Author: josephrosenbloom

Letter to Boston Globe, June 15, 2018

For Immediate Release Pamela MacColl PMacColl@beacon.org 617-948-6582 “Martin Luther King Jr.’s final hours are given substance and relevance as only an investigative journalist like Rosenbloom can do. The pacing drives you to the well-established, heartbreaking end, while the journey leaves you with a greater appreciation of the forces carrying King forward.”—Booklist, STARRED review “A skillful … Continue reading Press Release about “Redemption”

Two states, Mississippi and Alabama, wrap the birthday anniversaries of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert E. Lee into one holiday. This year the holiday is today, which, as it happens, is King’s actual birthday (DOB: January 15, 1929). Since 1986, when the federal government established the third Monday of January as a holiday solely … Continue reading Joint MLK-Lee Holiday?

What is the meaning of the headline-capturing FBI report about Martin Luther King, Jr. that the U.S. National Archives unveiled for public viewing last week? The blistering 20-page report, dated March 12, 1968, contains raw, unsubstantiated material about King’s alleged sexual impropriety. The report is more newsworthy for what it says about the FBI under … Continue reading FBI Report on MLK Implicates FBI

  Monuments in tribute to the Confederacy are falling. Others extolling Martin Luther King Jr. are rising. It’s not happening in a literal flip-flop on the same spot. Nor are they happening in tandem. But the iconography of the American landscape is changing, however subtly, with political and cultural implications. Why now?  On the one … Continue reading Monument Swap: MLK for Confederates

Beacon Press has posted my blog describing what's at stake in 2017 as a civil rights firebrand in North Carolina rekindles Martin Luther King Jr.'s antipoverty crusade. See the post at: http://www.beaconbroadside.com/broadside/2017/09/poor-peoples-campaign-redux-from-martin-luther-king-jr-to-rev-dr-william-j-barber-ii.html

Identifying with Martin Luther King, Jr., is a touchstone for politicians of every stripe whether or not they in fact adhere to his ideas. The latest example is Donald J. Trump. On Wednesday, May 24, President Trump gave Pope Francis a first edition copy of King's writings (plus a piece of granite from the King … Continue reading Trump’s Gift to Pope Francis

In April 1968, Jesse Jackson was in Memphis organizing an economic boycott to mirror his Operation Breadbasket in Chicago. He was back in Memphis on May 9, 2017, urging that the city award more contracts to minority-owned businesses or, he said, he would return to the city in April 2018 to lead a protest march. … Continue reading Jesse Jackson May Lead Memphis March

April 23, 1967: James Earl Ray escapes from the Missouri State Penitentiary at Jefferson City by hiding, improbably, in a breadbox. Less than a year later, he would kill Martin Luther King, Jr., in Memphis. Before the escape, Ray had been imprisoned at Jeff City facing a twenty-year sentence for having robbed, at gunpoint, a … Continue reading James Earl Ray’s Escape: April 23, 1967

         "Father and son had much in common. The son was the namesake of the father. Both were graduates of Morehouse College. Both married women of musical distinction. Both answered the call to the Baptist pulpit. Both championed civil rights for African-Americans.      "How much did the father shape the destiny of the … Continue reading Review of “Daddy King”