he was taking from the theologian howard thurman. what would the slaves do, he would tell his congregations over and over they took that question mark, is there a bomb in gilead and they straightened into an assertion. there is a bomb in gilead so the slaves represented this superior moral virtue but sometimes king would make himself the old slave preacher. and he would say that old slave preacher would say. all day long you'd been called a nigger and all day you've been told you ain't nobody. but i'm here to tell you, you are ain't no nigger, you are somebody. and again you can hear king's voice tremuless with passion because the wounds of slavery had not disappeared. he did not say forget that memory transcend it throughout higher realm but that did not mean repressing the awareness, the collective memory that was so powerful to him. finally, this same powerful sense of blackness appeared in the mass meetings, selma, birmingam, montgomery and it's important to understand king wasn't certainly preaching 'cause he's figuring out how

king learned from howard thurman and benjamin mayes at morehouse college. and that it's never appropriate to dehumize or demonize your opponent. we must always recognize their humanity and recognize their self-interest and try to appeal to that. that's why king was such a genius as a moral leader. he confronted, but he balanced that with negotiation. and today all i hear from so many of our public officials, religious leaders, media commentators is confront, confront and polarize. dr. king says no you've gone overboard and there's another side to balancing this for the common good. >> one of the points of contention in the debate over this monument has been the whole issue of separation of church and state and the dedication of something to someone who is not just not even a president but also at his core was a baptist minister. talk a little bit about it in that context. >> well, you put your finger on a fascinating question because we've grappled for the past decade and a half with the question of church and state and the appropriate presence of religion

physician of teaching, because he had a great mentor in the personhood of benjamin elijah mays, howard washington thurman. he passed on to julian and others coming you're truly, the gray pearls of wisdom that we receive from him sitting at his feet at morehouse college. i want to frame a my comments by saying after all is said and done about dr. king and, we must never forget that he was a black baptist preacher. i know many have not understood that. let me remind you that it was also influenced by another baptist preacher, whose legacy impact our opportunity here today. the story is told that in 1926, when howard university in decided that it would be inclusive and offered the opportunity for an african american to be president of that prestigious institution that we know it to be today. when they were thinking of who should be that person, and there was frazier and many others who thought they had earned degrees and had the right to be president. the board of trustees decided that there was a black baptist preacher that we have not said enough about as be remember ever great legacy. his name was mordec

position of teaching because he had a great mentor in the personhood of benjamin elijah mays, howard washington thurman of wisdom that we received from him sitting at his feet at morehouse college. i want to frame my comments by saying, after all is said and done about dr. king, we must never forget that he was a black baptist preacher. [applause] i know many have not understood that, but may i remind you that he was also influenced by another baptist preacher whose legacy impacts our opportunity today. the story is told that in 1926 when howard university decided that it was being inclusive and offered the opportunity for an african american to be president of the prestigious institution that we know it to be today, when they were thinking of who should be that person, there was many who had earned degrees and had the right to be president, but the board of trustees decided that there was a black baptist preacher that we have not said enough about. his name was mordecai johnson, pastor of the first baptist church of charleston west virginia. when dr. johnson arrived in washington, he did not seek to f

position of teaching because he had a great mentor in the personhood of benjamin elijah mays, howard washington thurman sitting at his feet at morehouse college. i want to frame my comments by saying, after all is said and done about dr. king, we must never forget that he was a black baptist preacher. [applause] i know many have not understood that, but may i remind you that he was also influenced by another baptist preacher whose legacy impacts our opportunity today. the story is told that in 1926 when howard university decided that it was being inclusive and offered the opportunity for an african american to be president of the prestigious institution that we know it to be today, when they were thinking of who should be that person, there was many who had earned degrees and had the right to be president, but the board of trustees decided that there was a black baptist preacher that we have not said enough about. his name was mordecai johnson, pastor of the first baptist church of charleston west virginia. when dr. johnson arrived in washington, he did not seek to find where the next cocktail party wo