Young King - by Lerone Martin (Paperback)

About the Book

"From a preeminent King scholar, the origin story of the man, minister, and civil rights hero who would lead the nation and change the world. We know who Martin Luther King, Jr. became, but who was he at the beginning of his life? How did his youth inform his outlook and his approach to activism and service? Before Martin Luther King, Jr. was a civil rights leader, the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, and a global hero, he was an emotional boy, and a middling high school student devoted to fashion, dancing, and dating. As he headed to college, he left the Jim Crow South for a summer job that would test his oratory skills preaching in the tobacco fields of Connecticut and ultimately give him a sense of hope for a life of racial peace and harmony. Lerone A. Martin, Centennial Professor at Stanford University and the Faculty Director of the Martin Luther King Institute, traces the youthful roots of this legendary American to reveal the makings of a mighty force. Filled with revelations and written with compassion, Young King offers a new understanding of the influential preacher and activist's emotional life, his youthful confusion about his future and career direction, his inspiration to fight for justice, his teenage missteps, and his first revelations of courage. As America undergoes another era of turmoil and change, this powerful biography offers encouragement for readers at a similar moment of life and provides an understanding of how greatness comes to light. Martin illuminates both King's weaknesses and the social failures that shaped him, including the brutal racism he endured growing up. This vital and essential work is a testament to how history shapes a leader"--

Book Synopsis

AN AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE BOOK CLUB BESTSELLER

"A rich... retelling of King's life... a compelling account." -- The Wall Street Journal

"An engaging, detailed examination... that goes a long way in humanizing the American hero's public image." -- The Atlanta Journal Constitution

From a preeminent King scholar, the origin story of the man, minister, and civil rights hero who would lead the nation and change the world.

We know who Martin Luther King, Jr. became, but who was he at the beginning of his life? How did his youth inform his outlook and activism?

Before Martin Luther King, Jr. was a civil rights leader, a Nobel Laureate, and a global hero, he was an emotional boy, a middling high school student devoted to fashion, dancing, and dating. Lerone A. Martin, Faculty Director of the Martin Luther King Institute at Stanford University, traces these roots to develop a fuller understanding of the influential preacher's emotional life, his youthful confusion about his future and career direction, his teenage missteps, and his inspiration to fight for justice.

Revelatory, humanizing, and compassionate, Young King unearths:

MLK's Childhood on Auburn Avenue: his days as "Little Mike"--the ever-eager middle child and a precocious prankster--spent at Ebenezer Baptist Church and the Auburn Avenue Library in Atlanta

Early Encounters with Racism: his early experiences of segregation and the summers he spent on a Connecticut tobacco farm, his first trip outside the Jim Crow South

College Life at Morehouse: his transformative time at Morehouse, playing basketball, hosting parties, studying sociology, and joining the Ministers' Union

Path to Seminary and Activism: his winding path to seminary and the co-development of his activist consciousness, his spiritual devotion, and his relationship with Coretta, his wife-to-be

As America undergoes another era of turmoil and change, this powerful biography provides a vital roadmap for how greatness comes to light. This essential work is a testament to how history shapes a leader.

Young King includes rarely seen black-and-white photographs of an adolescent MLK from his high school days and college years.

Review Quotes

"A rich... retelling of King's life...a compelling account." - The Wall Street Journal

"A vibrant and illuminating account of an icon's early years." - Kirkus Reviews

"An engaging, detailed examination of the civil rights leader's privileged childhood, rebellious teen years and ambitious early adulthood that goes a long way in humanizing the American hero's public image." - The Atlanta Journal Constitution

"This revealing, vividly told biography illuminates a fact worth remembering: Our greatest leaders do not emerge fully formed in the moment in which they are most needed, but are molded by family, community and education." - Bookpage (STARRED review)

"Young King is a revelation -- a bold and brilliant book essential to our understanding of Martin Luther King Jr. With vivid writing and important new scholarship, Lerone Martin shows how a young man scarred by racism found the voice, power, and faith to speak truth to power and inspire the world. An extraordinary achievement!" - Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of King: A Life

