The Problem With Martin Luther King Jr.’s Origin Story
- May 31
- 1 min read
By Lerone Martin and Jonathan Eig
From The New York Times
For years, we’ve been trying, with some frustration, to identify the white boy who introduced Martin Luther King Jr. to racism.
Dr. King told the story himself, first in a college essay, and then again in interviews, until it formed the core of his origin story. It went like this: He was 3 years old and still known as Mike, the name on his birth certificate, when he made friends with a white boy whose family owned a store across the street from the King family’s home in Atlanta. They played together almost every day. In 1935, when they turned 6 and entered school — “separate schools of course,” Dr. King later wrote — the parents of the white boy told their son he was no longer permitted to play with Mike.
Shocked, Mike asked his parents to explain. Read more ...
