Clayborne Carson
Clayborne Carson | |
---|---|
Carson in 2017 | |
Born | (1944-06-15) June 15, 1944 (age 79) Buffalo, New York, U.S. |
Spouse | Susan Ann Carson |
Children | 2 |
Academic background | |
Education | University of California, Los Angeles (BA, MA, PhD) |
Academic work | |
Era | 20th century |
Institutions | Stanford University |
Main interests | Civil Rights Movement Martin Luther King Jr. |
Clayborne Carson (born June 15, 1944) is an American academic who is a professor of history at Stanford University and director of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute. Since 1985, he has directed the Martin Luther King Papers Project, a long-term project to edit and publish the papers of Martin Luther King Jr.
Early life and education
Carson was born on June 15, 1944, in Buffalo, New York; son of Clayborne and Louise Carson. He grew up near Los Alamos, New Mexico, where his was one of a small number of African-American families. He attributes his lifelong interest in the Civil Rights Movement to that experience. "I had this really strong curiosity about the black world, because in Los Alamos the black world was a very few families. When the civil rights movement started, I had this real fascination with it, and I wanted to meet the people in it."[1]
After graduating from Los Alamos High School in 1962, Carson attended the University of New Mexico for his first year on college during the 1962–1963 school year. At age 19, Carson met Stokely Carmichael at a national student conference in Indiana. Carmichael convinced him to attend the March on Washington For Jobs and Freedom as a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, pronounced "snick").[2] On August 28, 1963, Carson was overwhelmed to find himself among hundreds of thousands of African Americans at the March. This was the first big thing Carson had done in contribution to the Civil Rights Movement.[3] Recalling the March, at which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial, Carson says, "I have a lot of vivid memories, but not of King's speech." What left the biggest impression, he says, were "the people I met there."[1] The March was also the only time Carson had ever heard Dr. King speak in public.[2]
It wasn't until 1964 after Carson had transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) that he became more active in what he calls the "northern version of the southern struggle",[3] and continued with SNCC.[2] At UCLA Carson Changed his field of study from computer programming to American History. Here he earned his B.A. (1967), M.A. (1971), and wrote his doctoral dissertation on Stokely Carmichael and SNCC which earned him his Ph.D. (1975).[2] While studying at UCLA, he was also involved with anti-Vietnam War protests. He speaks of that experience in his current writing, highlighting the importance of grassroots political activity within the African-American freedom struggle.
Career
Carson has been a professor at Stanford University for more than 40 years, where he primarily teaches U.S. History and African American History.[4] Carson has taught and lectured in Britain, France, China, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Tanzania,[5] and throughout the United States.[6] He teaches and lectures about Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Black Panther Party, and other subjects related to the black struggle and civil rights. He has been a frequent guest on Pacifica Radio station KPFA in Berkeley, California, and has also appeared on programs like NPR's Fresh Air, the Tavis Smiley Show, the Charlie Rose Show, Good Morning America, and the CBS Evening News. Carson is a member of the global council of the California International Law Center at the University of California, Davis School of Law.[5] Carson is also a member of several professional organizations including: the American Historical Association (AHA), the Organization of American Historians (OAH), the Social Science History Association (SSAH), the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History (ASAALH), and the Southern Historical Association.[7]
Carson has also written several books and articles regarding the Civil Rights Movement, and has made contributions to many more as well as documentaries, and interviews.[7] His first book In Struggle: SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s was awarded the Fredrick Jackson Turner Award in 1982.[8] Carson was also the Historical Adviser for the film Freedom on My Mind, which in 1995 was nominated for an Oscar.[8]
In 1985, Coretta Scott King asked Carson to lead a project to publish King's previously unpublished works.[4] In an interview conducted in 2008, Carson explains that he initially declined to work as Senior Editor to Dr. King's works, Carson had "never really thought of [himself] as a King biographer. [He] was a SNCC person," he said, referencing the discord between SNCC and Dr. King that occurred during the movement. Carson eventually agreed to oversee the project mentioning that he would not have accepted the job if the family held control over Dr. King's works. Carson and his staff has spent over 20 years working to edit and publish Dr. King's works.[9]
On April 3, 2018, Clayborne Carson, as the director of the MLK Research and Education Institute, hosted a screening of a documentary that he helped create called I'm MLK, Jr. After the screening he hosted an additional event celebrating the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s last speech, "I've Been to the Mountaintop".
In 2021, Carson was nominated by President Joe Biden to serve as a member of the newly formed Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board.[10]
Personal life
Carson married Susan Ann Beyer in 1967, who at the time was a librarian.[2] Until her retirement, she was the managing editor of the King Papers Project, and lives in Palo Alto, California. He has a daughter and son.
Awards and achievements
- Andrew Mellon Fellowship (1977)[8]
- Fredrick Jackson Turner Award of the organization of American Historians for In Struggle:SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s (1982)[11]
- Rosa Park Distinguished Citizen Award, Martin Luther King, Jr., Association of Santa Clara Valley (1991)[8]
- Society of American Historians; elected member (1991)[8]
- Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences Fellowship (1991)[8]
- Honorary Doctorate from Pacific Graduate School of Psychology (1995)[8]
- Founders Award for Historical Scholarship from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (2000)[2]
- International design competition for the National Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington D.C; winning team member (2000)[8]
- Gandhi King Ikeda Award from Martin Luther King, Jr. International Chapel, Gandhi Institute for reconciliation, Morehouse College, Atlanta (2004)[8]
- Commendation Resolution by California Legislative Black Caucus, California Assembly, Sacramento (2007)[8]
- Honorary Doctorate from Morehouse College (2007)[8]
- Honorary Doctorate from Niagara University (2008)[8]
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Research Fellowship from Howard Gotlieb Archival Center at Boston University (2009)[8]
- Community Leader Award from Peninsula Bay Chapter of The Links, Inc. (2010)[8]
- Local Hero of the Year Award from KQED/Union Bank (2011)[2]
- Joseph B, and Toby Gittler Prize from Brandeis University (2012)[8]
- Honorary Doctorate from Westminster College (2015)[8]
- Freedom Flame Award from Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee, Inc. (2016)[8]
- Tikkun Award from the Network of Spiritual Progressives (2016)[8]
- Willie B. Kennedy Award from the Northern California Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Foundation (2018)[8]
- John W. Blassingame Award from the Southern Historical Association (2018)[8]
- Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation Award for promoting Gandhian values outside India (2018)[8]
Select bibliography
- Carson, Clayborne (1981). In struggle : SNCC and the Black awakening of the 1960s. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674447264.[11]
- Senior Academic Adviser "Eyes on the Prize" PBS,1987-1990.[11]
- co-editor, The Eyes on the Prize Civil Rights Reader. Penguin Books, 1991. ISBN 0-14-015403-5
- Historical Adviser,"Freedom on My Mind" Tara Releasing, 1994.[11]
- Co-editor with David Gallen, Malcolm X: the FBI file. Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1991. ISBN 978-0-88184-758-1[2]
- Co-author with Carol Berkin and others, American Voices A History of the United States. Scott Foresman and Company, 1992. ISBN 0673352579[2]
- co-author, A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Grand Central Publishers, 1998. ISBN 978-0-446-52346-2
- co-author, The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. Grand Central Publishers, 2001. ISBN 978-0-446-67650-2
- co-editor, African American Lives: The Struggle for Freedom. Volume I. Longman, 2004. ISBN 978-0-201-79487-8
- co-editor, African American Lives: The Struggle for Freedom. Volume II. Longman, 2004. ISBN 978-0-201-79489-2
- co-author, The Martin Luther King, Jr. Encyclopedia. Greenwood Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-313-29440-2[2]
- senior editor, The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.. Vols. 1–4. University of California Press, 1992–2007.
- co-editor with Kris Shepard, A Call to Conscience: The Landmark Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." Warner Books, Inc., 2001. ISBN 0-446-52399-2[2]
- consultant, Civil Rights Chronicle : the African-American Struggle for Freedom Publications International, Ltd., 2003. ISBN 978-0-785-34924-2[2]
- Martin's Dream: My Journey and the Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. A Memoir. Palgrave MacMillan, 2013. ISBN 978-0-230-62169-5
- — (2015). "Prologue. Martin's dream : the global legacy of Martin Luther King Jr" (PDF). Bulletin of the German Historical Institute (Washington DC). Supplement 11: 15–21. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 12, 2015.
- Historical Adviser, "Chicano! History of Mexican American Civil Rights" NLCC Educational Media, 1996 .[11]
- Historical Adviser, "Black and Jews" 1997 .[11]
- co-author, "Blacks and Jews in the Civil Rights Movement," in Strangers and Neighbors: Relations between Blacks and Jews in the United States, University of Massachusetts Press, 2000. ISBN 978-1-55849-236-3[12]
- Author of introduction, Stride Toward Freedom: Montgomery Story. Beacon Press, 2010. ISBN 0807000698[2]
- Co-Author, This Light is Ours: Activist Photographs of the Civil Rights Movement. WW Norton & Co, 2009. ISBN 0393306046[2]
- Author of play Passages of Martin Luther King. 1993[6]
References
- ^ a b Diane Manuel, "A Sudden Call", Stanford Today, May/June 1996.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Clayborne Carson." Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2014. Biography In Context. Accessed 21 May 2019.
