Carl Jung’s concept of the shadow is the part of our identity, which, through the journey of our lives, is relegated to the darkness of the insensate. While Jung is known for bringing out the concept of the shadow to the public in the modern-day, this aspect of ourselves has long been recognized as an ever-present feature of human beings. Although the shadow is a natural part of our personality, a huge majority of us are willfully blind regarding its existence. We hide our bleak qualities, not only from others but also from ourselves (Jung). In Dr. Martin Luther king’s case, his shadow was hypersexuality.
Although Dr. Martine Luther King was married to Coretta Scott, an anti-segregation activist herself early on, the two seemed to have an authentic affection for each other. Martine Luther King had numerous trips around the country during which he engaged several women, who appear to have been a mix of groupies and prostitutes, and who were mostly paid with Southern Christian Leadership Conference money for post-speech trysts that ranged from plain one on one encounters to orgies which involved half a dozen people (Stockton).
These findings were made when the FBI began taping on Luther’s phone in the summer of 1963, and later planted bugs in his hotel rooms whenever Luther was on the road. Initially, the FBI was worried about communist infiltration on Luther’s group, because of his association with former communists like Stanley Levison. What came through the tape was not communist plotting, but instead intense, nearly constant sexual activities with numerous women he met on the road.
This mischief eventually became common knowledge. He was interviewed in private years later; some anonymous person at the Federal Bureau of Investigation sent copies of the tapes to King and his wife Scott. King brushed off the expose with a remark about being surprised that the FBI knew so much about him, while Scott later claimed that she could not make out what she heard and ignored the whole thing.
Works Cited
Jung, Carl. “How the Concept of the Shadow Applied to Dr. Martin Luther King”. The. Academy of Ideas, 17 Dec 2015. Retrieved from https://academyofideas.com/2015/12/carl-jung-and-the-shadow-the-hidden-power-of- our-dark-side/.
Stockton, Richard. “Martin Luther King Jr.’s Dark Side”. Accusations of Infidelity. Ati,
7 Dec 2016. Retrieved from https://allthatsinteresting.com/martin-luther-king-dark-side Accessed 28 June 2019.