Living the dream : the contested history of Martin Luther King Jr. Day / Daniel T. Fleming.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fleming, Daniel T. (Daniel Thomas), author.

Series:

Justice, power, and politics.

North Carolina scholarship online.

Justice, power, and politics

North Carolina scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Martin Luther King, Jr., Day--History.

Martin Luther King, Jr., Day.

Holidays--United States--History.

Holidays.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (337 pages)

Place of Publication:

Chapel Hill : The University of North Carolina Press, [2023]

Summary:

'Living the Dream' tells the history behind the establishment of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Though Coretta Scott King's mission to honour her husband's commitment to nonviolence was upheld, conservative politicians have 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.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (viewed on May 29, 2023).

Previously issued in print: 2022.

ISBN:

979-88-908592-6-6

979-88-908592-7-3

1-4696-6782-7

1-4696-6781-9

OCLC:

1303666045