Distinguished Professor of Political Science and New York Times bestselling author Jeanne Theoharis’ new book King of the North: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Life of Struggle Outside the South is set to publish on March 25 and is being described as a groundbreaking work that reframes the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. In this bold retelling, Theoharis reveals a King often overlooked in mainstream narratives—a leader who didn’t just inspire a movement but stood in solidarity with struggles for justice from New York to Los Angeles. The book reveals King as a brilliant orator who also listened and learned, a Black man who endured police brutality, a minister who lived and organized alongside the poor, and a husband who leaned on his wife, Coretta Scott King, as both a partner and a political guide in the fight against racism, poverty, and war. Theoharis, the award-winning author of The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks, has spent her career uncovering the radical roots of civil rights icons. Just as she restored Parks to her rightful place in history through her biography, Theoharis’ King of the North challenges us to see King not as a sanitized dreamer, but as a relentless warrior for justice—a vision that speaks urgently to today’s battles over racial and economic inequality. “The book challenges the way we’ve Southernized King,” Theoharis explained. “It has been like meeting Martin and Coretta Scott King anew, a King for our times.” Theoharis will discuss the book with researchers David Rondeau, Tyra Smart, and Gabrielle White as part of the “New Books by BC Faculty Series” on April 22. What people are saying about King of the North: “With insightful precision and narrative power, Theoharis shows that the struggle to end Jim Crow was by every measure a national movement. For the first time in a King biography, Coretta Scott King’s active partnership in the struggle is made clear. King of the North is a revelation.”—Barbara Smith, co-founder, the Combahee River Collective, and Brooklyn College’s 2022–23 Hess Scholar-in-Residence “Theoharis delivers another revelatory, meticulously documented account that revises our fundamental assumptions about American history, with critical implications for our future. This indispensable book is a vital resource for all who seek to ‘make real the promise of democracy.’”—Alondra Nelson, Institute for Advanced Study “Theoharis shows us through penetrating research and sensitive, scholarly insight that Dr. King not only was keenly aware of the history of antiblack racism in the North, but battled it from the very beginning of his career.”—Henry Louis Gates Jr., literary critic and professor “An exemplary history that forces readers to reassess their assumptions about America’s racial reckoning.”—Publishers Weekly starred review “King of the North is a revelation—a much-needed book that shifts and enhances our appreciation of MLK’s radical vision.”—Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of King: A Life.