- ^ a b Carson, Clayborne. Interview. Valerie Lampman. 23 May 2019.
- ^ a b Clayborne Carson Full Bio. 16 June 2015. 25 May 2019. [1] Archived 2019-06-11 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ a b http://www.law.ucdavis.edu/academics-clinicals/cilc/global-council.html[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b “Clayborne Carson.” Clayborne Carson Biography | King Legacy Series, www.thekinglegacy.org/individuals/clayborne-carson
- ^ a b Clayborne Carson. November 2013. 9 May 2019. [2].
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u “Honors and Awards.” The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute, 4 Mar. 2019, kinginstitute.stanford.edu/institute/clayborne-carson/curriculum-vita/honors-and-awards.
- ^ Carson, Clayborne. Interview. Christopher Phelps. Chronicle of High Education, 18 January 2008.
- ^ "White House names nominees for Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board". TheGrio. 2021-06-12. Retrieved 2021-10-19.
- ^ a b c d e f Clayborne Carson . November 2013. 9 May 2019. [3].
- ^ "Strangers and Neighbors". www.umass.edu. University of Massachusetts Press.
External links
- Clayborne Carson Home Page, Stanford University
- http://www.librarything.com/combine.php?author=carsonclayborne
- Clayborne Carson at IMDb
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Interview[dead link] with Tavis Smiley on January 15, 2007
- "Historian Clayborne Carson, with stories from Martin's Dream". Tavis Smiley. PBS. January 21, 2013. Retrieved December 30, 2016.
- Interview with Clayborne Carson
- https://twitter.com/claybornecarson?lang=en Carson's Twitter Page
- v
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(timeline)
groups
- Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights
- Atlanta Student Movement
- Black Panther Party
- Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
- Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
- Committee for Freedom Now
- Committee on Appeal for Human Rights
- Council for United Civil Rights Leadership
- Council of Federated Organizations
- Dallas County Voters League
- Deacons for Defense and Justice
- Georgia Council on Human Relations
- Highlander Folk School
- Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
- Lowndes County Freedom Organization
- Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
- Montgomery Improvement Association
- NAACP
- Nashville Student Movement
- Nation of Islam
- Northern Student Movement
- National Council of Negro Women
- National Urban League
- Operation Breadbasket
- Regional Council of Negro Leadership
- Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
- Southern Regional Council
- Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
- The Freedom Singers
- United Auto Workers (UAW)
- Wednesdays in Mississippi
- Women's Political Council
- Ralph Abernathy
- Victoria Gray Adams
- Zev Aelony
- Mathew Ahmann
- Muhammad Ali
- William G. Anderson
- Gwendolyn Armstrong
- Arnold Aronson
- Ella Baker
- James Baldwin
- Marion Barry
- Daisy Bates
- Harry Belafonte
- James Bevel
- Claude Black
- Gloria Blackwell
- Randolph Blackwell
- Unita Blackwell
- Ezell Blair Jr.
- Joanne Bland
- Julian Bond
- Joseph E. Boone
- William Holmes Borders
- Amelia Boynton
- Bruce Boynton
- Raylawni Branch
- Stanley Branche
- Ruby Bridges
- Aurelia Browder
- H. Rap Brown
- Ralph Bunche
- Guy Carawan
- Stokely Carmichael
- Johnnie Carr
- James Chaney
- J. L. Chestnut
- Shirley Chisholm
- Colia Lafayette Clark
- Ramsey Clark
- Septima Clark
- Xernona Clayton
- Eldridge Cleaver
- Kathleen Cleaver
- Charles E. Cobb Jr.
- Annie Lee Cooper
- Dorothy Cotton
- Claudette Colvin
- Vernon Dahmer
- Jonathan Daniels
- Abraham Lincoln Davis
- Angela Davis
- Joseph DeLaine
- Dave Dennis
- Annie Devine
- Patricia Stephens Due
- Joseph Ellwanger
- Charles Evers
- Medgar Evers
- Myrlie Evers-Williams
- Chuck Fager
- James Farmer
- Walter Fauntroy
- James Forman
- Marie Foster
- Golden Frinks
- Andrew Goodman
- Robert Graetz
- Fred Gray
- Jack Greenberg
- Dick Gregory
- Lawrence Guyot
- Prathia Hall
- Fannie Lou Hamer
- Fred Hampton
- William E. Harbour
- Vincent Harding
- Dorothy Height
- Audrey Faye Hendricks
- Lola Hendricks
- Aaron Henry
- Oliver Hill
- Donald L. Hollowell
- James Hood
- Myles Horton
- Zilphia Horton
- T. R. M. Howard
- Ruby Hurley
- Cecil Ivory
- Jesse Jackson
- Jimmie Lee Jackson
- Richie Jean Jackson
- T. J. Jemison
- Esau Jenkins
- Barbara Rose Johns
- Vernon Johns
- Frank Minis Johnson
- Clarence Jones
- J. Charles Jones
- Matthew Jones
- Vernon Jordan
- Tom Kahn
- Clyde Kennard
- A. D. King
- C.B. King
- Coretta Scott King
- Martin Luther King Jr.
