The Days to Come Summary and Analysis

MLK recounts a time in history when a Negro belongs to the slave owner who has a legal right to him or her. Some slave owners agree to let a slave purchase freedom. A legal document called manumission proves the holder is no longer bound by physical slavery. Some Negroes spend their lives buying freedom for slaves and some white men raise money to ransom other slaves. The author claims this same idea underlies the question when society asks what more the Negro expects with integration. The question misses the point that a human Negro already has this right by law, justice and heritage. Neither gradually recognizing nor less withholding of rights is an appropriate response to partial atonement due immediately. King and Roy Wilkins, his associate, are asked on "Meet the Press" whether they...