The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
1998
Rating: 4 out of 5
The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. is, as you would expect, a really great book. Although King never per se wrote his own biography, the editor of this volume has taken King's introspective writings and put them in chronological order, every once in a while adding in parts of King's speeches from whatever period is being discussed. Although it does not give a lot of person information about King, it does end up being a pretty amazing, first hand experiential account of the Civil Rights Movement.
I had to read this, of course, while thinking somewhat on the struggle we're currently going through over lesbian and gay rights in the US. After reading this, I am more and more convinced of the deep differences between the two struggles, and more and more convinced of the eerie similarities. I won't go too deeply into it here, but reading King's own words really brought home how blatant the racism and bigotry was 40 years ago. It makes me think about how much more camouflaged racism is now, the same for all kinds of bigotry. While that is certainly an advance, it also seems to make it that much harder to fight against in our time.
It was also extremely inspiring to read directly from King about his inspiration by Gandhi and non-violence, and his deep commitment to nonviolence. I really wish he would have written more about his trip to India. It's really inspired me to think more deeply about how nonviolent action could form a part of modern movement building.
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