Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a federal holiday since 1983, honors the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights leader whose most well-known areas of advocacy include civil rights and racial equality, voting rights, nonviolent resistance, economic justice, fair housing, and opposition to militarism and poverty. It is celebrated on the third Monday of every January. We will be playing the movie Selma in celebration of MLK Day on Monday, January 19 (this year’s Martin Luther King Day) at 2:30pm. We have numerous books about Martin Luther King, Jr. and his contemporary leaders and participants in the Civil Rights Movement in our adult and teen collections. If you would like books from the children’s collection, we encourage you to visit our Youth and Family Services department to find titles suitable for your child’s reading ability.
Fiction
- Between good and evil- Alers, Rochelle
- Midnight Atlanta- Mullen, Thomas
- One-shot Harry- Phillips, Gary
- 54 miles- Pitts, Leonard, Jr.
- The two lives of Sara- West, Catherine Adel
- The Nickel boys- Whitehead, Colson
Fiction is shelved in alphabetical order under the author’s last name
Nonfiction
- Insurrection : rebellion, civil rights, and the paradoxical state of Black citizenship- Allan, Hawa- 342.73 ALLAN
- The King years : historic moments in the civil rights movement- Branch, Taylor- 323.0973 BRANCH
- I am a man : photographs of the Civil Rights Movement, 1960-1970- Ferris, William R.- 323.0973 FERRIS
- Stony the road : reconstruction, white supremacy, and the rise of Jim Crow- Gates, Henry Louis, Jr.- 973.0496 GATES
- Seven social movements that changed America- Gordon, Linda- 305.484 GORDON
- We refuse : a forceful history of Black resistance- Jackson, Kellie Carter- 323.1196 JACKSON
- Freedom season : how 1963 transformed America's civil rights revolution- Joseph, Peniel E.- 973.922 JOSEPH
- Nine days : the race to save Martin Luther King Jr.'s life and win the 1960 election- Kendrick, Stephen- 323.0973 KEND
- You have to be prepared to die before you can begin to live : ten weeks in Birmingham that changed America- Kix, Paul- 976.178 KIX
- Illustrated Black history : honoring the iconic and the unseen- McCalman, George- 305.896 MCCALMAN
- On critical race theory : why it matters & why you should care- Ray, Victor (Victor Erik)- 305.8009 RAY
- Waging a good war : how the civil rights movement won its battles, 1954-1968- Ricks, Thomas E.- LP323.119 RICKS
- The colored waiting room : empowering the original and the new civil rights movements : conversations between an MLK Jr. confidant and a modern-day activist- Shird, Kevin- 323.1196 SHIRD
- When the smoke cleared : the 1968 rebellion and the unfinished battle for civil rights in the nation's capital- Sommers, Kyla- 305.896 SOMMERS
- Caste : the origins of our discontents- Wilkerson, Isabel- 305.5122 WILKERSON
Biographies and Memoirs
- Alabama v. King : Martin Luther King Jr. and the criminal trial that launched the Civil Rights Movement- Abrams, Dan- 323.1196 ABRAMS
- Fearless and free : a memoir- Baker, Josephine- 792.8092 BAKER
- King : a life- Eig, Jonathan- 323.092 KING E
- A dream deferred : Jesse Jackson and the fight for Black political power- Phillip, Abby- 973.927 JACKSON P (This book discusses Jesse Jackson’s work under MLK)
- Civil rights queen : Constance Baker Motley and the struggle for equality- Brown-Nagin, Tomiko- 347.7314 MOTLEY B
- Gathering blossoms under fire : the journals of Alice Walker 1965-2000- Walker, Alice- LP 813.54 WALKER
DVD
- The Black American experience : Martin Luther King, Jr. 55 years later- DVD 323.092 BLACK MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
- MLK/FBI- DVD323.1196 MLK
- The Black American experience : Extraordinary Black men who shaped American history- DVD 973.0496 EXTRAORDINARY