Articles by: Peter Dreier

In this April 3, 1968, file photo, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. makes his last public appearance at the Mason Temple in Memphis, Tenn. (Photo: AP/Charles Kelly, File)

A True and Visionary Radical, Martin Luther King Jr. Was No Moderate

In his absorbing profile of the writer Alex Haley (author of “Roots” and “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”) in the New York Times Book Review a year ago, Michael Patrick Hearn made a familiar mistake. He wrote: “Politically [Haley] he was a moderate, philosophically more Martin than Malcolm.” Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was no moderate. Today, he is viewed as something of an[Read More…]

by 17/01/2023 Comments are Disabled Life/Philosophy
100 Years Ago, Eugene Debs Gave An Anti-War Speech That Landed Him in Prison

100 Years Ago, Eugene Debs Gave An Anti-War Speech That Landed Him in Prison

In 1920, Eugene Victor Debs ran for president from a cell in the federal prison in Atlanta for a speech opposing World War 1 that he gave 100 years ago – on June 18, 1918.   Despite his imprisonment, Debs received 913,664 votes – 3.4 percent of the total. In his speech, the Socialist Party leader told a packed crowd at a[Read More…]

by 20/06/2018 2 comments Life/Philosophy