The civil rights leader has had a rough decade, but his campaigns for president paved the way for Barack Obama and brought about a better, more inclusive America.
Author and critic Albert Murray claimed that the “melodramatic hero” confronts the blues with the faith that “there is a magic key to success.” “We shall overcome”, the melodramatic hero sings—sometimes in defeat, and sometimes in triumph—but always providing a service that “without which no individual or community can remain...