A Testament of Hope

A Testament of Hope is a compilation of the speeches, interviews, sermons, and writings of African-American civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Published in 1986, it contains many previously unpublished works that were transcribed and printed thanks to Dr. King’s widow, Coretta Scott King. Collectively, the articles map out Dr. King’s evolution as an orator, activist, and civil philosopher, from his early years in the NAACP to his assassination in 1968. The collection is considered the most comprehensive survey of Dr. King’s literary life.

A Testament of Hope is divided into six sections and an appendix. Each section groups together several of his works by subject. The first, “Religious: Nonviolence,” takes a look at King’s philosophy of nonviolent resistance, connecting it to his religious beliefs. Beginning in early childhood, Dr. King was deeply involved in the Baptist church. Many of the pieces in the first section explore the relationships between Biblical messages of brotherly love and the long struggle for civil rights for African-Americans. The second section, “Social: Integration,” mostly consists of Dr. King’s pragmatic calls for immediate action. These works are more resonant with the wider Civil Rights movement than some of King’s passive methods of protesting injustice; however, the selection casts passive resistance as an essential and enduring part of King’s legacy. Other topics include the power of the spoken word in moving people’s hearts and minds, and ideological differences within the Civil Rights movement.

The collection’s third section, “Political: Wedged between Democracy and Black Nationalism,” focuses on the roadblocks King faced in his campaigns to address urgent civil rights issues. One of his greatest challenges was to inspire grassroots coalitions and other activist efforts without losing traction with his more tenuous moderate and right-wing followers. The fourth section is a compilation of several of his most famous speeches. These include the oft-cited “I have a Dream” speech, which he gave in 1963, and “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” which he delivered just a day before his assassination in 1968.



The fifth section focuses on King’s most important essays. These include “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” which he wrote while imprisoned for engaging in a peaceful protest in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. In this essay, as well as the titular essay “A Testament of Hope,” King rebukes conservatives who spend their lives squelching activism and stalling progressive politics. He directs even more frustration to political moderates who, through their inaction, feed the very same unjust systems that endow them with the privilege to do nothing. The sixth and final section, “Interviews,” is full of transcripts of Dr. King’s discussions with a variety of institutions and people, including Face to Face, Meet the Press, Playboy, and the prodigious African-American psychologist Kenneth B. Clark. Collectively, these conversations give a multifaceted impression of Dr. King’s personality.

The appendix to A Testament of Hope qualifies Dr. King’s authorship, noting that many of his works, both large and small, were accomplished due in no small part to his friends and other thinkers from whom he obtained many concepts and rhetorical formulations. Still, the collection reaffirms King’s central position in the history of civil rights in America, for his unassailable passion and the virtuous ideals on which he based his life’s work.