"The first full biography in decades, "King" mixes revelatory and exhaustive new research with brisk and accessible storytelling to forge the definitive life for our times"--

"Sara King has nothing, save for her secrets and the baby in her belly, as she boards the bus to Memphis, hoping to outrun her past in Chicago. She is welcomed with open arms by Mama Sugar, a kindly matriarch and owner of the popular boardinghouse The Scarlet Poplar. Like many cities in early 1960s America, Memphis is still segregated, but change is in the air. News spreads of the Freedom Riders. Across the country, people like Martin Luther King...

"The years from 1955 to 1965 are at the heart of the civil rights movement. Resistance was often met with violence against Black Americans fighting to end discrimination and segregation. Yet the courage of those yearning for equal opportunities under the law continued to persevere. The year 1965 was fraught with assassination, brutal attacks, and an attempt to deny Black Americans the right to vote. In February, Malcolm X, a Black religious leader...

"The year 1970 was one of hope in the civil rights movement in education, politics, and the arts. In January, Dr. Clifton Wharton, Jr., became the first African American president of Michigan State University. The first publication of Essence magazine launched in May, focusing on culture, beauty, fashion, and entertainment for Black women in America. In June, Kenneth Allen Gibson was elected as the first African American mayor of a major Northeast...

"The year 1972 was one of major accomplishments in the civil rights movement. In January, Shirley Chisolm became an inspiration as the first African American to seek the presidential nomination of a major political party. In February, Wilt Chamberlain won the NBA title for the Los Angeles Lakers and was named the Most Valuable Player, securing his place as one of the most talented athletes in the history of sports. The National Black Political Convention...

Includes poems about Josh Gibson, Aung San Suu Kyi, Coretta Scott King, Mitsuye Endo, Mamie Garthan Till, Helen Zia, Mohandas Gandhi, Ellison Onizuka, Harvey Milk, Jackie Robinson, Sylvia Mendez, Dennis James Banks, Nelson Mandela, Muhammad Yunus, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner. Includes biographical notes.

"The years from 1955 to 1965 are at the heart of the civil rights movement. Resistance was often met with violence against Black Americans fighting to end discrimination and segregation. Yet the courage of those yearning for equal opportunities under the law continued to persevere. The year 1957 was full of new beginnings and hope for a growing movement. In January, prominent civil rights leaders attended a historic meeting in Georgia with Dr. Martin...

"Even though slavery had ended in the 1860s, African Americans were still suffering under the weight of segregation a hundred years later. They couldn't go to the same schools, eat at the same restaurants, or even use the same bathrooms as white people. But by the 1950s, black people refused to remain second-class citizens and were willing to risk their lives to make a change"-- provided by publisher.

She was born the 20th child in a family that had lived in the Mississippi Delta for generations, first as enslaved people and then as sharecroppers. She left school at 12 to pick cotton, as those before her had done, in a world in which white supremacy was an unassailable citadel. She was subjected without her consent to an operation that deprived her of children. And she was denied the most basic of all rights in America -- the right to cast a ballot...

From beloved and bestselling author Roxane Gay, "a strikingly fresh cultural critic" (Washington Post) comes an exhilarating collection of her essays on culture, politics, and everything in between. Since the publication of the groundbreaking Bad Feminist and Hunger, Roxane Gay has continued to tackle big issues embroiling society--state-sponsored violence and mass shootings, womens rights post-Dobbs, online disinformation, and the limits of empathy--alongside...