Abstract

This paper highlights that Martin Luther King, Jr.’s pilgrimage to nonviolence was successful thanks to his mentors. Jesus Christ, his divine teachings of love and brotherhood, along with the biblical parables, gave him spiritual lessons on nonviolence. Mahatma Gandhi and his Satyagraha doctrine strengthened his belief that nonviolence was the methodological key that could open to his fellow African Americans the heavy doors of freedom. Henry David Thoreau, through his acts of disobedience to injustice, inspired him and allowed him to adapt several useful strategies that paved the way to an American society where people, whatever their skin color, would be judged by the content of their character. Thanks to these spiritual, methodological, and strategic sources of inspiration, Barack Obama became the 44 th US President. This paper probes the different steps that led to the crowning of Martin Luther King, Jr., by Christ, Gandhi, and Thoreau.