Scholars and activists from the civil rights years in America speak of Martin Luther King and his era, from his early personal religious conversion and his impact on the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, to his place in the history of the African-American church.

King and the movement, and about their own lives. The result is not only an important, wide-ranging work of history, but a moving testimonial to a great leader.

Introduction (Peter J. Albert and Ronald Hoffman)
One: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Civil Rights Movement
Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Spirit of Leadership
(David J. Garrow)
A Man Prepared for the Times: A Sociological Analysis of the Leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Thoughts on the Leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Louis R. Harlan)
Commentary (Robert Parris Moses)
Commentary (Howard Zinn)
Commentary (Nathan I. Huggins)
Two: The Black Freedom Struggle in Historical Context
Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Afro-American Protest Tradition (John Hope Franklin)
Three: Martin Luther King Jr., and the Ideology of Nonviolent Social Change
The Religious Foundations of the Thought of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Cornel West)
Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Meaning of Freedom: A Political Interpretation (Richard H. King)
Commentary (Mary Frances Berry)
Commentary (Vincent Harding)
Four: Martin Luther King, Jr., and International Movements of Liberation
Freedoms Struggle Crosses Oceans and Mountains: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Liberation Struggles in Africa and America (George M. Houser)
Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Third World (James H. Cone)
We Shall Overcome (Shun P. Govender)
Conclusion
Reconstructing the King Legacy: Scholars and National Myths (Clayborne Carson)
Thoughts and Reflections
Thoughts and Reflections (Coretta Scott King)