Voice of Deliverance: The Language of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Its Sources

Front Cover
University of Georgia Press, 1998 - 292 pages
Martin Luther King Jr.'s words defined, mobilized, and embodied much of the American civil rights movement, crystallizing the hope and demand for racial justice in America. His powerful sermons and speeches were unique in their ability to unite blacks and whites in the quest for reform. In the first full-length study of King's language, Keith D. Miller explores his words to find the intellectual roots, spiritual resonances, and actual sources of the speeches and essays that continue to reverberate in America's mind and conscience.

Miller argues that King's skillful borrowing and blending of the black oral and white written traditions was in fact the key to his language and to his effectiveness. It made his message of hope and deliverance accessible to all people and enabled blacks and whites to move in harmony to action and commitment.

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Contents

Introduction
1
FOUR
55
FIVE
69
Darkness Cannot Drive Out Darkness
86
He Wanted to Be an Outstanding Preacher
112
SEVEN
142
Letter from Jail
159
AFTERWORD
199
APPENDIX
213
NOTES
226
WORKS CITED
258
INDEX
279
Copyright

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About the author (1998)

Keith Miller is a professor of English at Arizona State University in Tempe.

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