the gym, King’s speech was repeatedly interrupted by hecklers, one of whom yelled, “King, you’re a traitor!” At one point, fireworks were set off, spooking the crowd. The Ku Klux Klan also left recruitment literature on the windshields of the cars parked for the event. King told the media that this was the first time he had ever seen this kind of organized opposition.^[13]

Documentary filmmaker Allen Willis recorded King’s speech at Stanford Memorial Auditorium on 16 mm film for PBS member television station KQED in San Francisco.^[5] Willis, who studied photography under Ansel Adams, began working at KQED in 1963, and was one of the first Black Americans to work in broadcast journalism in California.^[14]

The film was first broadcast on California public television in 1972 as part of the KQED Retrospect series, which looked back at the station’s previous 15 years of coverage. The 90-minute episode included a panel discussion in which KQED general manager Richard O. Moore interviewed two of King’s colleagues, Booker T. Anderson and Harold Varner. Versions of the speech continued to air on California television throughout the 1980s and 1990s.^[15]

In 1981, KQED began destroying its film archives from the 1960s and 1970s, and the original 16 mm film of King’s speech was discarded in a garbage dumpster. It was saved at the last minute by Willis.^[5] The film was later digitized by the Bay Area Television Archive at San Francisco State University and is now hosted by the Digital Information Virtual Archive (DIVA) for free public viewing.^[16] Clips from another version of the speech, along with high-quality audio recorded by KPIX-TV, also appear on the DIVA site.^[17]

At least five versions of “The Other America” speech and its variations have been identified by King scholars, although there are likely many more, with at least one early and informal version of the speech identified as taking place at the Hotel America in Hartford, Connecticut, on March 12, 1967.^[18]

• “The Other America”, Stanford University, Stanford, California (April 14, 1967).^[8]
• “The Other America”, Ford Hall Forum, Boston, Massachusetts (April 23, 1967)^[19]
• “The Other America”, Address to Local 1199 Salute to Freedom, Hunter College, New York (March 10, 1968)^[20]
• “The Other America”, Grosse Point High School, Grosse Pointe, Michigan (March 14, 1968)^[12]
• “The Other America”, California Democratic Council, Los Angeles, California (March 16, 1968)^[21]