April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Death and How it Changed America by
On April 4, 1968, at 6:01 p.m., while he was standing on a balcony at a Memphis hotel, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and fatally wounded. Only hours earlier King ended his final speech with the words, "I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight, that we as a people will get to the Promised Land.” Acclaimed public intellectual and best-selling author Michael Eric Dyson examines how King fought, and faced, his own death, and how America can draw on his legacy in the twenty-first century. April 4, 1968 celebrates the leadership of Dr. King, and challenges America to renew its commitment to his vision.
Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference by 
The Chicago Freedom Movement: Martin Luther King Jr. and Civil Rights Activism in the North by
Six months after the Selma to Montgomery marches and just weeks after the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a group from Martin Luther King Jr.'s staff arrived in Chicago, eager to apply his nonviolent approach to social change in a northern city. Once there, King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) joined the locally based Coordinating Council of Community Organizations (CCCO) to form the Chicago Freedom Movement. The open housing demonstrations they organized eventually resulted in a controversial agreement with Mayor Richard J. Daley and other city leaders, the fallout of which has historically led some to conclude that the movement was largely ineffective. In this important volume, an eminent team of scholars and activists offer an alternative assessment of the Chicago Freedom Movement's impact on race relations and social justice, both in the city and across the nation. Building upon recent works, the contributors reexamine the movement and illuminate its lasting contributions in order to challenge conventional perceptions that have underestimated its impressive legacy.
Gospel of Freedom: Martin Luther King, Jr.'s letter from Birmingham Jail and the struggle that changed a nation by
Jonathan Rieder delves deeper than anyone before into the King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" --illuminating both its timeless message and its crucial position in the history of civil rights.
King: A Biography by
Acclaimed by leading historians and critics when it appeared shortly after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., this foundational biography wends through the corridors in which King held court, posing the right questions and providing a keen measure of the man whose career and mission enthrall scholars and general readers to this day. Updated with a new preface and more than a dozen photographs of King and his contemporaries, this edition presents the unforgettable story of King's life and death for a new generation.
King's Dream by
In this new exploration of the "I Have a Dream" speech, Sundquist places it in the history of American debates about racial justice and demonstrates how the speech, an exultant blend of grand poetry and powerful elocution, perfectly expresses the story of African-American freedom.
King Remembered by 
Let the Trumpet Sound: the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. by 
Martin Luther King, Jr. by
Adhering to the philosophy of India's Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King became the embodiment of nonviolent resistance in the struggle for African-American civil rights. Authors in this collection discuss King's personality, philosophy, and strategies.
Martin Luther King, Jr.: to the mountaintop by 
Misremembering Dr. King: Revisiting the Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr by
We all know the name. Martin Luther King Jr., the great American civil rights leader. But most people today know relatively little about King, the campaigner against militarism, materialism, and racism--what he called the "giant triplets." Jennifer J. Yanco takes steps to redress this imbalance. "My objective is to highlight the important aspects of Dr. King's work which have all but disappeared from popular memory, so that more of us can really 'see' King." After briefly telling the familiar story of King's civil rights campaigns and accomplishments, she considers the lesser-known concerns that are an essential part of his legacy. Yanco reminds us that King was a strong critic of militarism who argued that the United States should take the lead in promoting peaceful solutions rather than imposing its will through military might; that growing materialism and an ethos of greed was damaging the moral and spiritual health of the country; and that in a nation where racism continues unabated, white Americans need to educate themselves about racism and its history and take their part in the weighty task of dismantling it.
Origins of the Dream: Hughes's Poetry and King's Rhetoric by
Since Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, some scholars have privately suspected that King's "dream" was connected to Langston Hughes's poetry. Drawing on archival materials, including notes, correspondence, and marginalia, W. Jason Miller provides a completely original and compelling argument that Hughes's influence on King's rhetoric was, in fact, evident in more than just the one famous speech. King's staff had been wiretapped by J. Edgar Hoover and suffered accusations of communist influence, so quoting or naming the leader of the Harlem Renaissance--who had his own reputation as a communist--would only have intensified the threats against the civil rights activist. Thus, the link was purposefully veiled through careful allusions in King's orations. In Origins of the Dream, Miller lifts that veil and shows how Hughes's revolutionary poetry became a measurable inflection in King's voice. He contends that by employing Hughes's metaphors in his speeches, King negotiated a political climate that sought to silence the poet's subversive voice. By separating Hughes's identity from his poems, King helped the nation unconsciously embrace the incendiary ideas behind his poetry.
The Radical King by
Every year, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is celebrated as one of the greatest orators in US history, an ambassador for nonviolence who became perhaps the most recognizable leader of the civil rights movement. But after more than forty years, few people appreciate how truly radical he was. Arranged thematically in four parts, The Radical King includes twenty-three selections, curated and introduced by Dr. Cornel West, that illustrate King's revolutionary vision, underscoring his identification with the poor, his unapologetic opposition to the Vietnam War, and his crusade against global imperialism. As West writes, "Although much of America did not know the radical King--and too few know today--the FBI and US government did. They called him 'the most dangerous man in America.' This book unearths a radical King that we can no longer sanitize
Ring Out Freedom!: The Voice of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Making of the Civil Rights Movement by
Martin Luther King, Jr. was more than the civil rights movement's most visible figure, he was its voice. This book describes what went into the creation of that voice. It explores how King used words to define a movement. From a place situated between two cultures of American society, King shaped the language that gave the movement its identity and meaning. Fredrik Sunnemark shows how materialistic, idealistic, and religious ways of explaining the world coexisted in King's speeches and writings. He points out the roles of God, Jesus, the church, and "the Beloved Community" in King's rhetoric. Sunnemark examines King's use of allusions, his strategy of employing different meanings of key ideas to speak to different members of his audience, and the way he put into play international ideas and events to achieve certain rhetorical goals. The book concludes with an analysis of King's development after 1965, examining the roots, content, and consequences of his so-called radicalization.
A Testament of Hope: the essential writings of Martin Luther King, Jr. by 
Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? by 
The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr. by 
Citizen King by
"In exploring the last few years of his life, this ... American experience production traces King's efforts to recast himself by embracing causes beyond the civil rights movement, by becoming a champion of the poor and an outspoken opponent of the war in Vietnam. Tapping into a rich archive of photographs and film footage and using diaries, letters, and eyewitness accounts of fellow activists, friends, journalists, political leaders and law enforcement officials, this film brings fresh insights to King's impossible journey, his charismatic leadership and his truly remarkable impact."
King: go beyond the dream to discover the man by
Forty years after Martin Luther King's assassination, newsman Tom Brokaw, takes viewers through the extraordinary life and times of America's civil rights visionary. Go beyond the legend to portray the man, the questions, the myths, and the relevance of Dr. King's message in today's world.
Martin Luther King: "I Have a Dream" by
I Have A Dream contains King's entire inspirational speech in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963.
Selma by
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s historical struggle to secure voting rights for all people. A dangerous and terrifying campaign that culminated with an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1964.