One year after Charlottesville’s white supremacist march, US racism is seen primarily as a Southern-grown problem. But Jim Crow laws started in the North, which has a long history of systemic racism.
Academic rigour, journalistic flair
Articles on Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK)
Displaying 81 - 100 of 148 articles
Barack Obama is delivering the Nelson Mandela lecture in a changing world dominated by the often outrageous utterances of his successor, US President Donald Trump.
Americans have debated what it means to be Christian in politics throughout their history. Those debates continue today.
The anti-Vietnam War efforts of Yale University chaplain William Sloane Coffin Jr. and other church leaders alienated many Protestant Americans – with lasting repercussions.
Where people live in the US is still often influenced by racial discrimination. Is the federal government doing enough to carry out the vision of the civil rights era legislation?
“What’s Going On” remains relevant today. Even now its plaintive lyrics speak eloquently about a post-9/11 world that’s upside down.
When activists have sought to rename main thoroughfares that don’t serve just primarily black neighborhoods, they have faced many challenges.
King argued for a national guaranteed income that would keep people out of poverty. Fifty years later, the Poor People’s Campaign still resonates.
King Jr., remembered today mainly for his non violent resistance, was a radical reformer who called for a fundamental redistribution of economic power and resources .
In order to avoid being labeled a communist sympathizer, King needed to publicly distance himself from the controversial poet. Privately, King found ways to channel Hughes’ prose.
Fifty years ago Elvis Presley sang a tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr: “If I Can Dream.” English professor Robert Morrison goes back to that moment and looks at the lyrics written in honour of MLK.
A minority politics scholar assesses black progress 52 years after MLK’s death based on poverty, jobs and wealth. ‘In some ways,’ she concludes, ‘we’ve barely budged as a people.’
An Indian scholar makes the case that caste explains inequality in America better than race and class.
In a climate of Trumpism, where racism and violence are daily occurrences, the need to reflect on our racialized children and our anti-racism parenting is critical – on MLK Day and every day.
King led one of the most successful resistance movements in American history. A scholar explains King’s strategies in resistance.
African-American minister, theologian and mystic, Howard Thurman, left a profound influence on Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision of love was not sentimental. It demanded that individuals tell their oppressors what they were doing was wrong.
“The Magnificent Seven” was a slice of daily life, a class struggle song framed by the sound of funk and the emergent hip-hop in New York.
For the African-American community, Kwanzaa is not just any “Black holiday. ” It is a recognition that knowledge of Black history is worthwhile.
Here are five great book recommendations for teens that promote critical thinking, authentic voices, diversity and good conversations.
Top contributors
-
Adjunct professor of Justice, Law and Criminology, American University School of Public Affairs
-
Professor of English, North Carolina State University
-
Professor of American History, University of Colorado Colorado Springs
-
Professor of Geography and Senior Research Associate in the Rock Ethics Institute, Penn State
-
Professor of Homiletics, Howard University
-
John Rennie Short is a Friend of The Conversation.
Professor Emeritus of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
-
Sharon D. Wright Austin is a Friend of The Conversation.
Professor of Political Science, University of Florida
-
Bizot Family Professor of History, University of Memphis
-
Professor in American Studies, Northumbria University, Newcastle
-
Assistant Professor of Intellectual Heritage, Temple University
-
Associate Professor of Africana Studies and History, Bowdoin College
-
Lecturer of Labor Studies, University of California, Los Angeles
-
Professor of History, University of Dayton
-
PhD Candidate in History, University of Leeds
-
Managing Director of the McCourtney Institute of Democracy, Associate Research Professor, Political Science, Co-host of Democracy Works Podcast, Penn State
