[Note: As regular readers of this blog know, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., remains one of my heroes, and I try to recognize Dr. King and his accomplishments annually, usually around his national holiday. Over the past few years, I’ve broadened my approach to Dr. King’s contributions to American history (e.g., here and here) Yet, I keep coming back to King’s role as the face and the voice of the Modern Civil Rights Movement in the United States.
So, this is another of those early posts, delving into my lifelong interest in the career of Dr. King, how I first learned about him, as a young boy growing up in an industrial suburb of Baltimore, Maryland. This year, I want to go back to the beginning, reprinting a post that first appeared in 2012, and again in 2015. Over the years, it has been one of the most popular posts at “Retired But Not Shy,” as well as my personal favorite. I hope you’ll enjoy it!]
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For those interested in reading more of my reflections on history, here are links to my books on the subject:
Rancorous Enmities and Blind Partialities: Parties and Factions in Georgia, 1807-1845 (University Press of America, 2015)
In Pursuit of Dead Georgians: One Historian’s Excursions into the History of His Adopted State (iUniverse, 2015)
Retired But Not Shy 
George: always good to hear from you … and your online posts are usually right on target! –annie williams (in sunny Kansas)
Thanks, as always, for your thoughtful comments on my posts. I couldn’t do them without support from you, and other folks like you. Thanks again!
George
Hello George. I’m sorry that I missed your 2010 account of “Two books I wish I’d read while I was still teaching civil rights”; but I just discovered and read it yesterday. Thanks for your interest and comments. Dr. Stanberry and I acknowledge that “Stealth Reconstruction” is not a comprehensive treatment of the Civil Rights Movement; however, we are proud to have had the opportunity to make this contribution based on our academic work and practical experience. We think it plugs an important gap in the literature that most historians, political scientists, and politicians seem reluctant or unable to address. Thanks again for your efforts over the years; and I hope that we will be able to visit again before too long.