I love the Benjamin L. Hooks National Book Award. That certainly will not be a surprise to hear from a Professor of English intent on getting people to remember the benefits of reading as part of a full life and not just one’s career. I love the Hooks Book Award because so many of the works offer us a deeper, and often even more inspiring, understanding of the people and events that often get ignored when discussing mid-twentieth century Civil Rights Movement. Since 2010, the year of Hooks’s death, the Benjamin Hooks Institute for Social Change has selected one outstanding work of non-fiction as its Hooks National Book Award winner. The Book Award honors works that explore the moments, people, and happenings of the Civil Rights Movement of the mid-twentieth century. The award winners offer a portrait of the movement that not only feature prominent leaders like Hooks himself in new and complex ways, but they often move beyond the major figures to the foot soldiers whose courage and dedication sustained the movement through victories and defeats.

Many of the award winners, such as Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC, tell the stories of the unsung and unknown civil rights workers and activists. We see the struggle for civil rights occur just as often in small rural towns in the South as we do in well-known cities like Birmingham and Selma. The Hooks Book Award shines a light on the places and people who did hard work of fighting for social justice even after the cameras stopped rolling. Additionally, the award highlights the continuing importance of social justice and expands the sites where social justice work can take place and the methods by which social justice may be achieved. Award-winning books have chronicled the lives of African Americans seeking social justice through economic empowerment, rural settlements, and black theater performances in the Deep South.

The presentation of the Book Award, which also includes a lecture by the author, remains one of the most exciting and dynamic events at the University of Memphis. Its dynamism appears in the event itself, which looks different every time. Whether held at the lively Hattiloo Theater, the historic National Civil Rights Museum, or the University’s beautiful Student Center, the Book Award brings authors to Memphis to stimulate conversations about the national civil rights movement. When authors come in, we bear witness to a gathering of scholars and students exploring new perspectives and underappreciated figures in the fight for social justice. Perhaps most importantly, the event provides an opportunity for community involvement, outreach, and engagement. It encourages a well-informed, well-read public as part of our discussions and as part of our understanding of past and future social justice battles. The Book Award event, then, extends the Hooks Institute’s mission of drawing connections between the university and the community, between the scholarship in the Ivory Tower and the lived experiences of people in the city. As community members add the voices of Memphians, past and present, we remind others that stories in Birmingham and Jackson and Montgomery are also stories in Memphis. In these moments, both groups assess and memorialize the stories found in the book and each other. I celebrate these moments. Hearing the stories of community members who have stories of their own is inspiring. The stories echo forward into the present and remind us how close the past remains.

The echo of the stories we hear at the Book Award event shapes our present and has led to award winners that chronicle the years after the Civil Rights Movement. I am reminded of Hooks’s own words in 1977 that the movement was not yet over: “the Civil Rights Movement is not dead. If anyone thinks that we are not going to demonstrate and protest, they had better roll up the sidewalks.” His belief in an ongoing civil rights movement informs the book award winners whose work covers the period after the traditional years of the Civil Rights Movement and that informs the social justice issues of the twenty-first century. They signal, as Hooks did, that the struggle for social justice did not end with voting rights or civil rights legislation. Nor did the obstacles.

So, some works chronicle the movement’s impact on our contemporary moment, such as Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America. Others pointedly detail the civil rights issues of our time, whether mass incarceration in Locking up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America or educational inequality in post-Brown v. Board of Education. The books are often rooted in a recovery, interrogation, and celebration of the work that Hooks valued. Indeed, the winners reflect Hooks’s own varied career in his fight for social justice. Some works are consistent with his work in the SCLC and NAACP through non-violent marches and legal cases. Yet other works move beyond these traditional uses of activism to include his agitation for increasing minority owned businesses, or demanding equality in the entertainment industry.

The biographies of journalists Ethel Payne and artist Romare Bearden reveal the importance of news and art to inspire and inform in the face of violent oppression and structural inequity.. Their works, along with Julius Fleming’s Black Patience: Performance, Civil Rights, and the Unfinished Project of Emancipation, suggest that there are many paths to social justice and that culture is often is just as important as legislation and elections.

The two best moments for me remain the moment all the submissions arrive in my office and the day the committee sits down to decide on the award winner. The last two years have seen a record number of submissions from first-time authors to Pulitzer Prize winners. They speak to the respect for Hooks’s legacy and the growing prestige of the award itself. This makes deciding a winner incredibly difficult. Thankfully, that task falls to a committee of scholars who read, debate, and celebrate the five finalists. They are lively discussions, combining intellect and emotion, experience with curiosity, and they leave us excited to hear how the public will respond to the choice we ultimately make.

