Throughout time, events have had large influences over history and culture. Racism, specifically the Civil Rights movement, is one such cultural context and one that is still going on today.  A historical context was the Cold War.  These events greatly influenced Martin Luther King Jr. and his text "The World House."  He starts off by talking about an author's idea about a house that is shared by separated families, who must live together.  By comparing this family and this house to the earth and all of the different people who are living on it he allows us to have a better understanding of what life is like.  He argues how the family and us must learn to live together or we will destroy each other and our home. The problem with someone's opinion is that although some people, like Gary Percespe reading "Seeing Beyond the Dream" agree with him, others such as Malcolm X in his speech "God's Judgement of White America" will disagree and think their view is correct. Historical and cultural contexts help to shape a text due to different viewpoints, violence, and poverty.

Throughout the history of the United States, the United States has been in a battle over segregation and the mistreatment of blacks. Some whites and many blacks disagreed with the current regulations and many whites agreed. There were even different views on the same side such as Malcolm X disagreeing with Martin Luther King Jr. Malcolm X wanted a unified, black only community. He disliked white people and thought that they should be punished for all the pain and suffering they caused black people. He did not believe in non-violence and thought that the only way to become free was through violence. (The Biography.com) In Malcom X's speech "God's Judgement of White America" he said, "then America must set aside some separate territory here in the Western Hemisphere, where the races can live apart from each other, since we certainly don't get along peacefully while we are here together"(Malcolm X).  This is exactly what Martin Luther King Jr. did not want to happen for anyone, and he addresses that people should not be like this such as when he says, "This call for a world-wide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond one's tribe, race, class and nation is in reality a call for an all-embracing and unconditional love for all men"(King 298). He believed that everyone must learn to coexist, love each other, and live together, not separately. By being separate and hostile, which is what Malcolm X believed, we would not be able to grow as a society. He also believed that without treating others as equals we are setting each other up to fail. In "The World House" Martin Luther King Jr. says, "Oppressed people cannot remain repressed forever"(King 285).  He goes on about how the blacks in America are similar to the Jews in ancient Egypt. The Jews were oppressed under the Pharaoh and eventually gained their freedom from the Egyptians no matter what they did to try and prevent it, which Martin Luther King Jr. says will happen in America with blacks. Even though the Civil Rights movement helped shape the text, the Cold war was another factor in it.

The Cold War was not a war in the sense of bloodshed and fighting. It was a time period from around the late 40's to the 90's that includes many wars and other events. Martin Luther King Jr. was alive during the Vietnam War, which was one of the many wars fought during the Cold War (History.com) He disagreed with the war and planned on protesting it before he was assassinated.  The Vietnam War was very unpopular in America because it was one of the first wars to be photographed and shown extensively in the media.  The only reason America was in this war was to stop the spread of communism.  This war caused huge amounts of destruction and loss of life in Vietnam (History.com). Martin Luther King Jr. was against war because of its destruction and the waste of resources. He argues that instead of putting our best minds and resources towards weapons, why do the governments not use it to solve world hunger, disease, etc. We could do so much more if there were no wars and smaller problems such as hunger could be solved. He was also against capitalism and communism because one left a large wealth gap and the other reduces men to nothing but the same. The author states, "Capitalism fails to see the truth in collectivism. Communism fails to see the truth in individualism"(King 296). While he does agree with aspects of both ideals, he believes that the best government is a socially conscious democracy. This text helps show how pointless war has become today and even back then. Martin Luther King Jr. says, "There is no need to fight for food and land. Science had provided us with adequate means of survival and transportation" therefore allowing us to "enjoy the fullness of this great earth"(King 293). It rarely solves anything and the technology would easily destroy the planet. John F. Kennedy perfectly explained this in a quote that Martin Luther King Jr. used, which said, "Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind"(King 294). Instead of fighting countries and people can work to make great things and how to fix the environment. By getting rid of war this would allow everyone to solve another major problem, poverty.

Although most people like to believe that poverty is not a big problem in the world, the reality is that it is present everywhere and there are more people in the world who are poor than not. Many go starving and while in America, and other better-developed countries, there are people who are obese. In reality solving this would take only a few years if all the countries pooled their resources for the underdeveloped ones. In an online article, about "The World House", Gary Percespe says, "The wealthy nations of the world must promptly initiate a massive, sustained Marshall Plan for Asia, Africa and South America."(Percespe). The Marshall Plan is actually what America used during the Cold War to help Europe recover and it worked very well. But, he also did not want the lending countries to use these means of support as a way to control other countries. Martin Luther King Jr. says, "The aid program I am suggesting must not be used by the wealthy nations as a surreptitious means to control the poor nations"(King 291). Being forced to do something never ends up well and could have more negative consequences such as more wars, violence, and discrimination. He wants every country to "enter into the program" to be able to do it with "humility and penitence" and realize everything will not go their way (King 291). This text helps show how easy it could be to fix this issue. Trillions are spent on weapons and other military needs that could easily be used for those less fortunate. That being said poverty is another major problem that needs to be fixed.

Overall "The World House" shows us how many of these problems in the past and present are fixable such as different viewpoints, violence and poverty. There is hope to live in the house with everyone and not destroy each other. Martin Luther King Jr. states all of these problems can be fixed, we just need to unite under a common goal.  The Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War, as well as poverty influenced this text. Martin Luther King Jr. was trying to reach out to governments and their populations. The text did not cause any affects immediately, but people today are starting to carry out some of his ideas and notions. In conclusion, historical and cultural contexts were instrumental to "The World House."

