Remembering Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. through the MC USA Archives

Martin Luther King, Jr. photographed by Marion S. Trikosko, 1964. LC-DIG-ppmsc-01269 Source: Library of Congress

January 20, 2025 is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a U.S. federal holiday to honor the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who is remembered for his nonviolent activism and leadership in the Civil Rights movement.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s messages of love and nonviolence have resonated with Mennonites for decades.

Goshen College professor and peace advocate Guy Hershberger (1896-1989) was a major supporter of King among the Mennonites. He met King several times and invited him to speak at Goshen College. The MC USA Archives holds two letters (below) related to King’s visit on March 10, 1960 – one from King and the other from Hershberger. Hershberger’s letter references two painful experiences in King’s life:

On Sept. 27, 1956, King and his wife were refused service at the staunchly segregated Dobbs House Restaurant in Atlanta Airport in Georgia. At a later visit to the same restaurant, Hershberger and his companions initiated a small, peaceful demonstration when members of his party were also refused service. A court order in early 1960, to which Hershberger refers, finally forced the Dobbs House to desegregate.
On February 17, 1960 – the week before Hershberger wrote his letter to King – a warrant was issued for King’s arrest for allegedly falsifying his Alabama income tax returns for the years 1956 and 1958. King was eventually acquitted of all charges on May 28, 1960, in a brief trial, by an all-white jury.

There also were many articles written about King in the Mennonite press during and after his life.

Just a month after King’s assassination in 1968, Edgar Stoesz reflected on King’s life in an article for the Gospel Herald (below), the official publication of the (old) Mennonite Church. He wrote:

“What is already abundantly clear is that the cause he championed was freedom and justice for the oppressed – concerns which were also very close to the life and ministry of Jesus.”

Stoesz also questioned the dedication of the Mennonite Church to this cause, asking:

“Where were we when he faced the water hoses, the dogs and a bigoted, irrational sheriff in Birmingham? … As a church are we as concerned about injustice as we are about ‘law and order.’? Do we bleed with those who are unable to compete in the 20^th Century? Or are we content to live in 3-bedroom bungalows in rural or suburban communities telling bootless people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps?”

To learn more about King and the Mennonites, read “Martin and the Mennonites: Lessons From King’s Legacy for Today,” by Tobin Miller Shearer in the Anabaptist Historians blog at https://anabaptisthistorians.org/2020/01/20/martin-and-the-mennonites-lessons-from-kings-legacy-for-today/

Written by MC USA staff.

Letter from Martin Luther King Jr. to Guy Hershberger, 1959. Box 7, Folder 37. Mennonite Church Committee on Economic and Social Relations Records, 1929-1973. I-03-007. Mennonite Church USA Archives, Elkhart, Indiana.

Letter from Guy Hershberger to Martin Luther King Jr., 1960. Box 7, Folder 37. Mennonite Church Committee on Economic and Social Relations Records, 1929-1973. I-03-007. Mennonite Church USA Archives, Elkhart, Indiana.

Stoesz, Edgar. “A Mennonite Reflects on Martin Luther King.” Gospel Herald. (Scottdale, PA), May 14, 1968.