Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story
Written by Martin Luther King, Jr.
Narrated by JD Jackson
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Clayborne Carson is Director and Senior Editor of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project. A history professor at Stanford University, he is the author of In Struggle: SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s (1981) and editor of Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. (1998) and Malcolm X: The FBI File (1991). Susan Carson, managing editor, holds an M.L.S. from San Jose State University. She joined the Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers Project in 1987 as the librarian and archivist. Adrienne Clay, assistant editor, is a graduate of Colby College. A participant in the 1996 King Summer Research Fellowship program, Adrienne joined the staff of the Project in 1997. Kieran Taylor, assistant editor, earned an M.A. in southern studies from the University of Mississippi. He worked as a reporter and community organizer before joining the Project in 1997. Virginia Shadron earned a Ph.D. in American studies from Emory University.
Related to Stride Toward Freedom
Titles in the series (1)
Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related audiobooks
Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare 20th Anniversary Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dark Sky Rising: Reconstruction and the Dawn of Jim Crow (Scholastic Focus) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Black Panther in Exile: The Pete O'Neal Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, 10th Anniversary Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Waiting 'Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The King Years: Historic Moments in the Civil Rights Movement Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stokely Carmichael: The Life and Legacy of the Civil Rights Activist Who Led the Black Power Movement Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader: The "Great Truth" about the "Lost Cause" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Black Theology of Liberation: 50th Anniversary Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love Out Loud! Cornel West: Brother of Compassion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Color of Abolition: How a Printer, a Prophet, and a Contessa Moved a Nation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPillar of Fire: America in the King Years 1963-65 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5To Make Our World Anew: Volume II: A History of African Americans from 1880 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Everything Martin Luther King Jr. Book: The Struggle, the Dream, the Legacy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Black against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Speeches by Martin Luther King Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Quest of the Silver Fleece Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Souls of Black Folk Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Collected Articles of Frederick Douglass Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Bondage and My Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Have A Dream Speech Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Souls of Black Folk (Unabridged) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5History's Greatest Speeches: Black Voices Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Black Theology and Black Power Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
History For You
The Secret History of the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Sinners Bleed: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book of Five Rings Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Who Cooked the Last Supper?: The Women's History of the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Palestine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cuba (Winner of the Pulitzer Prize): An American History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Korean War: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Demon Copperhead: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Endurance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mary Magdalene: Women, the Church, and the Great Deception Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Razorblade Tears: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wilmington's Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Story of Art Without Men Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An American Marriage: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Stride Toward Freedom
33 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King’s account of the history of the Montgomery bus boycott. It’s interesting to hear him test out concepts that would become more famous later from other speeches; the book as a whole is far more accommodating to liberals than, say, Letter from Birmingham Jail, though even at this relatively early stage King was talking about economic justice and also about the fact that he might well be killed. According to King, the protestors were initially willing to accept continued segregation as long as they were treated better and not forced to give up seats if they got there first; it was the resistance to even such a mild improvement that pushed them towards demanding integration. The amount of accommodation to whites King is willing to do at this point is fascinating—for example, there are statements about the black community’s need to improve its own standards, familiar even today. By contrast, when it comes to intermarriage, King is indirect but crystal clear: since marriage is a matter of individual choice, no one but the people involved have a right to decide who should get married. King underplays the role of Rosa Parks and other women in the civil rights movement, and there’s a jarring point at the end when he says that wage equality for black and white men is really important to everyone’s family because women should stay at home: paying black men more will allow black women to stay home, and then white women won’t be able to have their kids raised by black women and will also have to stay home. Another reminder that visions of justice are, even among great heroes, often partial.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Very descriptive writing which easily transports the listener to the setting in which the story takes place.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This writing is partly a history, partly a personal memoir, partly a collection of Essays and always visionary. As others have noted it is difficult to write a review of this writing. I think it would take writing a book to describe all my reactions to it.
I grew up in Montgomery. I was 5 when Rosa Parks took her seat in the front of the city bus. While 5 may seem young to remember much about this period. Actually the opposite is true. There was little television, we got our first set when I was 5. Yet, many figures in this book, both black and white were prominent names etched in my memory. Like most suburban white dwellers, my mother had no car. My father had his business car. He worked long long hours. Often returning home ( he sold and serviced refrigeration primarily to mom and pop groceries in Montgomery county and many surrounding counties) late with dinner long grown cold.
So we rode the buses as many other whites. I can remember riding the buses before, during and after the bus boycott. Talk, discussion, rumors of the boycott filled our lives.
Dr. King tells many terrible stories of events that happened to black bus riders, of the horrors of retaliation during the boycott and after. There are many terrible things of which he doesn't speak. I wonder if he even knew of some of it, or if the retelling was simply too grievous.
What I particularly appreciated about Dr. King's remarks is understanding that many whites with no evil in their hearts were as caught under the net of hate and racism as the blacks. I appreciate his saying so and saying so more than once.
Growing up I knew haters and respecters of black people. And I knew many white who were in between.
I listened to the audio version of the book. Dr. King's words are those of a minister, intended to be savored and to touch the heart.
I know that there has been some criticism of this book, that Dr. King overlooked the contributions of many, particularly of women. My take on this is that, this is "Dr. King's" memoir. Aren't we all the center of our own stories? I think anyone knows that a miraculous effort like the Montgomery boycott takes a thousand heroes and heroines. Yet, listening to this memoir it is no wonder that Dr. King became the iconic leader of the civil rights movement that he became.