Dr. King's 1956 Comic Book

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday is fast approaching.

There are living Americans who can remember the days of segregation and the "Jim Crow" laws. They may have seen media reports of that old racist system being slowly dismantled by Rev. Dr. King and many other civil rights leaders.

Historians know that thing we now call the civil rights movement didn't have to happen. The end of segregation and racial injustice could have come about in a much more violent way. Or it could have not happened at all. But it did happen, and it happened with a minimum of violence thanks to Martin Luther King.

And so I think we are making a huge mistake if we let our newest historical holiday go by without at least giving some thought to non-violent resistance or some other aspect of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life and times.

One way to get our young people on board is through comics. Ethan Persoff posted a late 1950's comic about the Montgomery Bus boycott on his website. As you may know, the bus boycott is what brought Rev. King onto the national stage as a civil rights leader.

Read Ethan Persoff's January 2006 commnetary on the MLK comic.



To read the comic online, click here.