King in the Wilderness

In KING IN THE WILDERNESS, 50 years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, witnesses to his struggles speak about his good work, his decency, his dedication, and his sense of moral responsibility to help achieve equal rights for all in the United States. This lovingly-constructed documentary takes an unblinking look at King, warts and all, and traces the line of his thoughtful and nonviolent activism to the progress that came after him and continues to inspire today. A high school graduate at 15 with a doctorate at 26, King soon became regarded as Old Guard by younger leaders. One charismatic next generation leader, Stokely Carmichael, first supported King and then broke away, expressing a need to view violence as a reasonable response to beatings and jailings of Black people. King, understanding the impatience, steadfastly held to nonviolent methods, convinced that answering violence with violence would strip his leadership of its moral underpinnings. Singer-activists Harry Belafonte and Joan Baez, as well as former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young and Congressman John Lewis, speak of King's qualities and his fight to end discrimination against Black people in housing, education and employment. King faced many dilemmas, including the need to criticize President Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam war position, even after Johnson twisted congressional arms to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964.