美国国家公共电台 NPR--Jonathan Eig's new biography examines the life of Martin Luther King Jr.

Jonathan Eig's new biography examines the life of Martin Luther King Jr.

Transcript¹

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to biographer Jonathan Eig about King a Life. "One of the interesting things about King is that he's a protest leader who really does not like conflict," Eig says.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The life of Martin Luther King is one of the most famous in American history. But in that life, one thing is easy to overlook - how young he was. King became a nationally known civil rights leader in his mid-20s. When he gave the famous "I Have A Dream" speech in Washington in 1963, he was in his early 30s, though his voice suggested the gravity of long experience.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR: I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history.

INSKEEP: We know that cadence², the drawn-out words precisely³ pronounced, the pauses between each phrase. The biographer, Jonathan Eig, found a recording⁴ of a voice with a similar cadence, one that King grew up hearing. It's an oral history of his father, Martin Luther King Sr.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MARTIN LUTHER KING SR: I was born in the midst of segregation⁵ at its height. And I was able to see many injustices⁶ leveled upon my people.

INSKEEP: Jonathan Eig spends a lot of time on Martin Luther King Jr's youth in his biography "King: A Life." We learned that King's father grew up with a different name, Michael King, and adopted the name that his son later made famous. It was part of the father's self-invention after growing up as a sharecropper's son.

JONATHAN EIG: He's working on a farm. His father and mother are stuck in poverty, unable to escape the white landowner in Stockbridge, Ga., and Martin Luther King Sr., at age 12, walks barefoot out of Stockbridge toward Atlanta to make himself a new life and begins teaching himself to read and write, setting the groundwork to become a preacher, to become an activist⁷ and to raise one of the greatest activists⁸ in American history.

INSKEEP: What did it mean that Martin Luther King Jr., unlike his father, was able to grow up in relative prosperity in a prosperous part of Black Atlanta?

EIG: One of Dr. King's friends told me that he thought Martin Luther King's - was really exceptional in that he did not seem to be bruised⁹ by racism¹⁰ in quite the same way that so many of his peers were. He had a little bit of a buffer¹¹, growing up on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta, growing up in this preacher's family. You know, he had a bicycle. He had a pet. He had a dog. He lived in relative comfort. And because his family was so prominent, he was able to see a lot more opportunity than maybe some other people who were going to school with him had at that time.

INSKEEP: What were some aspects of the father's character that deeply affected¹² the son?

EIG: Well, he was a very difficult man. He was very stubborn. He was violent at times. He - you know, he used the belt to spank¹³ his children in public sometimes, out in the yard. And if one of the neighbors came by and yelled, he'd spank that kid, too. So he was a difficult man who set very high standards for all three kids. And he also really was overly protective. And when Martin Luther King Jr. became the leader of the Montgomery bus boycott¹⁴ and his home was bombed, Martin Luther King Sr. was there the next day saying, you're coming home with me. I'm not letting you stay here in this kind of - risk your life in this danger. And it was very difficult for Martin Luther King Jr. to stand up to his father. He struggled with that all his life.

INSKEEP: Is that something that affected his approach to people later on?

EIG: It really did. One of the interesting things about King is that he's a protest leader who really does not like conflict. He is always going out of his way to avoid conflict with people who are his elders, who seem to be his superiors in some ways, people like Roy Wilkins at the NAACP or A. Philip Randolph. And then that plays out, too, when he becomes a negotiator with presidents. And he really doesn't like conflict. He has to push himself really out of his comfort zone to argue, to debate, to really challenge some of the leaders of this country.

INSKEEP: I'm amazed at the amount of education this young man sought at such a young age, given that his father had had virtually none.

EIG: Right. He skipped grades and went to Morehouse, you know, two or three years younger than most of his classmates, then went to seminary and went to get his doctorate¹⁵ at Boston University, always the youngest in his class. And his father really was against it. His father thought to be a preacher, you don't need all that education. Morehouse was enough, Daddy King thought. But Martin always wanted to exceed his father. He wasn't comfortable with the way his father preached. He didn't like the emotionalism. He didn't like that country-style preaching. And young Martin Luther King Jr. wanted to show that he could go beyond, just like most of us want to go beyond our - you know, our parents. We want to see, you know, how far we can go beyond what they've established for us, right?

INSKEEP: How did King Jr. emerge as the leader of the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955?

