MLK A Celebration in Word and Image

A stunning collection of photographs of and quotations by Dr. King compiled by renowned photojournalist Bob Adelman. A striking collection of twenty-nine black-and-white images combined with powerful quotations by Dr. King, MLK: A Celebration in Word and Image is a photobiography of one of America's greatest figures. Here we see King in all his aspects: as son and student, husband and father, preacher and courageous leader of the civil rights movement, martyr for the cause of racial justice and, finally, American icon. Award-winning photojournalist Bob Adelman intimately captures King's background, from his comfortable middle-class upbringing in Atlanta and his public outings with his wife, Coretta, to his steady ascendance as a forceful preacher thrust into prominence during the civil rights era. The triumph of King's "I Have a Dream" speech is beautifully detailed, but we also see a weary King, weighed down by assassination attempts, harassment, inner-city riots, and the Vietnam War. Toward the end, King displays an eerie sense of calm in a photo taken at the Mason Hall in Memphis the night before his murder, where he declared that he'd "been to the mountaintop."

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), Nobel Peace Prize laureate and architect of the nonviolent civil rights movement, was among the twentieth century's most influential figures. One of the greatest orators in U.S. history, King is the author of several books, including Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story, The Trumpet of Conscience, Why We Can't Wait, and Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? His speeches, sermons, and writings are inspirational and timeless. King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968.

Bob Adelman has photographed cover stories for magazines including Esquire, Time, People, LIFE, Harper's, the New York Times Magazine, and Paris Match. An award-winning photojournalist, Adelman has exhibited his photographs at the Smithsonian and the American Federation of Art, and has them included in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art. Adelman is well-known for his photographs documenting the civil rights movement; he was in Birmingham, Selma, and DC, often by King's side.

Charles Johnson is professor of English at the University of Washington and the author of Dreamer, Africans in America, and Middle Passage.