King once stated, “[We] must remember as we boycott that a boycott is not an end within itself; the end is reconciliation; the end is redemption, the end is the creation of the beloved community” (6). He had a vision, articulated in the earliest days of his emergence as a a leader in the civil rights struggle. King’s goal was not just to break down the legal segregation of southern (and much of the United States) society, but also to bring down the emotional and spiritual animosity that drove the separation of races and classes in southern society. Marsh argues that King’s vision was rooted in the southern black church of his upbringings. The church’s recognition of innate human sinfulness made King skeptical of liberalism’s optimistic belief
