(Mis)quoting King: commemorative stewardship and ethos in the controversy over the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

Abstract

Prior to the unveiling of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. in the fall of 2011, controversy swirled about a paraphrased quotation etched on the side of King’s likeness. The paraphrase, which read, “I was a drum major for justice, peace, and righteousness,” was derived from a sermon given by King in 1968. This essay examines the quotation controversy, which first erupted in August 2011, just before the memorial’s scheduled dedication. The debate over this “misquote” seems at first to be about historical accuracy—i.e. whether the paraphrase accurately reflects what King said and who he was. However, I argue that this debate actually reveals more about how elites use the discourse of “commemorative stewardship” to secure the credibility to speak on, make decisions about, and ultimately control interpretations of public memories. Participants’ claims rely on a rhetoric of commemorative stewardship that acknowledges a public obligation, expresses a commitment to a sacred memory, emphasizes the best practices of shared responsibility and accountability, and demonstrates investment in the good of future generations. Tracing the rhetoric of stewardship in the debate shows how critics of the paraphrased inscription were able to achieve their goal of “correcting” the perceived error while deflecting attention from other controversial elements of the memorial.

Keywords:

• memorial
• commemorative stewardship
• ethos
• public memory
• Martin Luther King Jr.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 This study concentrates primarily on national media pieces published or broadcast between late August 2011 and the end of 2012, when the decision was made to remove the quotation altogether (Androff and Johnson 2012). The debate erupted in late August 2011, just before the memorial was scheduled to be dedicated, but Hurricane Irene intervened and caused the dedication to be delayed until October of that year. The debate ranged across numerous public media, but the discussion was most focused and consistently covered by the Washington Post.

2 It is important to note that, among these elites, political structures, class differences, and racist systems nonetheless create subtle differences in power.

3 Information about the memorial’s history was derived from The Memorial Foundation’s website: (http://www.thememorialfoundation.org/history-timeline), Kevin Bruyneel (2014) and Jefferson Walker (2016, 14–33).

4 The Memorial Foundation’s “Council of Historians”—including such notable scholars as Maya Angelou, Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Henry Louis Gates, and Cornel West—was tasked with selecting a number of King’s quotations to be used in the memorial, both on the so-called “Stone of Hope” and on the wall surrounding the memorial space.

5 The NPS website for the memorial now features a page with the quotations that documents the paraphrase, its removal, and the longer quotation originally intended for the location. See “Quotations,” NPS.gov, 2 May 2016. https://www.nps.gov/mlkm/learn/quotations.htm.

6 This familiar conceptualization of ethos is derived from the work of Aristotle, which identified goodwill, good character, and good sense as the three key components of a speaker’s ethos. See Aristotle (1994, 120–121).

7 I reached this conclusion by examining several recent U.S. government publications concerning public lands and historic preservation. I searched the documents for the term “stewardship,” then examined the use of that term in context. These included the report from the U.S. Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, Caring for the Past, Managing for the Future: Federal Stewardship and America’s Historic Legacy (2001); the National Park System Advisory Board Science Committee report, Revisiting Leopold: Resource Stewardship in the National Parks (2012); four reports from the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, The Preserve America Executive Order Report to the President: In A Spirit of Stewardship, A Report on Federal Historic Property Management, (2006, 2012, 2015, 2018); and the National Park Service’s five centennial reports, A Call to Action: Preparing for a Second Century of Stewardship and Engagement (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015).

8 Manteuffel’s dismissal of drum majors as people in “silly hats” may also betray her lack of awareness of the cultural significance of the drum major in some African American communities. Specifically, drum majors occupy critical and often socially powerful positions in the highly publicized marching bands of HBCUs. For more information on the role of drum majors in such a marching band (which have also recently been in the news because of hazing), see Richard Grant (2017, 57–58).

9 For a thorough discussion of the complex role that King’s family plays as keepers of his memory, see Dyson (2000, 249–281) and Harris J (2018, 401–417).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sara C. VanderHaagen

Sara C. VanderHaagen (Ph.D., Northwestern University) teaches and conducts research in the field of rhetoric. Her research focuses on how members of the public use rhetoric to argue about and reshape stories about the past. She is especially interested in the dynamics of race, gender, age, and agency in public discourse. Her essays have appeared in the Quarterly Journal of Speech, Philosophy and Rhetoric, Rhetoric and Public Affairs, Women’s Studies in Communication, and Children’s Literature Association Quarterly. She is the author of Children’s Biographies of African American Women: Rhetoric, Public Memory, and Agency (University of South Carolina Press, 2018).