When he bursts forth into full oratory mode, Dominique McClellan captures King's vocal rhythms and cadences to stirring effect. His charismatic appeal, however, is equally strong in the quiet calm he brings as he struggles to unite the various factions of the black leadership of the movement.
Just as Johnson wrangled the divided members of his own Democratic Party, King fought to preserve a united front between the more conservative traditional leaders, such as the NAACP's Roy Wilkins (Angelo Cross) and Ralph Abernathy of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (Rodney C. Graham), and those calling for more radical revolution like Stokely Carmichael (Kirk Jonathan Bush).