The Individual, Auto/biography and History in South Africa

In addition to this standard biographical narrative of political transformations and
personal self‐discovery, Akomfrah also sought to uncover cracks in the image of King
as the “great martyr”, undisputed national hero and “embodiment of the Civil Rights
Movement” whose “every insight” had “acquired the weight of truth with the passing
of time”. Chief among King’s flaws was “his eye for the ladies”, a characteristic that
“he would never lose”, and which in later years “would have grave consequences”.
FBI surveillance “from city to city, hotel to hotel” revealed this “skirt chasing” side of
King that was “at odds with his pubic image”. In his youth, King had always wanted
to win the girlfriend of “the tallest, handsomest guy on campus”. In their search for
evidence of corruption or ‘communism’, the FBI instead stumbled upon King’s
“potentially embarrassing habit”. Many in the movement knew about it, and some
helped with collecting a lover at the airport or taking her to the hotel. 116
But beyond empirical evidence of moral weakness and personal contradiction,
Akomfrah also began to examine elements of the King image. He suggests that there
was “another King unknown to the public”, a “personal King” who was
“uncomfortable with accolades and glory”. King, the reluctant leader, was torn by an
“inner struggle between his public image and his private life, unsure he was worthy of
the role history had cast him in”. More significant is Akomfrah’s treatment of the
presence of television in the making of King as leader. At Montgomery, King had
come to signify “a new kind of Negro”, and it was television that “would keep him in
the public eye”. King acquired a new media profile that brought him sympathetic
listeners in powerful places. Later, in Washington, the media coverage of the events
and King’s speech represented the first time a Civil Rights protest was aired live on
TV. 117
However this discussion merely hints at the possibility of a much more nuanced
cultural history of the making of King, which would involve an analysis of the
processes of image‐making and biographic production, not as subsequent processes,
116 Martin Luther King, Jr: The Man and His Dreams.
117 Martin Luther King, Jr: The Man and His Dreams.
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