Martin Luther King Jr.

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• 7/26/2020
  

  Can Martin Luther King’s Spiritual Vision Kindle a New Progressivism?

  by Walter G. Moss

  Advocates for a broader social democratic political agenda should consider the spiritual roots of Martin Luther King's activism, which have historically engaged a broad range of political views to reform movements. 

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• SOURCE: TomDispatch
  6/23/2020
  

  Martin Luther King’s Giant Triplets of Injustice

  by Andrew Bacevich

  Without addressing the fundamental evils of economic inequality and militarism American society will continue to fail to realize the promise of racial equality, as Martin Luther King warned in his 1967 speech at Riverside Church. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  6/17/2020
  

  The GOP Missed Its Chance To Embrace Martin Luther King Jr.

  by Tim Galsworthy

  Invoking a sanitized and selective memory of Dr. King enables politicians and voters to trumpet order and exhibit faux outrage at disorder, rather than face up to endemic racial inequalities.

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• SOURCE: American Songwriter
  6/10/2020
  

  On the Saddest Song Ever Written, “Why (The King of Love is Dead)”

  Performed with love and sorrow by Nina Simone only days after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., it sadly resonates today as much as ever.

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• SOURCE: Black Perspectives
  6/8/2020
  

  Using MLK to Quell Outrage Distorts His Legacy

  by Jeanne Theoharis

  King has much to say about our contemporary moment, about the persistence of police abuse and the power of disruption, which may account, at least partly, for why this aspect of his politics is considerably less recognized.

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  6/1/2020
  

  What Would Martin Luther King Jr. Say About The Current Civil Unrest?

  by Peniel Joseph

  Many commentators who now invoke Martin Luther King Jr. to condemn angry protesters fail to grasp that King insisted peace and order could not be achieved without addressing deep racial and economic inequality in American society.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  4/24/2020
  

  Martin Luther King Jr. Predicted This Moment

  by Gene Sperling

  Today, we are forced to confront the dissonance between our nation’s labeling of workers as “essential” and “heroes” and their limited wages, benefits and ability to organize.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  4/14/2020
  

  What Street Names Say About Us

  A geographer who studies the civil rights movement told Deirdre Mask, “We have attached the name of one of the most famous civil rights leaders of our time to the streets that speak to the very need to continue the civil rights movement.”

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• SOURCE: Time
  1/17/20
  

  Was Martin Luther King Jr. a Republican or a Democrat? The Answer Is Complicated

  by Olivia B. Waxman

  The civil-rights leader’s personal political party affiliation remains a mystery.

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  1/20/20
  

  ‘To India I come as a pilgrim’: Martin Luther King Jr.’s remarkable trip to honor his hero

  by Gillian Brockell

  King first learned about Gandhi as a seminary student in 1949, just a year after Gandhi had been assassinated. He soon wrote about Gandhi in his schoolwork as a person who “greatly reveal[s] the working of the Spirit of God.”

• 
• 10/27/19
  

  “The Uplift of All” Through Nonviolent Direct Action

  by Michael Honey

  Nonviolence struggle links you backward and forward to generations of people who have changed the world and provides a personal link to others that can sustain a life of activism.

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• SOURCE: Smithsonian Magazine
  9/27/19
  

  Listen to the Stories of Alabama’s Civil Rights Sites

  A new interactive project seeks to preserve oral testimonies connected to 20 historic locations.

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• SOURCE: Intelligencer
  6/30/2019
  

  Two MLK Scholars Discuss Explosive, Disputed FBI Files on the Civil-Rights Icon

  Professor Michael Honey, who teaches civil-rights history at the University of Washington Tacoma, took strong issue with historian and former University of Pittsburgh professor David Garrow’s framing of the newly discovered file.

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• SOURCE: Atlantic Journal-Constitution
  6/7/19
  

  Enhancing the historical record is scholars’ foremost task

  by David Garrow

  David Garrow defends his recent controversial article about Martin Luther King, Jr. 

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• SOURCE: The Bulwark
  5/30/19
  

  What Are We Supposed to Think of Martin Luther King Jr. Now?

  by Rod Radosh

  Some thought Garrow should keep his discoveries under wraps, but it is the job of the historian to tell the truth. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Guardian
  6/8/19
  

  A historian's claims about Martin Luther King are shocking – and irresponsible

  by Donna Murch

  A recent essay claims the civil rights leader was present during a rape, but the evidence is shaky and there’s reason to be skeptical.

• 
• SOURCE: Wall Street Journal
  6/3/2019
  

  About the FBI’s Spying

  by William McGurn

  What’s the difference between surveillance of Carter Page and Martin Luther King?

• 
• SOURCE: NY Times
  6/4/19
  

  David Garrow's Martin Luther King Biography Was a Classic. His Latest King Piece Is Causing a Furor.

  David Garrow found F.B.I. documents alleging King stood by during a rape. But some scholars question whether to trust records created as part of a smear campaign.

• 
• 6/4/19
  

  How Should Historians Respond to David Garrow's Article on Martin Luther King, Jr.?

  by Andrea S. Johnson

  How can and should historians address the history of gender and sexuality when it intersects with the histories of the civil rights movement, gender, American religion, and the development of the surveillance state?

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• SOURCE: Atlantic Journal-Constitution
  5/31/19
  

  Biographer Garrow pens explosive report on Martin Luther King Jr.

  The FBI allegations chronicled by Garrow could trigger a new examination of the civil rights hero’s personal life.