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Martin Luther King Day

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Book cover of "Living the Dream" by Daniel T. Fleming.

Fighting to Desegregate the American Calendar

As a versatile but complex hero, King led a life open to interpretation by politicians and activists of all types who fiercely debated his legacy.
by Daniel T. Fleming, Brock Schnoke via UNC Press Blog on January 15, 2024
Rally honoring Martin Luther King Jr., Central Park, New York City, 1968

A Case of the Mondays

The beginning of the fight for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
by Daniel T. Fleming via Lapham’s Quarterly on June 29, 2022
MLK at microphone

Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King

The King holiday is more than a time for reflection. It’s really a time for provocation.
by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor via The Daily Princetonian on January 17, 2022
Martin Luther King Jr. at a podium.
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Colleges’ Reluctant Embrace of MLK Day

The push for a national Martin Luther King holiday prompted a fierce political tug-of-war, on campus and off.
by Cynthia R. Greenlee, Francesca Polletta, Thomas J. Shields via JSTOR Daily on January 20, 2019
Ronald Reagan signing MLK Day legislation on November 2, 1983 / Courtesy the U.S. National Archives.

Reagan Used MLK Day to Undermine Racial Justice

Reagan never really believed that Martin Luther King, Jr., deserved a holiday.
by Justin Gomer, Christopher F. Petrella via Boston Review on January 15, 2017
A statue of Martin Luther King Jr. stands larger than life in the center of the frame; two small figures view it in the foreground

The Struggle for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Memory

How political misappropriations of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy fuel right-wing movements.
by Hajar Yazdiha via Contexts Magazine on January 15, 2024
Tourists taking photos at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
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Martin Luther King Jr. and the Coca Cola Strategy: Selling King’s Dream to the World

Martin Luther King’s words are available publicly — for a price.
by Daniel T. Fleming via Made By History on January 16, 2023
MLK receiving an honorary degree from the Free University, Amsterdam, October 20, 1956.

The International MLK

“The social revolution which is taking place in this country is not an isolated, detached phenomenon. It is part of a worldwide revolution that is taking place.”
by Robert Greene II via Black Perspectives on January 17, 2022
Billboard claiming MLK was a Republican

The Uses and Abuses of the Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Politics have diluted King's dream.
by Andre E. Key via Religion Dispatches on January 13, 2022
Screen capture of Martin Luther King Jr. giving a press conference.

What Martin Luther King Jr. Said About the Filibuster: ‘A Minority of Misguided Senators’

The context in which King shared his views on the filibuster is the same one in which the Senate now finds itself: amid battles over voting rights legislation.
by Gillian Brockell via Retropolis on January 4, 2022
Martin Luther King Jr. speaking into news microphones.

MLK Warned Us of the Well-Intentioned Liberal

Dr. King did not compromise on racial justice. Neither should we.
by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, William J. Barber II via The Nation on January 18, 2019

Five Decades of White Backlash

President Trump is the embodiment of over 50 years of resistance to the policies Martin Luther King Jr. fought to enact.
by Vann R. Newkirk II via The Atlantic on January 15, 2018
Reagan signing the bill establishing Martin Luther King Day.

The Sanitizing of Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks

On the uses and abuses of civil rights heroes.
by Jeanne Theoharis, Jeremy Scahill via The Intercept on October 8, 2017
A flag depicting a hand pulling back the American flag to reveal a Confederate flag.

Patriotic Education and the End of History

Or, a brief history of today's erasure of history.
by Jeff Sharlet via Scenes from a Slow Civil War on January 30, 2025
Martin Luther King Jr. giving a speech.
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The Problem With Comparing Today's Activists to MLK

Media coverage of the civil rights movement is a reminder that the deification of King has skewed public memory.
by Hajar Yazdiha via Made By History on January 15, 2024
Martin Luther King, Jr. with hands raised in front of bookshelf

Martin Luther King, Critical Race Theorist

Republicans may claim otherwise, but the civil rights hero was no color-blind conservative.
by Sam Hoadley-Brill via The Nation on January 15, 2024
Jonathan Big next to cover of "King: A Life."

Restoring the Real, Radical Martin Luther King Jr. in “King: A Life”

A new biography of King emerges at a "critical juncture" for his legacy.
by Jonathan Eig, Steve Nathans-Kelly via Chicago Review of Books on May 23, 2023
Rev. Ralph Abernathy and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. lead a column of demonstrators as they attempt to march on Birmingham, Ala., city hall April 12, 1963. (AP Photo/Horace Cort)

King Was A Critical Race Theorist Before There Was a Name For It

When states ban antiracism history from schools, they're disavowing what King stood for.
by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw via Los Angeles Times on January 17, 2022

It’s Time We Celebrate Ella Baker Day

Honoring Baker alongside Martin Luther King would highlight the long and patient work of building a social movement.
by Mark Engler via The Nation on January 17, 2020
Martin Luther King Jr. giving a speech.

Martin Luther King and the 'Polite’ Racism of White Liberals

Many of King’s words about allies ring true today.
by Jeanne Theoharis via Washington Post on January 17, 2020

Martin Luther King Jr. and the Meaning of Emancipation

He was a revolutionary, if one committed to nonviolence. But nonviolence does not exhaust his philosophy.
by Asad Haider via n+1 on January 18, 2019

MLK: What We Lost

50 years after King's death, his image has been transformed and stripped of its radicalism.
by Annette Gordon-Reed via New York Review of Books on October 18, 2018

Martin Luther King Jr.: 50 Years Later

Activists today are taking up Dr. King’s mantle and reviving the Poor People’s Campaign.
by Michael K. Honey via The Nation on April 3, 2018
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at podium giving "I Have A Dream" speech.

Martin Luther King Jr. Had a Much More Radical Message than a Dream of Racial Brotherhood

King Jr., remembered today for his non-violent resistance, was a radical reformer who called for fundamental redistribution of economic power and resources.
by Paul Harvey via The Conversation on March 30, 2018

Restoring King

There is no figure in recent American history whose memory is more distorted than Martin Luther King Jr.
by Thomas J. Sugrue via Jacobin on January 16, 2018

Seeing Martin Luther King as a Human Being

King should be appreciated in his full complexity.
by Nathan J. Robinson via Current Affairs on January 15, 2018

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