About this item
Martin Luther King, Jr., may be America's most revered political figure, commemorated in statues, celebrations, and streets names around the world. On the fiftieth anniversary of King's assassination, the man and his activism are as close to public consciousness as ever. But despite his stature, the significance of King's writings and political thought remains underappreciated. In To Shape a New World, Tommie Shelby and Brandon Terry write that the marginalization of King's ideas reflects a romantic, consensus history that renders the civil rights movement inherently conservative--an effort not at radical reform but at "living up to" enduring ideals laid down by the nation's founders. On this view, King marshaled lofty rhetoric to help redeem the ideas of universal (white) heroes, but produced little original thought.
About the Author
Tommie Shelby is the Caldwell Titcomb Professor of African & African American Studies and Professor of Philosophy at Harvard University, where he has taught since 2000. He is the author of Dark Ghettos: Injustice, Dissent, and Reform (2016) and We Who Are Dark: The Philosophical Foundations of Black Solidarity (2005) . He is the coeditor of To Shape a New World: Essays on the Political Philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr. (2018) and of Hip Hop and Philosophy: Rhyme 2 Reason (2005) . His writings take up questions of racial, economic, and criminal justice and examine the history of black political thought. His articles have appeared in such journals as Philosophy & Public Affairs, Ethics, Political Theory, Critical Inquiry, Du Bois Review, Journal of Social Philosophy, Social Theory and Practice, Critical Philosophy of Race, and Daedalus.
