Racisme

1970 · List922 — Richmond Virginia and Milton Massachusetts 1970. Various formats generally near fine with light normal wear. Near Fine. Throughout his career Martin Luther King Jr. had to defend himself repeatedly over allegations of Communist-related activities and sympathies. His associations with several alleged communistes led the FBI to open an investigation in 1962 and his appearance at the Highlander Folk School led to a proliferation of material from far-right groups alleging that he had attended a "Communist Training School" with billboards showing a picture of King at the school appearing during the Selma-Montgomery March. <br /> <br /> Julia Brown was an FBI agent who according to her own book and lectures spent several years undercover as a member of the Communist Party in Cleveland. She made a career in the 60s writing and lecturing on the subject and in particular trying to tie King to Communism in various ways. Her book on the subject still attracts some readers who maintain that King was secretly a violent Communist whose true intentions were to divide the country. <br /> <br /> Collected here are four ephemeral examples relating to Brown's and others' anti-King efforts mostly from Richmond Virginia as follows:<br /> <br /> Printed broadside 8 ½ x 5 ½ inches entitled Richmond is Indebted to Julia Brown advertising Brown as being responsible for King cancelling two trips to Richmond due to Brown's lectures and encouraging people to attend another by her likely published by the Richmond Area T A C T Committee; printed handbill 8 ½ x 11 inches folded entitled Martin Luther King Memorial Bridge - Never alleging King to be a communist and published by the Action-by-Citizens Committee mid 1970s; small card measuring 3 ¾ x 2 ½ inches advertising a speech by Brown on "The Frightening Background of Martin Luther King" March 28 1968 in Richmond published by the American Opinion Library of Richmond; and an anti Martin Luther King Day two-sided handbill published by the Council on Domestic Relations in Milton Massachusetts likely in 1971 using Brown's likeness and essays on King to argue against the establishment of a national holiday in his honor. unknown books