Martin King Luther

Martin King Luther in the movie was married to Coretta Scott who had given him a stable family and strength and support to succeed in his work. He played roles of a husband, a father and a leader/preacher during his lifetime. For example, in the beginning of the movie, the scenes showed him playing soccer with his four children at the Atlanta resident. During this time, he was playing a role of a father. During the voting rights marches from Selma to Montgomery he found himself playing a role of a strong leader when he had to fight for inequality among white and black civilians.

King Luther found himself taking the leadership role to break the bureaucracy of government laws on the black nationals. During his leadership role, in a speech King called commissioners of Montgomery as ‘pharaohs of the South’. With Kings charismatic status, he provoked locals to fight of voting rights with the help of religious context and spiritual concepts. For example, in his speeches, he declared ‘Negro is God’s instrument to save the soul of America’. With the help of religious and spiritual speeches he was able to gather the participant from other cites to be involved in the walks.

However, as all roles demanded different responsibilities it became difficult for Martin Luther to satisfy requirements placed by each. This involved into role conflict while he was holding more than two statuses. For example, during the scene when a tape is delivered to his wife before the first march Coretta Scott demanded him to stay home with the family. He had to choose between the status of being a husband and a leadership. He chose to stay with the family and cancelled his participation in the first walk. Although King missed his wife, he chose to go to the other walks. During the walk at the Edmund Pettus Bridge King faced a conflict to play a role of leader who should continue to walk or played a role of an expert who read the tactics of the troopers and withdrew the walk for people safety. He continued to face the role conflict as he was called a person who spread violence as compared to a person who was a leader.  

Works Cited

Carson, C. (2001). The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr. Grand Central Publishing .

Smith, P. (2000). Culture and Charisma: Outline of a Theory. ACTA Sociologica 2000, pp. 107-111.

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