Martin Luther King Jr. Day (January 2019)

[Mariah Roze]

January Bonus Read- Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Please suggest book that relate to Martin Luther King Jr. or Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

You have till 12/13/2018

[Raymond]

I have three recommendations that I read this year. I wish we could read them all.

A collection of his most famous sermons.

This book covers three years of King's life when he went to seminary, years before the Civil Rights Movement.

A memoir by King's wife Coretta, who was pivotal in making Martin Luther King Jr. Day a public holiday.

[Mariah Roze]

I was messaged this suggestion: Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin
by Hampton Sides
On April 23, 1967, Prisoner #416J, an inmate at the notorious Missouri State Penitentiary, escaped in a breadbox. Fashioning himself Eric Galt, this nondescript thief and con man—whose real name was James Earl Ray—drifted through the South, into Mexico, and then Los Angeles, where he was galvanized by George Wallace’s racist presidential campaign.

On February 1, 1968, two Memphis garbage men were crushed to death in their hydraulic truck, provoking the exclusively African American workforce to go on strike. Hoping to resuscitate his faltering crusade, King joined the sanitation workers’ cause, but their march down Beale Street, the historic avenue of the blues, turned violent. Humiliated, King fatefully vowed to return to Memphis in April.

With relentless storytelling drive, Sides follows Galt and King as they crisscross the country, one stalking the other, until the crushing moment at the Lorraine Motel when the drifter catches up with his prey. Against the backdrop of the resulting nationwide riots and the pathos of King’s funeral, Sides gives us a riveting cross-cut narrative of the assassin’s flight and the sixty-five-day search that led investigators to Canada, Portugal, and England—a massive manhunt ironically led by Hoover’s FBI.

[Paul]

How about March: Book One?

[Sarah]

Oh yeah, love all the "March" graphic novels.

[Deneidra]

Parting the Waters: Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement 1954-63

[Mariah Roze]

This was messaged to me:

The Last Blues Preacher, is a biography on Chicago civil rights hero and gospel singer Rev. Clay Evans.

Rev. Clay Evans, now 93, was a close friend of Martin Luther King, Jr. and helped Dr. King launch the Chicago Freedom Movement in the city in 1966. Rev. Evans was friends with Aretha Franklin, Muhammad Ali, Nelson Mandela, Quincy Jones, and Sam Cooke, to name a few.

I focus one of my chapters on the bitter drama that unfolded when Rev. Evans refused to withdraw his support of Dr. King after city leaders in Chicago refused to welcome King and his civil rights demonstrations. At one point, Rev. Evans was held at gunpoint after a meeting to decide whether or not the local ministers would support Dr. King in Chicago!

I conducted in-person interviews with Rev. Jesse Jackson, former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, and Min. Louis Farrakhan. Thus, The Last Blues Preacher offers stories and insights about Dr. King that other books don't provide. I thought it would be worth mentioning that as you consider the book for January.

[ALICIA]

The Last Blues Preacher author Zach Mills did a great job presenting the bibliography of Rev. Clay Evans. I would recommend this book.

Alicia

[Chris]

Bravo Dr. Mills for this wonderful book, The Last Blues Preacher. Outstanding work here.
Chris

[kari]

There is a book called Dear Martin which kind of explores whether his non-violent protest still works today. Could be an interesting read. It is fiction, and YA, not sure if that is what anyone wants to read, but it looked interesting to me.

[La Tonya]

Death of a King: The Real Story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Final Year