Martin Luther King Jr

New releases focused on Martin Luther King Jr and his impact on the US Civil Rights movement.

Waking from the Dream: the struggle for civil rights in the shadow of Martin Luther King (M) by David L. Chappell

"In this arresting and groundbreaking account, David L. Chappell reveals that, far from coming to an abrupt end with King’s murder, the civil rights movement entered a new phase. It both grew and splintered. These were years when decisive, historic victories were no longer within reach—the movement’s achievements were instead hard-won, and their meanings unsettled. From the fight to pass the Fair Housing Act in 1968, to debates over unity and leadership at the National Black Political Conventions, to the campaign for full-employment legislation, to the surprising enactment of the Martin Luther King holiday, to Jesse Jackson’s quixotic presidential campaigns, veterans of the movement struggled to rally around common goals."

The King Years: historic moments in the civil rights movement (M)
by Taylor Branch

"In this brief book, Pulitzer Prize-winner Branch draws on his Parting the Waters (1989), Pillar of Fire (1998), and At Canaan's Edge (2006) to recall the pivotal moments of the civil rights struggle. He focuses on 18 historical turning points... Each turning point is treated in a separate chapter that begins with a brief historical context that links them together. Photographs enhance this sweeping review of the civil rights movement and King's relationships with several major figures, including J. Edgar Hoover, John and Robert Kennedy, and President Johnson, as the movement broadened its scope from civil rights to human rights" - Booklist

Martin's Dream: my journey and the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.: a memoir (M) by Clayborne Carson

"On August 28, 1963 hundreds of thousands of demonstrators flocked to the nation’s capital for the  March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. It was Clayborne Carson’s first demonstration. A nineteen year old black student from a working-class family in New Mexico, Carson hitched a ride to Washington. Unsure how he would return home, he was nonetheless certain that he wanted to connect with the youthful protesters and community organizers who spearheaded the freedom struggle. Decades later, Coretta Scott King selected Dr. Carson—then a history professor at Stanford University-- to edit the papers of her late husband."

Gospel of Freedom: Martin Luther King, Jr.'s letter from Birmingham Jail and the struggle that changed a nation (M)
by Jonathan Rieder

"I am in Birmingham because injustice is here," declared Martin Luther King, Jr. He had come to that city of racist terror convinced that massive protest could topple Jim Crow. But the insurgency faltered. To revive it, King made a sacrificial act on Good Friday, April 12, 1963: he was arrested. Alone in his cell, reading a newspaper, he found a statement from eight "moderate" clergymen who branded the protests extremist and "untimely." King drafted a furious rebuttal that emerged as the "Letter from Birmingham Jail" -- a work that would take its place among the masterpieces of American moral argument alongside those of Thoreau and Lincoln. His insistence on the urgency of "Freedom Now" would inspire not just the marchers of Birmingham and Selma, but peaceful insurgents from Tiananmen to Tahrir Squares. Scholar Jonathan Rieder delves deeper than anyone before into the Letter..."


King: a filmed record-- Montgomery to Memphis DVD (M)

"King documents the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr. and his non-violent campaign for racial equality and justice from 1955-1968. Nothing is contrived and there is no narration, only the stirring words of Dr. King's memorable sermons and speeches. The film is history, unvarnished and unretouched, as recorded by newsreel and television camera of the period ... The live action sequences are linked by a series of short dramatic readings." (2 disc set - originally produced as a motion picture in 1970)