Public Lecture

King's Journey to Gandhian Nonviolence

Date: July 18, 2009
Time: 10:30am to 12:30pm
Location: Cal Poly Pomona, Bronco Student Center, Ursa Minor

After initial skepticism about pacifism, Martin Luther King Jr. undertook a long intellectual journey toward a philosophical understanding of Gandhian nonviolence. Unexpectedly thrust into a leadership role during the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955, King soon became the nation's best-known proponent of nonviolence. With the encouragement of his wife, Coretta Scott King, and the guidance of veteran Gandhians such as Bayard Rustin, Glenn Smiley, and James Lawson, King became increasingly committed to Gandhian principles. By the time of his 1959 trip to India, King had become more deeply committed to Gandhi's principles than were some of Gandhi's former colleagues in the Indian independence struggle.

Event Flyer

Clayborne Carson

Clayborne Carson is Professor of History, and Director of Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute, Stanford University.

Dr. Carson has devoted his professional life to the study of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the movements King inspired. Since receiving his doctorate from UCLA in 1975, Dr. Carson has taught at Stanford University, where he is now professor of history and founding director of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute. He is also Martin Luther King, Jr. Distinguished Professor at Morehouse College in Atlanta, where he heads that institution's King Papers Project.

Dr. Carson has been a visiting professor at American University, the University of California, Berkeley, and Emory University as well as a Fellow at the Center for the Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford.