From a preeminent King scholar, the origin story of the man, minister, and civil rights hero who would lead the nation and change the world. We know who Martin Luther King, Jr. became, but who was he at the beginning of his life? How did his youth inform his outlook and activism? Before Martin Luther King, Jr. was a civil rights leader, a Nobel Laureate, and a global hero, he was an emotional boy, a middling high school student devoted to fashion, dancing, and dating. Lerone A. Martin, Faculty Director of the Martin Luther King Institute at Stanford University, traces these roots to develop a fuller understanding of the influential preacher’s emotional life, his youthful confusion about his future and career direction, his teenage missteps, and his inspiration to fight for justice. Revelatory, humanizing, and compassionate, Young King unearths: MLK's Childhood on Auburn Avenue : his days as “Little Mike"—the ever-eager middle child and a precocious prankster—spent at Ebenezer Baptist Church and the Auburn Avenue Library in Atlanta - Early Encounters with Racism : his early experiences of segregation and the summers he spent on a Connecticut tobacco farm, his first trip outside the Jim Crow South - College Life at Morehouse : his transformative time at Morehouse, playing basketball, hosting parties, studying sociology, and joining the Ministers’ Union - Path to Seminary and Activism : his winding path to seminary and the co-development of his activist consciousness, his spiritual devotion, and his relationship with Coretta, his wife-to-be As America undergoes another era of turmoil and change, this powerful biography provides a vital roadmap for how greatness comes to light. This essential work is a testament to how history shapes a leader. Young King includes rarely seen black-and-white photographs of an adolescent MLK from his high school days and college years. " 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 K