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King: A Life
October 29, 2023 @ 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm EDT
The Baton Foundation will host a conversation with author Jonathan Eig about his new biography of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This program is free to the public, but registration is required.
About the Book
Vividly written and exhaustively researched, Jonathan Eig’s King: A Life (Macmillan, 2023) is the first major biography in decades of civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr. — and the first to include recently declassified FBI files. In this revelatory new portrait of the preacher and activist who shook the world, the bestselling biographer gives us an intimate view of the courageous and often emotionally troubled human being who demanded peaceful protest for his movement but was rarely at peace with himself. Eig casts fresh light on the King family’s origins as well as MLK’s complex relationships with his wife, father, and fellow activists. King reveals a minister wrestling with his own human frailties and dark moods, a citizen hunted by his own government, and a man determined to fight for justice even if it proved to be a fight to the death. As he follows MLK from the classroom to the pulpit to the streets of Birmingham, Selma, and Memphis, Eig dramatically re-creates the journey of a man who recast American race relations and became our only modern-day founding father—as well as the nation’s most mourned martyr.
In this landmark biography, Jonathan Eig gives us an MLK for our times: a deep thinker, a brilliant strategist, and a committed radical who led one of history’s greatest movements, and whose demands for racial and economic justice remain as urgent today as they were in his lifetime.
About the Speakers
Jonathan Eig is a former senior writer for The Wall Street Journal. He is the New York Times bestselling author of several books, including Ali: A Life, Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig, and Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season. Ken Burns calls him “a master storyteller,” and Eig’s books have been listed among the best of the year by The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Sports Illustrated, and Slate. He lives in Chicago with his wife and children.
Kiplyn Primus is a journalist, strategic marketing professional, and host of WCLK’s (91.9) The Local Take with Kiplyn Primus—a public affairs show that features discussions about critical issues facing Atlanta and profiles organizations engaged in important work in the station’s constituent communities.
Ms. Primus has had a long career in public and commercial media, including stints with The Atlanta Tribune, Global Atlanta, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Her work in strategic marketing focuses on health, finance and the tech industry, including Goldman Sachs and the DeKalb Hospital Authority. In addition, she has written extensively on global and local initiatives for several publications and media outlets. Kiplyn is also a veteran facilitator with the Atlanta-based StoryCorps studio—the largest oral history project in the United States.
Ms. Primus received a BA degree in journalism and English from Howard University (Washington, D.C.) and an MBA in marketing from Clark Atlanta University (Atlanta, GA).