When we first meet the members of St. Adrienne’s civil right group in chapter 3, we are informed that one of the biggest concerns for the group is the lack of interest in the cause from the younger citizens in their city. While, Gaines does make a sort of explanation for the situation “The people were all well-dressed, and most of them were older than Shepard and the new tenant. Two years earlier half of the crowd would have been their ages, but with Martin Luther King’s death many of the younger people had left the program” page 28, a better unders

Immediately following King’s death, riots broke out across America. People were enraged that their leader had been taken from them in such a violent way. In the African-American community feelings of animosity for whites began to grow, after all it was a white man that killed King. The message of unity that King constantly preached was quickly fading. Even within Martin’s civil right group, Jonathon begins to express feelings of distrust of white folks and a desire for more African Americans to depend more on each other to create change. “We have to do it ourselves,” Jonathon said. “Get from them what we can get from them, but don’t trust them all the way. He trusts them too much. Mark my word, they’ll let him down one day.” (33) Eventually Jonathon’s resentment toward Martin’s reliance on a few powerful white men would help him as well as the fellow members of his group to make the decision to vote Martin out of power.

After reading In My Father’s House, I was immediately curious about the reaction of Martin’s peers when they learned of his deal with Nolan. I understood that every battle had importance for them but I also felt that they could have been more understanding and supportive of a man that had brought them so far. It wasn’t until I discovered how desperately non-violent groups were clinging to their causes in t

Some topics in this essay:
Nolan Martin, Eventually Jonathon’s, Father’s House, America People, Philip Martin, St Adrienne’s, Baton Rouge, Suddenly Billy’s, African American, African Americans, civil rights, rights movement, civil rights movement, black power, king’s death, martin luther, king jr’s death, american community, distrust white, people left, deal nolan, african american, martin luther king, african american community, luther king jr’s,