Curated by Assistant Dean for the Graduate School Rodney Cohen and Librarian Allyson Mower

A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.
Edited by Carson Clayborne

This title is derived from a sermon King delivered serval times (1962, 1967) but was most likely first given in 1958.  An edited piece, this book presents the reader with eleven sermons by Martin Luther King from 1954 – 1968. There are many books about King, and his life’s work, but this is a must read, in that, it helps one to realize the breadth and depth of King’s philosophy of truth, justice and equality thru theology. Many know MLK for having “A Dream” or as a Civil Rights activist, but King reminds us that, “before I was a civil rights leader, I was a preacher of the gospel.” A Knock at Midnight also highlights the unique legacy that produced an MLK.  Michael King as he was known as a young child was a product of a great grandfather, grandfather and father of the gospel.

The Long Shadow of Little Rock: A Memoir
By Daisy Bates

The Long Shadow of Little Rock: A Memoir, originally published in 1962, opens with a forward by former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and she states that, “this is a book which I hope will be read by every American.”  The Long Shadow is a Memoir about Arkansas Civil Rights Activist Daisy Bates who was a mentor and guide to the famed ‘Little Rock 9,’ a group of young African American (Negro) students seeking to integrate the all-white Central High School in Little Rock Arkansas. This historical event would come to be known as the ‘Little Rock School Crisis of 1957.’ In her memoir, 16 chapters provide an insight into her upbringing in the segregated South and how it would shape her zeal to fight for equal rights and justice. She provides a great narrative of the characters, events and dog whistles which created the climate for the ‘long shadow’ of Little Rock, impacting the city and the nine black students ranging from the ages of 14 – 17.

Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement
By John Lewis

Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement (1998) is an account of Civil Rights leader and former US Congressman John Lewis and his hands on experience of the Movement.  A native of rural Alabama, Lewis, would go on to attend historically black Fisk University in Nashville. In 1957, Lewis would reflect on Martin Luther King’s prophetic theology of justice and decide to get in “good trouble” and engage the system of segregation.  Along with other student activists such as Diane Nash and James Bevel, Lewis and other students would launch a monumental lunch counter sit-in. Later in life John Lewis would continue serving the country toward social justice as a US Congressman from 1986 – 2020.

Revolution of Conscience: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Philosophy of Nonviolence
By Greg Moses

Greg Moses provides a robust examination of King’s logic of non-violence as a philosophical system rooted in African American philosophy and thought, in addition to a practice of direct action.

Ready from Within: Septima Clark & the Civil Rights Movement, A First Person Narrative
Edited by Cynthia Stokes Brown

Septima Clark started Citizenship Education Schools to provide literacy training and basic rights education and worked closely with Dr. King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. As a longtime teacher, educator, and activist (she was fired from her job in South Carolina in 1956 for being a member of the NAACP), this book richly conveys her story about her work to eliminate illiteracy across the Deep South.

The Chicago Freedom Movement: Martin Luther King Jr. and Civil Rights Activism in the North
By James Ralph

This edited volume seeks to reinterpret what most histories of the civil rights movement consider a failure to implement nonviolent direct action in Chicago. It offers multi-authored chapters and a compelling epilogue by a contemporary non-violence practitioner trained by the chief organizer of the Chicago Freedom Movement.