Martin Luther King’s Untold Legacy: A Model for Economic Justice

By Jackie McDougall

This month we celebrate a historic man who was instrumental in shaping this country’s history. Martin Luther King Jr. is responsible not just for this country’s civil rights legacy, but also for a lesser known legacy concerning economic justice. Near the end of his life, King shared his vision for a future for all the world’s poor. Through the following, S.T.A.R. offers a little piece of that legacy.

Introduction

Martin Luther King is largely known for his fight for equal rights. But lesser known are his beliefs about economic justice. King, according to some, was always aware of the ever present injustices of poverty. However, it wasn't until later in his life that King began to organize around worker’s rights. You see, King came to view poverty as an illness that had to be treated, much as the way civil rights was tended to. Poverty’s eradication, King believed, was essential for any life well lived, Black or White.

King’s “Third Way”

When he spoke to striking sanitation workers at a rally in 1968, King spoke of a “rising”: From Africa to Memphis. “The masses of the people are rising up,” King said. King was speaking at a moment when workers were abjectly disillusioned with the economic and social conditions of working class life. Influenced by his religious beliefs, and a dialectical synthesis of philosophies, King envisioned a Third Way. This Third Way imagined a nonviolent path to justice. It called for both a tough-mindedness and a “dangerous unselfishness" in order to achieve a community in which justice and love prevail for everyone.

A “Radical” Ask

King’s vision was not just philosophical. His Bill of Economic Rights called for guaranteed income, along with fair wages, adequate housing, healthcare, and education for all. Many of King's ideas are considered radical by some, even today; however, King was calling simply for American ideals of dignity and security. Since King passed, progress has certainly been made. In 1964 and 65, Lyndon Johnson passed the most comprehensive set of reforms in history, which included the programs Medicaid, Medicare, and Food Stamps. Additionally, the growth of Guaranteed Income Experiments is a step towards King’s goal of guaranteed income. However, many of King’s calls today still remained largely unanswered.

A Fight to Live

Though the fight for minimum wage has had its advancements, working wages have not yet become “livable.” Today, not only has the fight for living wages slowed, it has taken steps back. Due to precedent set in part by Ronald Reagan in the 1970s, unions and their fight for decent wages now face considerable opposition. Yes, working class strikes in 2015 and 2022 have seen some gains, but larger progress continues to be stolen away by legal and illegal corporate practices. This kind of activity, in addition to current economic conditions, keeps wages low and workers’ rights eroded.

Affordable Housing Setbacks

Another setback to King’s vision is the affordable housing crisis. Though 2008 pushed 9 million Americans into housing insecurity, predatory housing practices continue to push even more still. In 2023, nearly half of renter households are rent burdened. Some of this statistic is related to rising costs of living and stagnant wages; however, these along with corporate power push working families to the brink of homelessness. 

The Work Ahead

Where many still see poverty as either a necessary evil or a symptom of personal deficiencies, King called for a “dangerous unselfishness." This kind of powerful unselfishness is what we still need today to sustain worker strikes, tenant unions, and policy change. It is now our job to keep King’s vision alive, as well as to remember what it means to be truly free.

References

Desmond, Matthew. (2023). Poverty, By America. Penguin Random House.

Honey, Michael K. (2018). To The Promised Land: Martin Luther King and the Fight for Economic Justice. W.W. Norton & Company.

The King Center, The King Philosophy - Nonviolence 365^®, The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, https://thekingcenter.org/about-tkc/the-king-philosophy/#:~:text=King's%20Beloved%20Community%20is%20justice,being%20in%20the%20Beloved%20Community

Dodson, Edward, (2025). The Political Economy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQpU_NRdTOw

United States Census Bureau. (2024, September 12). Nearly Half of Renter Households Are Cost-Burdened, Proportions Differ by Race. [Press Release]. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2024/renter-households-cost-burdened-race.html

National Low Income Housing Coalition. (2025, July 17). NLIHC Releases Out of Reach 2025: The High Cost of Housing. [Press Release]. https://nlihc.org/news/nlihc-releases-out-reach-2025-high-cost-housing