A Knock at Midnight
Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. By Betsy G. Reyneau, NARA ID559202.
MLK at March on Washington, 8/28/1963, NARA ID 542014.
MLK and other Civil Rights leaders at the Lincoln Memorial, March on Washington, 8/28/1963, NARA ID 542063.
By Miriam Kleiman, Public Affairs
Today’s threats to US democracy eerily echo the moral chasm Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. described in his stirring sermon at Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Cincinnati (6/11/1967). This parallel underscores the inscription on the “Future” statue in front of the National Archives Building in DC, “What is past is prologue.” Excerpts from King’s sermon, online here:
It is...midnight in our world, and the darkness is so deep that we can hardly see which way to turn.
It is midnight within the social order...
This midnight in man’s external collective is paralleled by midnight in his internal individual life. It is midnight within the psychological order. Everywhere paralyzing fears harrow people by day and haunt them by night. Deep clouds of anxiety and depression are suspended in our mental skies.
It is also midnight within the moral order. At midnight colors lose their distinctiveness and become a sullen shade of grey. Moral principles have lost their distinctiveness.
King closes his sermon with faith in a better future: “Our eternal message of hope is that dawn will come... Disappointment, sorrow, and despair are born at midnight, but morning follows.”
“Future” statue, with quote from Shakespeare’s Tempest, by Robert Aiken, 2015. (Photo by Jeff Reed, National Archives).
Huge thanks to Reverend Otis Moss (and fellow SHHS alum), who delivered the moving Midnight in America sermon for Central Synagogue’s incredible Martin Luther King Jr. Shabbat service, 1/15/2021. Shoutout to my fellow HUJ alum, now at Central, Rabbi Moe Salth.
See also:
Virtual January (2021) Programs Explore African American History
The “Bending toward Justice” section of “Records of Rights” online exhibit showcases the drive for civil rights for African Americans
National Archives’ African American History web page
African American History research at the National Archives
The National Archives’ larger-than-life statues, Pieces of History post by NARA Historian Jessie Kratz
Official Program for the March on Washington
The March (from the National Archives YouTube Channel)
Records on African Americans at the National Archives
Teaching With Documents: Court Documents Related to Martin Luther King, Jr., and Memphis Sanitation Workers