Books for Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Many, many books have been written about the three men mentioned in the subtitle of this book, but very few have dug into the women who helped share them. In this book, Tubbs traces the parallel lives of Alberta King, Louise Little, and Berdis Baldwin – women who lived through some of the greatest changes in our nation’s history. It’s also a celebration of Black motherhood, and all of the anxiety that comes with sending Black men into the world. I liked this one a lot!

Just weeks before the 1960 presidential election, King was arrested at a sit-in at a department store in Atlanta, leading to the first night King ever spent in jail. It was a harrowing moment, as the 31-year-old was transferred, at night, to a notorious state prison overseen by violent white guards. Over the next nine days, King’s imprisonment had an intense impact on the election… as well as galvanized three members of the Kennedy campaign to act, both to free King and help bring electoral victory.

This dual biography explores the ways the philosophies of Malcolm X and King have been pitted against each other as opposites – self-defense vs. nonviolence or Black power vs. civil rights – and why that framing is wrong. Instead, he argues that although the two men had some differences, they spent much of their lives inspiring and pushing each other in the movement for civil rights. I love books that come at familiar topics in new ways, so this one sounds great.

My new fascination reminded me of a book from several years ago, Thinking Inside the Box: Adventures with Crosswords and the Puzzling People Who Can’t Live Without Them by Adrienne Raphel. In the book, Raphel documents the history of the crossword puzzle, from the invention “practically by accident” in 1913 to contemporary puzzlers like those who compete in the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. There’s some real nerdy stuff happening around here!