Abstract
This paper explores the intellectual relationship between Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the classics, particularly the works of Plato, Sophocles, and Aeschylus. Recognizing Dr. King as a reader of the classics is significant for two reasons: the classics played a formative role in Dr. King’s development into a political activist and an intellectual of the first order; moreover, Dr. King shows us the way to read the classics. Dr. King did not read the classics in a pedantic or even academic manner, but for the purpose of liberation. Dr. King’s legacy, thus, is not merely his political accomplishments but also his example as a philologist of liberation.
Recommended Citation
Strunk, Thomas Ph.D.
(2010)
"A Philology of Liberation: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as a Reader of the Classics,"
Verbum Incarnatum: An Academic Journal of Social Justice: Vol. 4, Article 7.
Available at:
https://athenaeum.uiw.edu/verbumincarnatum/vol4/iss1/7
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