I can't recommend Taylor Branch's biography of King highly enough. It restores to view all the deep and daily complexities of the problems faced by the civil rights movement, so it is possible to understand King's place in it. The bland bromides that get repeated every January have reduced that vast tumultuous history to the size of a pea.
― Respectfully Yours, (Aimless), Tuesday, 12 January 2021 19:47 (three years ago) link
Seconded. All three volumes are amazing and eye-opening. My one and only criticism is that, for a biography which is in a way about the entire civil rights movement as it is about King himself, it's very frustrating that the third volume ends abruptly with his assassination without going into any of the immediate fallout (about which I would highly recommend Clay Risen's A Nation on Fire, which is entirely focused on the reactions to the assassination in the days and weeks and months following).
― Meat Chew All the Way (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 12 January 2021 19:53 (three years ago) link
And of course I posted pretty much exactly that two years ago upthread. Bears repeating, though.
― Meat Chew All the Way (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 12 January 2021 19:54 (three years ago) link
Thirded, though I admit my attention wandered during the lengthy sections regarding the internal schisms within the Nation of Islam, though I understand it was necessary background to the Malcom X chapters in the second volume.
― blatherskite, Tuesday, 12 January 2021 20:19 (three years ago) link
― Boring United Methodist Church (Boring, Maryland), Tuesday, 12 January 2021 20:30 (three years ago) link
Kinda blows my mind that he would only be in his 90s now, I don’t know why.Great revive
― brimstead, Saturday, 13 January 2024 00:14 (three months ago) link
I heard today that he hid his cigarette smoking from his children
― Andy the Grasshopper, Saturday, 13 January 2024 00:18 (three months ago) link
it was just nice to hear something simple and human about a figure that's almost become godlike here in the U.S.
― Andy the Grasshopper, Saturday, 13 January 2024 00:19 (three months ago) link
relatable too
― Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Saturday, 13 January 2024 00:25 (three months ago) link
A few years ago we went and did kind of the MLK self-guided tour in Atlanta — the neighborhood where he grew up, his church, and of course his and Coretta’s tomb. It was edifying, helped make him more real, provided context.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Saturday, 13 January 2024 02:35 (three months ago) link
that sounds v cool
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 13 January 2024 03:06 (three months ago) link
The whole area is a declared national historical park, and the National Park Service has done a good job with informational kiosks etc.
https://www.nps.gov/malu/index.htm
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Saturday, 13 January 2024 15:27 (three months ago) link
If you’re in/near Memphis, the National Civil Rights Museum (with tour) is highly recommended.
I went last spring when I was in the city for a wedding.
― Marten Broadcloak, mild-mannered GOP congressman (Raymond Cummings), Saturday, 13 January 2024 16:07 (three months ago) link
Yes, that’s also excellent. I haven’t been in years, I’m sure they’ve changed some things, need to go back.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Saturday, 13 January 2024 17:05 (three months ago) link