Young King

Lerone A. Martin is the Martin Luther King, Jr., Centennial Professor in Religious Studies and director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University. Dr. Martin is an internationally recognized award-winning author and public speaker. His writing and commentary have been featured on the Today show, the History Channel, PBS, NPR, and C-SPAN as well as in the New York Times and the Boston Globe. He currently serves as senior editor of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project and was an adviser on the PBS documentary series Gospel. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

"Young King is a revelation — a bold and brilliant book essential to our understanding of Martin Luther King Jr. With vivid writing and important new scholarship, Lerone Martin shows how a young man scarred by racism found the voice, power, and faith to speak truth to power and inspire the world. An extraordinary achievement!" — Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of King: A Life"Lerone Martin’s masterful Young King puts to rest the persistent myth that Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life was a predestined, divinely ordained climb toward civil rights leadership and martyrdom. Martin instead gives us a far more enriching, powerful, and real story, one that that shows how King the person developed his conscience and convictions in the context of family, community, education, love, and struggle." — Henry Louis Gates, Jr."Lerone Martin's searing and soaring Young King is a welcome exploration of Dr. Martin Luther King's formative years that is long overdue and right on time. Martin, arguably the foremost King scholar, fills in unexplored and compelling aspects of the Civil Rights icon's life that provide a blueprint for true leadership and the building of a remarkable journey." — Bakari Sellers, New York Times bestselling author of My Vanishing Country“Young King opens the door to the world of a boy who didn’t start out as an icon, but became one through struggle, imagination, community, and faith. Lerone Martin shows us how Martin Luther King Jr. discovered his calling, wrestled with who he was and who he might become, and learned to shape a life of meaning in a nation determined to diminish him. This book beautifully reminds us of King’s humanity most of all, proving that the roots of his leadership grew long before the spotlight, when he was just a young boy learning how to live and dream.” — Anna Malaika Tubbs, New York Times bestselling author of The Three Mothers and Erased“Young King is a brilliant, timely, and necessary exploration of the familial, social, political, and cultural context that shaped the life of the youthful Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., one of the most important human rights leaders of the 20th century. Lerone Martin’s book is a gift that should be widely read, taught, and shared as we keep alive King’s powerful legacy into the 21st century.” — Dr. Peniel Joseph, author of The Sword and the Shield"Lerone Martin’s Young King is a powerful revelation, beautifully rendering the fullness of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s humanity in all his 'flesh and blood.' Martin skillfully guides us through little-known stories of King’s upbringing that shaped the icon we remember today, from the sensitive child to the tough teen, the skeptical agnostic to the spiritual man of deep faith. This must-read masterpiece reminds us that one of our most mythologized spiritual and political leaders was not a saint and it is only by leaning into our shared humanity in all its imperfect messiness that we take up the great legacy of Dr. King and his beloved community." — Hajar Yazdiha, author of The Struggle for the People's King"This book is a powerful reminder that greatness is shaped, not born. Through careful, moving storytelling, it reveals how character, purpose, and leadership are forged long before the world takes notice. It invites us to see formation, environment, and resilience as the true foundations of lasting impact." — Larry Fitzgerald, Jr., retired NFL wide receiver"A scholar and a storyteller, Dr. Lerone Martin captures the true essence and lessons of leadership. Dr. King was a true perpetual student and model of how to evolve as a leader through connection, purpose, and love while being divinely guided and led." — Rajon Rondo, 2x NBA champion"Young King offers a portrait of Martin Luther King Jr. that refuses both hagiography and hindsight. Rather than beginning from the assumption of inevitability, the book traces the uneven processes through which moral seriousness, religious sensibility, and public responsibility are slowly formed. By attending to childhood, family discipline, education, and early encounters with racial power, it shows how democratic leadership emerges from ordinary settings shaped by constraint, conflict, and care. The result is a portrait of King that is less reassuring but more instructive—one that presses us to think harder about how character is cultivated and how democratic commitments are sustained over time." — Melvin Rogers, award-winning author of The Darkened Light of Faith"Put simply, Young King is one of the most important books ever written about Martin Luther King, Jr. Lerone Martin has managed to do the impossible—every page of his elegantly written prose brings us eye to eye with a growing child, not an icon. I found myself completely enthralled." — Dr. W. Jason Miller, author of Origins of the Dream"Much of the Martin Luther King Jr. we know and admire today appears as fully formed genius. In Young King, Lerone Martin brings us into the early years that shaped King’s vision, humanity, and moral clarity, revealing how a young man became a transcendent force for peace and love. Grounded in faith, struggle, and hard-won discipline, this is a story of growth with lessons for leaders, students, and anyone working to become a better version of themselves." — Evan Spiegel, co-founder and CEO of Snap Inc.