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What were the specific allegations of cheating against Martin Luther King?
Executive Summary
The core cheating allegations against Martin Luther King Jr. center on extensive academic plagiarism, chiefly in his 1955 doctoral dissertation, where investigators later found large verbatim passages taken from other scholars and a Boston University classmate without proper attribution. Boston University’s posthumous review concluded significant authorship issues but declined to revoke the doctorate, choosing instead to annotate the dissertation file [1] [2] [3]. Separate conspiracy claims tied to his assassination do not allege academic cheating and were found not credible by Justice Department reviewers [4].
1. How the Plagiarism Allegations First Emerged and What They Say — the Evidence Trail
Investigative work beginning in the late 1980s unveiled the specific cheating claim that large portions of King’s doctoral dissertation were copied from other sources without quotation or proper citation. Editors of the King Papers Project reportedly discovered unattributed borrowings in graduate papers and raised questions about verbatim passages drawn from Paul Tillich and other scholars, and particularly from another Boston University student, Jack Boozer. Journalistic reporting in 1989 brought the issue public, and subsequent archival and research summaries repeated the finding that about one‑third of the dissertation contained unattributed material; the allegations also noted similar patterns in earlier academic work and some sermons [1] [5] [3].
2. Boston University’s Review: Confirmed Problems, But No Revocation — The Institutional Response
Boston University formally reviewed the claims and acknowledged “authorship issues” in King’s dissertation while deciding not to rescind the doctorate. The university panel found significant unattributed passages yet judged the dissertation to contain enough original contribution and cited precedent and policy concerns about revoking a degree from a deceased figure. BU recommended placing a disciplinary letter in the dissertation file in the library to document scholarly improprieties rather than stripping the degree—a remedy the university implemented according to published accounts [2] [1]. That institutional resolution remains central to understanding official handling of the cheating claims.
3. Beyond the Dissertation: Accusations in Sermons, Books, and Early Assignments — Broader Patterns
Analysts have documented additional instances of unattributed borrowing beyond the dissertation, pointing to sermons and King’s early published work. Reported examples include a first public sermon that mirrors language from Harry Emerson Fosdick and sections of his early book Stride Toward Freedom and other college papers showing similar appropriation. Researchers concluded King demonstrated a recurring pattern of using others’ language without clear attribution during his academic formation and early ministry, which contextualizes the dissertation findings as part of a broader authorship pattern rather than an isolated error [6] [7] [3].
4. Timeline and Source Differences: Who Reported What, and When — Weighing the Accounts
The narrative evolved across decades: archival editors and scholars in the late 1980s first identified the problems; journalists published reports from 1989 onward; university review and media reporting in subsequent years reaffirmed the core findings; and retrospective summaries as late as 2025 reiterated the authorship issues and Boston University’s 1991-style decision not to revoke the degree. Different accounts emphasize either the scale of borrowing (one‑third of the dissertation in some summaries) or institutional restraint (the university’s choice to annotate rather than revoke). The reporting timeline shows convergence on the factual core—significant unattributed passages—but divergence on implications and remedies [1] [2] [5] [3] [7].
5. What Else Was Claimed — Conspiracy Allegations and Their Relevance to “Cheating” Charges
Some sources discuss conspiracy theories about King’s assassination, but those claims do not allege academic cheating and were investigated separately; Justice Department review and Civil Rights Division materials found those conspiracy assertions lacked credible, reliable evidence and contained contradictions. It is important to separate the two lines of allegation: one is academic authorship misconduct substantiated by archival and institutional review, and the other is external conspiracy-related claims that investigators judged not credible. Conflating them obscures the factual record, which links cheating allegations specifically to scholarly plagiarism rather than to assassination conspiracy narratives [4] [7].