Must-Have DVDs and Books on Dr. King

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DVD

I HAVE A DREAM. One of the greatest and most memorable moments in the civil rights movement occurred when 200,000 people marched on Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963. Not only was the gathering of so many united people extraordinary, but that day Martin Luther King Jr. stood before the marchers and delivered his most eloquent and inspiring speech. This video offers the “I Have a Dream” speech in its entirety, as well as footage of the opposition the protesters faced, such as the fire hoses the police in Alabama used to disperse the crowds.

CITIZEN KING.  A two-hour documentary from acclaimed filmmakers Orlando Bagwell and Noland Walker, explores the last five years in the life of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Personal recollections and eyewitness accounts of friends, movement associates, journalists, law enforcement officers, and historians illuminate this little-known chapter in the story of America’s most influential moral leader in the 20th century.

OUR FRIEND MARTIN.  This animated time-travel adventure features a stellar cast and is a delight for kids and adults alike. When Matt, a black teenager, has to go on a class field trip to the museum of Martin Luther King Jr., he thinks that he’d rather play baseball. But the trip turns into an exciting adventure when he and his best friend, Randy, who’s white, are sent back in time to meet Dr. King

KING: MAN OF PEACE IN A TIME OF WAR.  The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the most important and inspirational figures in U.S. – and World – History. He spoke of peace at a time when there was great conflict between black and white America, divisiveness within the civil rights movement itself, and an undeclared war in Vietnam that seemed to divide everyone.

KING. The late, great Paul Winfield tackles the role of his career in King, an NBC miniseries originally broadcast over three nights in February 1978. Demonstrating a deeply inspired commitment to his performance as civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Winfield’s voice and presence are different from King’s, but he flawlessly conveys the physical and psychological essence of the man. In the six-hour telefilm written and directed by Judgment at Nuremberg Oscar®-winner Abby Mann, King is portrayed as a courageously devoted crusader for a just cause, whose commitment to nonviolent protest was a heavy burden he bore with miraculous poise and conviction, often at the expense of his health and well-being. Like Winfield, Cicely Tyson is uncannily convincing in her role as King’s noble wife, Coretta.

Books

Farris’s stirring memoir of her younger brother “M.L.” focuses on a pivotal moment in their childhood in Atlanta. The conversational narrative easily and convincingly draws readers into the daily life of Christine and her two brothers, M.L. and A.D., as they listen to their grandmother’s stories, stage pranks and romp in the backyard with two white brothers from across the street. The adults in the King family-Daddy, a minister; Mother Dear, a musician; maternal grandparents (the grandfather is also a minister) and a great-aunt-try to shield the children from the overt racism of the times; the family rarely took streetcars, for example, because of “those laws [segregation], and the indignity that went with them.” When the white boys announce one day that they cannot play with M.L. and A.D. because they are “Negroes,” the young Kings are hurt and baffled. Mother Dear explains, “[Whites] just don’t understand that everyone is the same, but someday, it will be better.” M.L. replies, “Mother Dear, one day I’m going to turn this world upside down.” Soentpiet (Dear Santa, Please Come to the 19th Floor) illustrates this exchange with a powerful watercolor portrait of mother and son that encapsulates many emotions, including hope, pain and love. Unfortunately, in other paintings, the characters often seem frozen in exaggerated poses, or minor figures are rendered with less skill than demonstrated elsewhere. These inconsistencies detract from an otherwise gripping volume that makes the audience aware that heroes were once children, too. All ages.

From Publishers Weekly
This effective collaboration between Pinkney ( Sukey and the Mermaid ; The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural ) and the prolific Marzollo presents a gentle, pared-down version of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life. Geared to preschoolers, the author’s brief narrative outlines those of the leader’s civil rights accomplishments that this audience is most likely to understand and appreciate, among them those that enabled African Americans and whites in the South to sit together in buses, drink from the same water fountains and attend the same schools. Marzollo’s language is equally accessible: “His dream was that people everywhere would learn to live together without being mean to one another.” Meticulously employing scratchboard and oil pastels, Pinkney uses intricate series of fine, white lines to create stunning, exquisitely shaded illustrations. Ages 3-7.

I HAVE A DREAM. This anniversary edition honors Martin Luther King Jr.’s courageous dream and his immeasurable contribution by presenting his most memorable words in a concise and convenient edition. As Coretta Scott King says in her foreword, “This collection includes many of what I consider to be my husband’s most important writings and orations.” In addition to the famed keynote address of the 1963 march on Washington, the renowned civil rights leader’s most influential words included here are the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” the essay “Pilgrimage to Nonviolence,” and his last sermon, “I See the Promised Land,” preached the day before he was assassinated.

BLAST TO THE PAST. It’s another exciting Monday for Abigail, Zack, Jacob, and Bo — they are going to jump back to the past to meet Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.! The kids need to convince Dr. King not to get discouraged and to lead one of his famous voting rights marches. And they’ve got to do it with the twins’ baby brother, Gabe, in tow!

These are just a few of our favorites. Please visit www.amazon.com for more books, videos and posters on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

According to EURweb.com, a collection of more than 600 papers, speeches and documents from Dr. Martin Luther King will go on display in Atlanta today, his 78th birthday, for the first time in history.

The exhibit – a partial display of more than 10,000 King papers and books that Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin helped privately acquire for $32 million last summer from Sotheby’s auction house – will be open at the Atlanta History Center until May 13 and includes an early draft of King’s famous “I Have A Dream” speech.

“Atlanta is really embracing its own history by embracing Dr. King and his legacy,” Franklin said, according to the AP. “People will see the papers and be able to relate to them and experience the movement through Dr. King’s eyes and through his words.”

After the exhibit, all the papers will be housed at the Robert W. Woodruff Library on the campus of the Atlanta University Center, which includes Morehouse College.

*The late Coretta Scott King was honored posthumously in Atlanta Saturday for her human rights contributions and work to preserve her husband’s legacy in the decades after his death. Civil Rights widow Myrlie Evers-Williams joined Andrew Young, Gladys Knight and the King children in saluting the civil right matriarch. “The loss of this amazing and gallant woman was devastating for the nation and the King Center family,” said her nephew, Isaac Newton Farris Jr. — who now leads the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. On Friday, a group of American and African human rights activists laid a white flower wreath at the King crypt — which now houses both Kings — at The King Center’s reflecting pool.

*Today’s episode of “Judge Hatchett” features a powerful intervention for a troubled teen with help from the memory of Coretta Scott King. Sixteen-year-old Josh Chapman from Bayboro, North Carolina, was brought before Judge Hatchett at the request of his mother Tianya Jones, who was worried that her son’s violent behavior would get him killed. The Judge sent him to meet a close friend of Mrs. Coretta Scott King, Mrs. Xernona Clayton. Josh visited the National Civil Rights Museum, formerly the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. King was killed. He then stepped onto the very spot where Martin Luther King lost his life. He then re-traced the steps of the great Coretta Scott King as she carried on the crusade the day after she lost her husband and continued his non-violent movement. He also met with Charles Rachel, a former gang member, whose life was transformed by Mrs. King.