EIG: This is one of the miraculous¹⁶ moments in American history where the right person happens to be in the right place at the right time. And Martin Luther King Jr. was not looking to become a leader. He was looking to get his church in shape and perhaps move on to a bigger church or to a job as a college professor. But when the Montgomery bus boycott began, they were looking for somebody who could serve as the spokesman. He wasn't even asked to become the president yet. He was just asked to be the spokesman because he hadn't been around long enough to make enemies. So people thought he might be able to unite the community, and they already knew that he was a terrific speaker. So King steps up to the podium at Holt Street Baptist Church on December 5, 1955, and gives this incredible speech. And it's the first time that most people in Montgomery have heard him. And suddenly he inspires them in a way that is just profound. They're ready to walk. They're ready to march. They're ready to do it as long as required.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

KING JR: If we are wrong, the Supreme¹⁷ Court of this nation is wrong.

(APPLAUSE)

KING JR: If we are wrong, the Constitution of the United States is wrong.

(APPLAUSE)

INSKEEP: I'm just thinking of the pressure this person then faced in the years that followed - seen as the representative in some ways of an entire race, under FBI investigation¹⁸, under threat, under violent threat, repeatedly arrested, finally assassinated¹⁹. What, if anything, in his youth prepared him to withstand that pressure?

EIG: The Bible. I'd have to say it was his faith in God. And he said it over and over again, that God called on him to do this, that called on all of us to live up to the words of the teachings in the Bible, that we're here to serve God. We're here to try to make the world a better place, and it's not about ourselves. And that's not to say he didn't feel the pressure. He was hospitalized for depression numerous times. And he suffered. He knew that his own government was out to destroy him. They were tapping his phones. They were listening to his conversations in hotel rooms. He still did the work, and he still doubled down. He never backed off of his convictions. He stuck to what he believed in and was willing to risk everything for it.

INSKEEP: Jonathan Eig is the author of the new biography "King: A Life." Thanks so much.

EIG: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 cadence   

n.（说话声调的）抑扬顿挫

参考例句：

• He delivered his words in slow,measured cadences.他讲话缓慢而抑扬顿挫、把握有度。
• He liked the relaxed cadence of his retired life.他喜欢退休生活的悠闲的节奏。

3 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

4 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

5 segregation   

n.隔离，种族隔离

参考例句：

• Many school boards found segregation a hot potato in the early 1960s.在60年代初，许多学校部门都觉得按水平分班是一个棘手的问题。
• They were tired to death of segregation and of being kicked around.他们十分厌恶种族隔离和总是被人踢来踢去。

6 injustices   

不公平( injustice的名词复数 )； 非正义； 待…不公正； 冤枉

参考例句：

• One who committed many injustices is doomed to failure. 多行不义必自毙。
• He felt confident that his injustices would be righted. 他相信他的冤屈会受到昭雪的。

7 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

8 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 bruised   

[医]青肿的，瘀紫的

参考例句：

• his bruised and bloodied nose 他沾满血的青肿的鼻子
• She had slipped and badly bruised her face. 她滑了一跤，摔得鼻青脸肿。

10 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

11 buffer   

n.起缓冲作用的人(或物)，缓冲器；vt.缓冲

参考例句：

• A little money can be a useful buffer in time of need.在急需时，很少一点钱就能解燃眉之急。
• Romantic love will buffer you against life's hardships.浪漫的爱会减轻生活的艰辛。

12 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

13 spank   

v.打，拍打(在屁股上)

参考例句：

• Be careful.If you don't work hard,I'll spank your bottom.你再不好好学习，小心被打屁股。
• He does it very often.I really get mad.I can't help spank him sometimes.他经常这样做。我很气愤。有时候我忍不住打他的屁股。

14 boycott   

n./v.(联合)抵制，拒绝参与

参考例句：

• We put the production under a boycott.我们联合抵制该商品。
• The boycott lasts a year until the Victoria board permitsreturn.这个抗争持续了一年直到维多利亚教育局妥协为止。

15 doctorate   

n.(大学授予的)博士学位

参考例句：

• He hasn't enough credits to get his doctorate.他的学分不够取得博士学位。
• Where did she do her doctorate?她在哪里攻读博士？

16 miraculous   

adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的

参考例句：

• The wounded man made a miraculous recovery.伤员奇迹般地痊愈了。
• They won a miraculous victory over much stronger enemy.他们战胜了远比自己强大的敌人，赢得了非凡的胜利。

17 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

18 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

19 assassinated   

v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏

参考例句：

• The prime minister was assassinated by extremists. 首相遭极端分子暗杀。
• Then, just two days later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 跟着在两天以后，肯尼迪总统在达拉斯被人暗杀。 来自辞典例句