Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2022: Recommended Reads

January 15, 2022



Learn about the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and why we honor his legacy. Thank you to our Children’s, Tween, Teen, and Reference Librarians for these relevant selections!


The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Clayborne Carson

With knowledge, spirit, good humor, and passion, THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. brings to life a remarkable man whose thoughts and actions speak to our most burning contemporary issues and still inspire the desires, hopes, and dreams of

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"All Labor Has Dignity"

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

An unprecedented and timely collection of Dr. King’s speeches on labor rights and economic justice People forget that Dr. King was every bit as committed to economic justice as he was to ending racial segregation. He fought throughout his life to c

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Stride Toward Freedom

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

MLK’s classic account of the first successful large-scale act of nonviolent resistance in America: the Montgomery bus boycott. A young Dr. King wrote Stride Toward Freedom just 2 years after the successful completion of the boycott. In his memoir a

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A Testament of Hope

Martin Luther King

"We've got some difficult days ahead," civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr., told a crowd gathered at Memphis's Clayborn Temple on April 3, 1968. "But it really doesn't matter to me now because I've been to

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The Radical King

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

A revealing collection that restores Dr. King as being every bit as radical as Malcolm X “The radical King was a democratic socialist who sided with poor and working people in the class struggle taking place in capitalist societies. . . . The respo

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The Trumpet of Conscience

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In November and December 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered five lectures for the renowned Massey Lecture Series of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Immediately released under the title Conscience for Change after King’s assassinati

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My Life, My Love, My Legacy

Coretta Scott King, Rev. Dr. Barbara Reynolds

"The life story of Coretta Scott King--wife of Martin Luther King Jr., founder of the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, and singular twentieth-century American civil rights activist--as told fully for the first time, toward the end of he

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There is a Balm in Gilead

Lewis V. Baldwin

Examines King's roots in Black popular culture and their role as the source of his power and vision

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Pillar of Fire

Taylor Branch

From Pulitzer Prize-winning author Taylor Branch, the second part of his epic trilogy on the American Civil Rights Movement. In the second volume of his three-part history, a monumental trilogy that began with Parting the Waters, winner of the Pulitz

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The Heavens Might Crack

Jason Sokol

A vivid portrait of how Americans grappled with King's death and legacy in the days, weeks, and months after his assassination On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was fatally shot as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis.

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Behind the Dream

Clarence B. Jones, Stuart Connelly

"I have a dream." When those words were spoken on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963, the crowd stood, electrified, as Martin Luther King, Jr. brought the plight of African Americans to the public consciousness and firmly

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Dear Martin

Nic Stone

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • WILLIAM C. MORRIS AWARD FINALIST • ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE’S 100 BEST YA BOOKS OF ALL TIME After a traffic stop turns violent at the hands of the police, a young Black teen grapples with racism—and what it means fo

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March: Book One

John Lewis, Andrew Aydin

Congressman John Lewis (GA-5) is an American icon, one of the key figures of the civil rights movement. His commitment to justice and nonviolence has taken him from an Alabama sharecropper's farm to the halls of Congress, from a segregated schoo

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We Are Power

Todd Hasak-Lowy

A stirring look at nonviolent activism, from American suffragists to Civil Rights to the Climate Change Movement We Are Power brings to light the incredible individuals who have used nonviolent activism to change the world. The book explores question

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Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom

Lynda Blackmon Lowery

As the youngest marcher in the 1965 voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, Lynda Blackmon Lowery proved that young adults can be heroes. Jailed nine times before her fifteenth birthday, Lowery fought alongside Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Child of the Dream (A Memoir of 1963)

Sharon Robinson

An incredible memoir from Sharon Robinson about one of the most important years of the civil rights movement.

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We March

Shane W. Evans

On August 28, 1963, a remarkable event took place--more than 250,000 people gathered in our nation's capital to participate in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march began at the Washington Monument and ended with a rally at the

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Dream March: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. , and the March on Washington

Vaunda Micheaux Nelson

Young readers can now learn about one of the greatest civil rights leaders of all time, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in this Level 3 biography reader, set against Dr. King's historic march on Washington in the summer of 1963. Full color. 6 x 9.

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Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial

Christine Taylor-Butler

"Learn all about the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, from how it was created to what it is like to visit today."--Provided by publisher.

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I Have a Dream

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

From Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s daughter, Dr. Bernice A. King: “My father’s dream continues to live on from generation to generation, and this beautiful and powerful illustrated edition of his world-changing "I Have a Dream" spe

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My Daddy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, III

What was it like growing up as a son of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? This picture book memoir, My Daddy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Martin Luther King III, provides insight into one of history’s most fascinating families and into a special bond

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Be a King

Carole Boston Weatherford

You can be a King. Stamp out hatred. Put your foot down and walk tall. You can be a King. Beat the drum for justice. March to your own conscience. Featuring a dual narrative of the key moments of Dr. King's life alongside a modern class as the s

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Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Margaret McNamara

Mrs. Connor's classroom learns all about Martin Luther King in this Level 1 Ready-to-Read! When Mrs. Conner's class learns about a great man, they discover their own dreams and hopes for a better world!

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Martin's Big Words

Doreen Rappaport

A brief biographical sketch of Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the greatest figures in the American civil rights movement.

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