Dr. Peniel Joseph in a virtual discussion of his book The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. via Zoom at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, September 28th.
Please join us for this event by registering in advance here: https://ucmerced.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIsc-uvrT0pEtQtUMtSDkoYw3FWqd...
Dr. King and Malcolm X are important figures for literature students. Both thinkers were inspired by literature, and their lives inspired generations of writers, movements, and traditions globally. Dr. King often built his vision and filled his powerful sermons, speeches and writings with references to the literary, from Langston Hughes and John Donne to Henry David Thoreau, Thomas Carlyle, and many others. Alex Haley’s The Autobiography of Malcolm X and Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem “Malcolm X” are among the many Malcolm X texts that pay tribute to his historical and enduring significance. Dr. Joseph’s new book powerfully displays and intersects their lives in the form of a meticulously researched dual biography that also draws upon James Baldwin’s essay, “Malcolm and Martin.”
