Freedom and Jobs: A Tribute to Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King, Jr. stood on the white marble steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

He looked out at the quarter million Americans who had traveled to the nation’s capital for the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.”

It was 3:00 PM on August 28, 1963. The weather was unseasonably pleasant with cooler than expected temperatures and almost no humidity.

Nine others had spoken that day, but Dr. King would be the last. His would be the capstone speech and a chance for the Civil Rights movement to define itself to the watching nation.

His opening words stated his belief that the event “will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.”

Sixteen minutes and some sixteen hundred words later, Dr. King finished his “I Have a Dream” speech, now considered one of the greatest orations in American history.

Economic Opportunity

It’s important to reflect that Dr. King’s speech—and even the event’s title—made a connection between economics and justice, between “Jobs and Freedom.”

Think about the contrast between those two words. “Freedom” is abstract. “Jobs” is concrete.

Freedom sounds like something profound, something you write declarations about. You pen poetry about freedom.

But a job? A job might be as complex as “brain surgeon” or as menial as moving rocks with your bare hands. But on either end of the spectrum, a job is a practical thing. Real world. Not up in the clouds of ideas. We don’t exactly “do” freedom, but we “do” a job.

As different as the words are, however, when Dr. King and others organized the event in 1963, they called it a march “for Jobs and Freedom.” They knew that these two words are vitally connected in the real world.

We all need freedom. But we also need…a job.

King and the other leaders knew the plight, including the economic plight, of those struggling under Jim Crow laws – state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced racial segregation.  They knew these people needed the freedom to be able to have a job. And that having a job with which to support themselves and their family would give them the means to enjoy freedom.  Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, right?

So, the Civil Rights leaders fought for both the abstract and the concrete. They went to work in order to help others be able to go to work.

Independent Thinking

Dr. King’s speech about racial equality sounded a clarion call for these twin pillars: economic opportunity and civil rights.

In 1968, shortly before his death, Dr. King said, “If a man doesn’t have a job or an income, he has neither life nor liberty nor the possibility for the pursuit of happiness. He merely exists.”

The MBO annual State of Independence Report reveals that Independents report higher levels of happiness and satisfaction compared to traditional employment.

And what’s the root cause? Freedom. Independents crave the ability to carve out their own path in the world, unshackled by systemic barriers and free to pursue their dreams. When people have the freedom to choose when, where, and how they work—an increase in happiness and satisfaction is the natural consequence.

Dr. King’s dream lives on, not just in the words of a speech but in the daily lives of those who dare to dream and work for a better future—and that includes a better way of working.

At MBO Partners, we believe the independent worker economy, with its emphasis on self-employment and innovation, represents a new frontier in the quest for economic justice.