Best Of: A Revelatory Tour of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Forgotten Teachings

<p>It’s hard to think of a more celebrated figure of the 20th century than Martin Luther King Jr.</p><p>He has a national memorial in Washington, D.C. His birthday is one of just 11 federal holidays. His words and legacy are routinely evoked by politicians of both major parties. I would go as far as to say he should be considered one of America’s founding fathers, which is one reason why I wanted to revisit this episode on Independence Day.</p><p>But the paradox of King’s legacy is that while many revere him, very few actually read him. Most of us can cite a handful of his most famous quotes, but King’s actual teachings span five books, countless speeches and sermons, and years of detailed correspondence.</p><p>There’s perhaps no scholar working today who studies Dr. King’s political philosophy as deeply as Brandon Terry. Terry is the John L. Loeb associate professor of social sciences at Harvard, where he specializes in Black political thought. He is the co-editor of “<a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674980754">To Shape a New World: Essays on the Political Philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr.</a>,” the editor of “<a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/9781946511065/fifty-years-since-mlk/">Fifty Years Since MLK</a>,” and the author of numerous popular and academic articles on King’s political thought. His work is committed to rescuing the nuances of Dr. King’s philosophies and forcing a confrontation with what King actually said and believed, rather than what he’s come to represent.</p><p>In this conversation, taped in January, we follow the commitment that animates much of Terry’s work: to take King seriously as a philosopher, rather than as purely a political actor. And it turns out that King understood a lot about politics that we’ve lost sight of today.</p><p><i>We’re taping an “Ask Me Anything” episode soon. If you have a question for Ezra, send it to </i><a href="mailto:ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com"><i>ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com</i></a><i> with the subject line, “AMA.”</i></p><p>Mentioned:<