Living the Dream: The Contested History of Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Fleming, Daniel T.

ISBN 10: 1469667819 / ISBN 13: 9781469667812

Published by The University of North Carolina Press (edition First Edition), 2022

The item might be beaten up but readable. May contain markings or highlighting, as well as stains, bent corners, or any other major defect, but the text is not obscured in any way. Seller Inventory # 1469667819-7-1

Synopsis:

Living the Dream tells the history behind the establishment of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the battle over King's legacy that continued through the decades that followed. Creating the first national holiday to honor an African American was a formidable achievement and an act of resistance against conservative and segregationist opposition.

Congressional efforts to commemorate King began shortly after his assassination. The ensuing political battles slowed the progress of granting him a namesake holiday and crucially defined how his legacy would be received. Though Coretta Scott King's mission to honor her husband's commitment to nonviolence was upheld, conservative politicians sought to use the holiday to advance a whitewashed, nationalistic, and even reactionary vision of King's life and thought. This book reveals the lengths that activists had to go to elevate an African American man to the pantheon of national heroes, how conservatives took advantage of the commemoration to bend the arc of King's legacy toward something he never would have expected, and how grassroots causes, unions, and antiwar demonstrators continued to try to claim this sanctified day as their own.

About the Author: Daniel T. Fleming is lecturer at the University of New South Wales and an Honorary Post-Doctoral Fellow at Macquarie University.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Living the Dream: The Contested History of ...
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press (edition First Edition)
Publication Date: 2022
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Fair
Edition: First Edition.