People forget
that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was every bit as committed to economic
justice as he was to ending racial segregation. He fought throughout
his life to connect the labor and civil rights movements, envisioning
them as twin pillars for social reform. As we struggle with massive
unemployment, a staggering racial wealth gap, and the near collapse of
a financial system that puts profits before people, King's prophetic
writings and speeches underscore his relevance for today. They help us
imagine King anew: as a human rights leader whose commitment to unions
and an end to poverty was a crucial part of his civil rights agenda.
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Covering all the civil rights
movement highlights - Montgomery, Albany, Birmingham, Selma, Chicago,
and Memphis - award-winning historian Michael K. Honey introduces and
traces King's dream of economic equality.
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Gathered
in one volume
for the first time, the majority of these speeches will be new to most
readers. The collection begins with King's lectures to unions in the
1960s and includes his addresses during his Poor People's Campaign,
culminating with his momentous "Mountaintop" speech, delivered in
support of striking black sanitation workers in Memphis.
Unprecedented and timely, "All Labor Has Dignity"
will more fully
restore our understanding of King's lasting vision of economic justice,
bringing his demand for equality right into the present.
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"All Labor Has Dignity"
by Martin Luther King, Jr.
Beacon Press, 2012
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