Tim Powitz - Outside Reading #1

I recently had to do a book review for my Persuasion class. My group was a book called Martin Luther King Jr. and Rhetoric of Freedom: The Exodus Narrative in America's Struggle for Civil Rights by Gary Selby. I won't go into much detail about the book, but I will focus on its religious value. The author argues how King uses the story of Moses and applies to the social movement that he was the leader of. I will discuss this parallel in this blog. The author addresses how the Exodus story was part of African American culture. This is why King plays upon it; his audience already relates to it. King identifies the African American community as the Israelites, the chosen people of God. The Egyptians, the captors, are exemplified in modern terms as the binds of oppression. King, of course, is the Moses figurehead. The book plays on the chronological development of the civil rights movement and how King applies the Exodus narrative as the movement deepens. King describes how the Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 and applies to the social movement to show things may get worse before they can get better. King's approach is capped in his final speech that identifies him as Moses when he says "I have been to the mountaintop, and I have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord." This is of course a reference to Moses' final moments when God leads him to the top of a mountain and shows Moses the promised land of the Israelites. This narrative gave the African American a sense of community, a sense of divine appointment, and thus confidence in overcoming their struggle for freedom.