The Individual, Auto/biography and History in South Africa

leadership, teachings and legacy as an almost fixed body of coherent thought,
seemingly without contradiction. Yet outside the strictures of national memory and
the control of family memorial, King’s life and ideas have been a terrain of biographic
contestation in the political domain. The most systematic examination of political
disputes over the meaning and narration of King’s life is Michael Eric Dyson’s attempt
to reclaim his legacy from the grip of liberalism and conservative political thought. For
Dyson, both King’s admirers and foes had “frozen him within the liminal realm of his
1963 ‘I Have a Dream’ speech”. 110
Dyson takes issue with the ‘feel good’ King of liberal thought, in which King’s life and
meaning had been twisted “into a soft, sweet palatable fruit with no real substance”,
and his legacy “pillaged by ideological grave robbers. Dyson also notes that
conservative writers and right wing political circles had been able to quote from King’s
speeches in order to challenge affirmative action or arguments for economic
reparations. In the domain of national memory, Americans had grown up “learning
only about the great pacifist not the hard‐nosed critic of economic justice”. In political
terms, King and Malcolm X had been set up as occupying opposed ethical universes,
of non‐violent integrationism and threatening separatism, respectively. Indeed, King’s
“cultural visibility” had to do with perceptions of “the style, content, and aims of his
leadership”, which “for most of his life were easily translatable and largely attractive
to white America”. Malcolm X, on the other hand was not as “easily translatable”, and
while he “appealed especially to working and poor blacks”, he also “invited derision,
caricature and dismissal”. In contrast to these perspectives, Dyson has resurrected the
‘true King’ as “a prophet, a servant, and a martyr – a revolutionary witness for the
poor people of America and indeed the world”. For Dyson, the legacy of King should
not be seen as at odds with the legacy of Malcolm X. 111
2002); ‘King Centre and the Smithsonian Partner in Historic Exhibition Dedicated to Dr Martin Luther
King, Jr’ (The King Centre Press Statement, 10/1/02).
110 Michael Eric Dyson, I May Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr (New York:
Touchstone, 2001; first published in 2000).
111 Samuel G Freedman, cited in Michael Eric Dyson, I May Not Get There With You; Dwight N
Hopkins, ‘I May Not Get There With You: a Book Review’, African American Review, Spring 2002;
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