"Lerone Martin's masterful Young King puts to rest the persistent myth that Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life was a predestined, divinely ordained climb toward civil rights leadership and martyrdom. Martin instead gives us a far more enriching, powerful, and real story, one that that shows how King the person developed his conscience and convictions in the context of family, community, education, love, and struggle." - Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

"Lerone Martin's searing and soaring Young King is a welcome exploration of Dr. Martin Luther King's formative years that is long overdue and right on time. Martin, arguably the foremost King scholar, fills in unexplored and compelling aspects of the Civil Rights icon's life that provide a blueprint for true leadership and the building of a remarkable journey." - Bakari Sellers, New York Times bestselling author of My Vanishing Country

"Young King opens the door to the world of a boy who didn't start out as an icon, but became one through struggle, imagination, community, and faith. Lerone Martin shows us how Martin Luther King Jr. discovered his calling, wrestled with who he was and who he might become, and learned to shape a life of meaning in a nation determined to diminish him. This book beautifully reminds us of King's humanity most of all, proving that the roots of his leadership grew long before the spotlight, when he was just a young boy learning how to live and dream." - Anna Malaika Tubbs, New York Times bestselling author of The Three Mothers and Erased

"Very insightful story on Dr. King and how he became a significant civil rights figure." - Grandmaster Flash

"Young King is a brilliant, timely, and necessary exploration of the familial, social, political, and cultural context that shaped the life of the youthful Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., one of the most important human rights leaders of the 20th century. Lerone Martin's book is a gift that should be widely read, taught, and shared as we keep alive King's powerful legacy into the 21st century." - Dr. Peniel Joseph, author of The Sword and the Shield

"Lerone Martin's Young King is a powerful revelation, beautifully rendering the fullness of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s humanity in all his 'flesh and blood.' Martin skillfully guides us through little-known stories of King's upbringing that shaped the icon we remember today, from the sensitive child to the tough teen, the skeptical agnostic to the spiritual man of deep faith. This must-read masterpiece reminds us that one of our most mythologized spiritual and political leaders was not a saint and it is only by leaning into our shared humanity in all its imperfect messiness that we take up the great legacy of Dr. King and his beloved community." - Hajar Yazdiha, author of The Struggle for the People's King

"This book is a powerful reminder that greatness is shaped, not born. Through careful, moving storytelling, it reveals how character, purpose, and leadership are forged long before the world takes notice. It invites us to see formation, environment, and resilience as the true foundations of lasting impact." - Larry Fitzgerald, Jr., retired NFL wide receiver

"A scholar and a storyteller, Dr. Lerone Martin captures the true essence and lessons of leadership. Dr. King was a true perpetual student and model of how to evolve as a leader through connection, purpose, and love while being divinely guided and led." - Rajon Rondo, 2x NBA champion

"Young King offers a portrait of Martin Luther King Jr. that refuses both hagiography and hindsight. Rather than beginning from the assumption of inevitability, the book traces the uneven processes through which moral seriousness, religious sensibility, and public responsibility are slowly formed. By attending to childhood, family discipline, education, and early encounters with racial power, it shows how democratic leadership emerges from ordinary settings shaped by constraint, conflict, and care. The result is a portrait of King that is less reassuring but more instructive--one that presses us to think harder about how character is cultivated and how democratic commitments are sustained over time." - Melvin Rogers, award-winning author of The Darkened Light of Faith

"Put simply, Young King is one of the most important books ever written about Martin Luther King, Jr. Lerone Martin has managed to do the impossible--every page of his elegantly written prose brings us eye to eye with a growing child, not an icon. I found myself completely enthralled." - Dr. W. Jason Miller, author of Origins of the Dream

"Much of the Martin Luther King Jr. we know and admire today appears as fully formed genius. In Young King, Lerone Martin brings us into the early years that shaped King's vision, humanity, and moral clarity, revealing how a young man became a transcendent force for peace and love. Grounded in faith, struggle, and hard-won discipline, this is a story of growth with lessons for leaders, students, and anyone working to become a better version of themselves." - Evan Spiegel, co-founder and CEO of Snap Inc.