"An elegant and timely history of how black intellectuals have long made a case for the intersections between class and race."—The Nation
"A meticulously researched look into the development of King’s thought. . . . Laurent’s important new book highlights the depth of the wisdom and organizing skill he brought to the movement for economic justice."—The Progressive
Shortly before his assassination, Martin Luther King Jr. called for a radical redistribution of economic and political power to transform the whole of society. In 1967, he envisioned and designed the Poor People’s Campaign, an interracial effort that was carried out after his death. This campaign brought together impoverished Americans of all races to demand better wages, better jobs, better homes, and better education. King and the Other America explores this overlooked and obscured episode of the late civil rights movement, deepening our understanding of King’s commitment to social justice and also of the long-term trajectory of the civil rights movement.
Digging into earlier radical arguments about economic inequality across America, which King drew on throughout his entire political and religious life, Sylvie Laurent argues that the Poor People’s Campaign was the logical culmination of King’s influences and ideas, which have had lasting impact on young activists and the public. Fifty years later, growing inequality and grinding poverty in the United States have spurred new efforts to rejuvenate the campaign. This book draws the connections between King's perceptive thoughts on substantive justice and the ongoing quest for equality for all.
"An elegant and timely history of how black intellectuals have long made a case for the intersections between class and race."—The Nation
"A meticulously researched look into the development of King’s thought. . . . Laurent’s important new book highlights the depth of the wisdom and organizing skill he brought to the movement for economic justice."—The Progressive
Shortly before his assassination, Martin Luther King Jr. called for a radical redistribution of economic and political power to transform the whole of society. In 1967, he envisioned and designed the Poor People’s Campaign, an interracial effort that was carried out after his death. This campaign brought together impoverished Americans of all races to demand better wages, better jobs, better homes, and better education. King and the Other America explores this overlooked and obscured episode of the late civil rights movement, deepening our understanding of King’s commitment to social justice and also of the long-term trajectory of the civil rights movement.
Digging into earlier radical arguments about economic inequality across America, which King drew on throughout his entire political and religious life, Sylvie Laurent argues that the Poor People’s Campaign was the logical culmination of King’s influences and ideas, which have had lasting impact on young activists and the public. Fifty years later, growing inequality and grinding poverty in the United States have spurred new efforts to rejuvenate the campaign. This book draws the connections between King's perceptive thoughts on substantive justice and the ongoing quest for equality for all.
Foreword by William Julius Wilson
Introduction
Part I. The Long March
1. The Patriarchs
2. The Prophets of Justice
3. The City and the Church
4. The Torchbearer
Part II. The Campaign
5. The Pauper
6. An “American Commune”
7. A Counter-War on Poverty
Part III. The Vision
8. Facing Structural Injustice
9. A “Right Not to Starve”
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Sylvie Laurent is a French cultural historian who studies race and class in the United States and teaches American Studies at Sciences Po (Paris). She was previously a W. E. B. Du Bois fellow at Harvard University.
“In her debut book, Laurent (American Studies/Paris Institute of
Political Studies) draws on extensive research into Martin Luther
King Jr.'s writings, speeches, and papers as well as archival and
published sources to make a strong argument that his campaign for
social justice went beyond race to encompass broad, transformative
social and economic changes for all poor Americans. . . . King's
analysis of social issues, as delineated in Laurent's useful
reappraisal, seems as relevant today.”
*Kirkus Reviews*
"A meticulously researched look into the development of King’s
thought. . . . As we commemorate King’s life and legacy, Laurent’s
important new book highlights the depth of the wisdom and
organizing skill he brought to the movement for economic
justice."
*The Progressive*
“This powerful work invites a major reconsideration of American
civil rights history, the significance of the Poor People’s
Campaign of 1968, and especially of King’s deeply egalitarian
socialist vision of society. The book transcends and negates
traditional notions that King was a civil rights leader committed
exclusively to the liberation of his African-American people.
Without ever abandoning that objective, he expanded his range of
activism in pursuing a vision of a fair and just society for all
oppressed people. Laurent’s book above all restores King to his
rightful and still profoundly under-recognized place in the history
of militant African-American liberation figures.”
*Truthdig*
“The story [Laurent] tells is one that evokes the passions of the
period known as the Sixties while carefully explaining the
personalities and politics of the movement for economic and social
justice at the time. Given the centrality of King to the Poor
People’s Campaign, it is only natural that Laurent’s text makes
King the centerpiece of her narrative.”
*CounterPunch*
"In her new book King and the Other America, historian Sylvie
Laurent helps rescue the Poor People’s Campaign from this unfair
reputation and makes a compelling case that it deserves to be not
only better remembered but also more closely studied and emulated
by the left today. . . . King and the Other America helps make
another important argument. Situating the economic egalitarianism
of the Poor People’s Campaign and Martin Luther King Jr.’s later
years in a far longer history of black activism and
social-democratic thinking, she helps map out the deeper
intellectual and political roots of an entwined racial and economic
egalitarianism that has been at the center of much of
African-American politics for nearly a century. By doing so,
Laurent offers us an elegant and timely history of how black
intellectuals have long made a case for the intersections between
class and race."
*The Nation*
“Engaging . . . . Our political scene is never far removed from
Laurent’s narrative. . . . A book for this moment, King
and the Other America raises fresh questions about the validity of
any historical sweep that fails to seriously consider the case of
the Poor People’s Campaign and its legacy.”
*Black Perspectives*
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