Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration: The Annual Celebration
Dr. Peniel E. Joseph author of “The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr” will be interviewed by Dr. Lerone A. Martin.
The commemoration will be virtual this year due to COVIV-19 distancing restrictions. Registration is not required. The program is free and open to everyone.
Dr. Peniel E. Joseph is the author of the dual biography of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., The Sword and the Shield (Basic Books, 2020). “To most Americans, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. represent contrasting ideals: self-defense vs. nonviolence, black power vs. civil rights, the sword vs. the shield. The struggle for black freedom is wrought with the same contrasts. While nonviolent direct action is remembered as an unassailable part of American democracy, the movement's militancy is either vilified or erased outright. In The Sword and the Shield, Peniel E. Joseph upends these misconceptions and reveals a nuanced portrait of two men who, despite markedly different backgrounds, inspired and pushed each other throughout their adult lives…” [from the book cover]
Joseph is the Barbara Jordan Chair in Political Values and Ethics at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and professor of history and the Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a frequent national commentator on issues of race, civil rights, and democracy and a contributing opinion writer for CNN.com. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, NPR, CNN, MSNBC, PBS NewsHour, and C-SPAN. Joseph is the author and editor of six books on African American history, including Dark Days, Bright Nights: from Black Power to Barack Obama (BasicCivitas, 2010) and the award-winning Waiting ‘til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America (Henry Holt and Co., 2006).
Dr. Lerone A. Martin is Director of the Washington University American Culture Studies Program and Associate Professor of Religion and Politics, American Culture Studies, and African and African-American Studies. His commentary and writing have appeared in media outlets such as the NBC Today Show, CNN, New York Times, Religion Dispatches, Charisma, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Martin is the author of the award-winning Preaching on Wax: The Phonograph and the Making of Modern African American Religion (New York University Press, 2014) and is currently writing a book on the relationship between religion, the FBI, and national security in American history, set to be published by Princeton University Press.
For more information contact: Rudolph Clay, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration Committee chair. Click here for link to webinar.
The commemoration is organized by the 2020-21 Washington University Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Committee:
Brenda Archie (Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering)
Jacqueline Carter (Olin Business School)
Rudolph Clay Jr. (University Libraries)
Phyllis Jackson (Campus Life)
Hope Young (Campus Life)
For additional information visit: https://sites.wustl.edu/mlkcommemoration