Garrow, David J. Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1986.

Title: Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King Jr., and the Southern Christian Ledership Conference

Author: David J. Garrow

Year of Publication: 1986

Thesis:

MLK is portrayed as a reluctant, guilt-ridden, and accidental icon who would have preferred to have been out of the spotlight but recognized his own death was his cross to bear, so to speak. King's philandering takes center stage as the FBI threatens to publicly dismantle him, meaning his decisions were not always guided by conscience, but a guilty conscience, and Garrow expends much effort in demonstrating this dynamic. 

Time: Mostly 1955-1968

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Personal papers, FBI surveillance, massive body of oral interviews, 

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Notes: Won Pulitzer prize