The Papers of Martin Luther King: Called to Serve, January 1929-June 1951. - book reviews

Ebony, March, 1992

THE arrival of volume I of the complete papers of Martin Luther King Jr. is one of those rare publishing events that generate as much excitement in the cloistered confines of the academy as they do in the general public.

And with due cause. For the publication of The Papers of Martin Luther King Jr.:Caffed To Serve, January 1929-June 1951 (University of California Press, $35) marks the first time that all of the slain civil rights leader's significant writings--from sermons and articles to childhood letters--have been made available to the public.

Reproducing the texts and documents that will go into the projected 14-volume series has taken years of scrupulous research under the guidance of Clayborne Carson (Malcolm X: The FBI File), professor of history at Stanford University, who served as director and senior editor of the project, and co-editors Ralph E. Luker (The Social Gospel in Black and White: American Racial Reform: 1885-1912), associate professor of history at Antioch College, and Penny A. Russell, a doctoral candidate in history at Stanford.

Volume I of the series traces King's life from birth to age 22. The previously unpublished personal correspondence, student essays, exams, pictures and other memorabilia present a glimpse of the remarkable promise and genius that would later be fulfilled.

The aim of the editors of the King Papers Project, which was established in 1984 by the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Inc., is not only to codify King's writings, but to offer a comprehensive examination of the significant influences that informed his life and work.