From the earliest days of the anti-slavery movement, Black religious leaders have infused the fight for civil rights with spirituality.
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Articles on Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK)
Displaying 41 - 60 of 148 articles
Protests over police violence and white supremacy have erupted in almost 600 US cities. A historian of black social movements says what’s happened after George Floyd’s death is unprecedented.
That George Floyd died at the hands of four police officers is uncontested, but interpretations of his death and its aftermath differ greatly. The result is two starkly opposed narratives.
By filming everyday acts of racism, today’s Black Lives Matters activists are using an old strategy in a new media age.
Understanding how unrest informed both early Christianity and the foundational stories of the United States can serve as a guide in this current period of turmoil.
Sweeping changes were possible in the past because black leaders were willing to risk their lives and call out problems before they became crises.
African Americans have long taken to the streets to protest against racial injustice. While some progress has been made, police violence remains an ever-present reality.
Canada is at a critical crossroads. The Wet’suwet’en conflict brings us to a deciding moment in Canada, one that will shape the future of the nation.
In a sermon two weeks after MLK’s funeral, civil rights leader, Wyatt Tee Walker, urged young seminarians to be hopeful and take action for making change happen. His sermon has valuable lessons today.
Schools and colleges can teach political hope that can help citizens make better choices.
A long heritage of black preachers who played an important role for enslaved people shaped Martin Luther King Jr.’s moral and ethical vision.
Many historians and other scholars say what Americans have traditionally learned about the complex period that followed the Civil War falls short of what we should know.
Mahatma Gandhi is an iconic figure for the world. Richard Barlett Gregg helped introduce him to Americans.
Although Gandhi is best known for expelling the British from India and inspiring the likes of King and Mandela, he also wrote a lot about the behavior of good business leaders.
Will there ever be an electronic equivalent of Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’ or Émile Zola’s ‘J’Accuse!’?
The 2020 US election could set a record for ugliness and division. Two previous elections provide important context for what that division can mean.
Municipal swimming pools flourished in the 20th century. But too often, their success was based on the exclusion of African Americans.
Dorothy Cotton never publicly spoke about her intimate relationship with King. But no woman – not even King’s wife – was closer to the civil rights icon during the last years of his life.
King was once thought of as a saint beyond reproach. It eventually emerged that he was a womanizer. But we now have to ask the unthinkable: Did King enable abuse?
Publication was justified of information from the FBI that Martin Luther King Jr. witnessed and celebrated a woman’s rape, writes a historian, who warns the FBI had long wanted to destroy King.
Top contributors
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Adjunct professor of Justice, Law and Criminology, American University School of Public Affairs
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Professor of English, North Carolina State University
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Professor of American History, University of Colorado Colorado Springs
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Professor of Geography and Senior Research Associate in the Rock Ethics Institute, Penn State
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Professor of Homiletics, Howard University
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John Rennie Short is a Friend of The Conversation.
Professor Emeritus of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
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Sharon D. Wright Austin is a Friend of The Conversation.
Professor of Political Science, University of Florida
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Bizot Family Professor of History, University of Memphis
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Professor in American Studies, Northumbria University, Newcastle
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Assistant Professor of Intellectual Heritage, Temple University
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Associate Professor of Africana Studies and History, Bowdoin College
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Lecturer of Labor Studies, University of California, Los Angeles
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Professor of History, University of Dayton
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PhD Candidate in History, University of Leeds
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Managing Director of the McCourtney Institute of Democracy, Associate Research Professor, Political Science, Co-host of Democracy Works Podcast, Penn State
