Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.: MANHOOD

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. flanked by Rev. Ralph Abernathy (r) & Bishop Julian Smith (l) marching on Memphis, Tenn. in support of black sanitary public workers on March 28, 1968

MANHOOD 1968


Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rev. Ralph Abernathy and Bishop Julian Smith marched on Memphis, Tenn. in support of black sanitary public workers on March 28, 1968 with the race music of Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf filling the energetic assertions of Black manhood, and the strong wild feminine powers of the Mahalia Jackson’s of the time, and the deep blues sung by sharecroppers in the deep South. Music fueled passions and strengthened convictions in the face of white hatreds and resistances to the cold inevitable changes circulating in the center of the torrential rains of Black pain and activism. Central to the calls for freedom and desegregation was manhood, Black Manhood.

African Manhood is complex stories present day youth are unaware of. If our children are aware often there is no emotional connection to stories of men not allowed to be men. What it is like to be unable by law to protect your family is an insurmountable hurdle in life. It evokes a rage without a voice. It is very close to the hollow rage and impotence today’s child support system creates within fathers declared to be absent parents who are attached to their children’s spirits and well being. ©Gregory E. Woods