- Martin Luther King Sr.
- Bernard Lafayette
- James Lawson
- Bernard Lee
- Sanford R. Leigh
- Jim Letherer
- Stanley Levison
- John Lewis
- Viola Liuzzo
- Z. Alexander Looby
- Joseph Lowery
- Clara Luper
- Danny Lyon
- Malcolm X
- Mae Mallory
- Vivian Malone
- Bob Mants
- Thurgood Marshall
- Benjamin Mays
- Franklin McCain
- Charles McDew
- Ralph McGill
- Floyd McKissick
- Joseph McNeil
- James Meredith
- William Ming
- Jack Minnis
- Amzie Moore
- Cecil B. Moore
- Douglas E. Moore
- Harriette Moore
- Harry T. Moore
- Queen Mother Moore
- William Lewis Moore
- Irene Morgan
- Bob Moses
- William Moyer
- Elijah Muhammad
- Diane Nash
- Charles Neblett
- Huey P. Newton
- Edgar Nixon
- Jack O'Dell
- James Orange
- Rosa Parks
- James Peck
- Charles Person
- Homer Plessy
- Adam Clayton Powell Jr.
- Fay Bellamy Powell
- Rodney N. Powell
- Al Raby
- Lincoln Ragsdale
- A. Philip Randolph
- George Raymond
- George Raymond Jr.
- Bernice Johnson Reagon
- Cordell Reagon
- James Reeb
- Frederick D. Reese
- Walter Reuther
- Gloria Richardson
- David Richmond
- Bernice Robinson
- Jo Ann Robinson
- Angela Russell
- Bayard Rustin
- Bernie Sanders
- Michael Schwerner
- Bobby Seale
- Cleveland Sellers
- Charles Sherrod
- Alexander D. Shimkin
- Fred Shuttlesworth
- Modjeska Monteith Simkins
- Glenn E. Smiley
- A. Maceo Smith
- Kelly Miller Smith
- Mary Louise Smith
- Maxine Smith
- Ruby Doris Smith-Robinson
- Charles Kenzie Steele
- Hank Thomas
- Dorothy Tillman
- A. P. Tureaud
- Hartman Turnbow
- Albert Turner
- C. T. Vivian
- Wyatt Tee Walker
- Hollis Watkins
- Walter Francis White
- Roy Wilkins
- Hosea Williams
- Kale Williams
- Robert F. Williams
- Andrew Young
- Whitney Young
- Sammy Younge Jr.
- Bob Zellner
- James Zwerg
songs
- "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round"
- "If You Miss Me at the Back of the Bus"
- "Kumbaya"
- "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize"
- "Oh, Freedom"
- "This Little Light of Mine"
- "We Shall Not Be Moved"
- "We Shall Overcome"
- "Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind Stayed On Freedom)"
- Jim Crow laws
- Lynching in the United States
- Plessy v. Ferguson
- Buchanan v. Warley
- Hocutt v. Wilson
- Sweatt v. Painter
- Hernandez v. Texas
- Loving v. Virginia
- African-American women in the movement
- Jews in the civil rights movement
- Fifth Circuit Four
- 16th Street Baptist Church
- Kelly Ingram Park
- A.G. Gaston Motel
- Bethel Baptist Church
- Brown Chapel
- Dexter Avenue Baptist Church
- Holt Street Baptist Church
- Edmund Pettus Bridge
- March on Washington Movement
- African-American churches attacked
- List of lynching victims in the United States
- Freedom Schools
- Freedom songs
- Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam
- "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence"
- Voter Education Project
- 1960s counterculture
- African American founding fathers of the United States
- Eyes on the Prize
- In popular culture
- Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
- Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument
- Civil Rights Memorial
- Civil Rights Movement Archive
- Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument
- Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument
- Freedom Rides Museum
- Freedom Riders National Monument
- King Center for Nonviolent Social Change
- Martin Luther King Jr. Day
- Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
- Mississippi Civil Rights Museum
- National Civil Rights Museum
- National Voting Rights Museum
- St. Augustine Foot Soldiers Monument
historians