This week on Under the Radar:
As we approach Martin Luther King Jr. Day, there's new evidence that the civil rights icon’s life and the civil rights movement have been willfully misinterpreted. This is part of what’s become a public battle over teaching the documented history of race in America. What is the impact of this campaign of disinformation on civil rights and race history in America?
Guests:
Jeanne Theoharis, distinguished professor of political science at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. She has authored or co-authored eleven books, including the award-winning, “ The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks.” Her latest book is, “ A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History.”
Diane McWhorter, 2002 Pulitzer Prizewinner for General Nonfiction for her book, “Carry Me Home, Birmingham Alabama, the Climatic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution.” A longtime contributor to the New York Times, she is also the author of the 2004 children’s book, “ A Dream of Freedom: The Civil Rights Movement From 1954-1965,” a young adult history of the civil rights movement.