The Samson Complex

Abstract As campaigns for civil rights intensified in the 1950s and 1960s, parties calling for more militant approaches in the struggle against racial injustice invoked Samson’s climactic action in the Philistine temple. At the same time, this racially charged image sparked controversy among African American intellectuals and activists as some claimed that the younger activists had a “Samson complex” that would ultimately result in nothing but self-destruction. The use of Samson imagery signaled the growing fault lines among leading African American intellectuals and activists regarding how to achieve meaningful racial justice. Some imagined Samson as a model of militant resistance even at the cost of one’s life. Others interpreted his death as a cautionary tale about the end results of imprudent reactionary strategies.