In celebrating the legacy of Benjamin Hooks, especially now in the year he would have turned 100, we not only have a responsibility to honor the man and his legacy, but also the work he supported and that continues to be necessary. While the Institute is committed to intensive study of social justice issues from scholars at the university, the Book Award offers the opportunity to examine the past as a way to understand the present and prepare for the future.

Author Bio: Dr. Terrence T. Tucker is Professor of African American Literature and Chair of the Department of English at the University of Memphis. He is the author of Furiously Funny: Comic Rage from Ralph Ellison to Chris Rock (University Press of Florida, 2018). His current research focuses on the African American middle and upper class in literature and film. He has also published essays on topics ranging from race and pedagogy to post-soul satire as well as the work of Ernest Gaines and Walter Mosley, The Boondocks, and African-American superheroes. He recently co-edited a special issue on journal on Afrofuturism in the College Language Association Journal (CLAJ).

January 20, 2025, is the national holiday celebrating the birthday of civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. On this day, we reflect not only on the impactful life King led but also on the enduring legacy he left—a legacy that remains integral to the progress of not just Black Americans but also marginalized communities across the United States who have benefitted from the battles he and many others fought for civil rights and justice.

Although President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, declaring freedom for enslaved Africans, true liberation was slow and fraught with setbacks. At the conclusion of the American Civil War, the Reconstruction era (1865–1877) brought significant, albeit brief, advancements for formerly enslaved Africans. Key achievements during this time included the ratification of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution between 1865 and 1870. These amendments abolished slavery (13th), established birthright citizenship and equal protection under the law (14th), and granted Black men the right to vote while prohibiting racial discrimination in voting (15th). Despite these strides, the era’s progress was short-lived. As Reconstruction ended, the rise of Jim Crow laws across the United States systematically dismantled these hard-fought gains.

From the late 19th century until approximately 1968, Jim Crow laws enforced racial segregation in cities and states across the country. These laws, named after a minstrel show character (Morris, 2021), institutionalized discrimination and segregation in nearly every aspect of life, including separate water fountains, bathrooms, schools, waiting areas, and even laws restricting Black people from entering certain towns after dark, known as “Sundown Towns” (Loewen, 2018).

Amid this backdrop of systemic oppression emerged Dr. Martin Luther King Jr: a pastor’s son who became one of the most influential leaders of the civil rights movement. While figures like Marcus Garvey advocated for emigration from the United States and Malcolm X often promoted a more militant approach, King championed nonviolent resistance. His methods disrupted systems of oppression by targeting their economic structures, leveraging boycotts and other nonviolent protests as powerful tools for change.

Dr. King’s pivotal role in the civil rights movement began in 1955, catalyzed by the actions of two Black women, Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks, who refused to give up their seats on segregated buses. The Montgomery Bus Boycott, which lasted 385 days, became a landmark event that brought King to national prominence. The boycott inflicted significant financial losses on Montgomery’s bus companies, local businesses, and city finances. During this time, King’s home was bombed, and he was arrested for minor traffic violations, demonstrating the personal sacrifices he endured for the movement. Ultimately, the U.S. District Court ruled in favor of desegregating Montgomery’s buses, marking a significant victory for civil rights activists.

In 1961, King led the Albany Movement in Georgia, and in 1963, he spearheaded the Birmingham Campaign in Alabama. Supported by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), King organized sit-ins and protests to challenge racial segregation and economic injustice. In Birmingham, nonviolent protesters faced brutal repression, including high-pressure water hoses and police dogs. While imprisoned in Birmingham, King wrote his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” articulating the moral imperative for civil disobedience against unjust laws. His resilience and leadership in Birmingham inspired national and international attention to the civil rights struggle.

One of King’s most iconic moments occurred on August 28, 1963, during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Joined by leaders from the NAACP, the National Urban League, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the Congress of Racial Equality, King delivered his historic “I Have a Dream” speech. Standing before the Lincoln Memorial, he envisioned a nation where people of all races would live in equality, judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

At the age of 35, Martin Luther King Jr. accepted the Nobel Peace Prize, an honor that recognized his remarkable contributions as an agent of change and as the face of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. This recognition highlighted how the world was watching the events unfolding in America and how standing up against oppressive laws could be achieved through nonviolent means. In his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Martin Luther King Jr. reflected on the paradox of technological progress and moral regression, stating:

Yet, in spite of these spectacular strides in science and technology, and still unlimited ones to come, something basic is missing. There is a sort of poverty of the spirit which stands in glaring contrast to our scientific and technological abundance.

The richer we have become materially, the poorer we have become morally and spiritually. We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers.

King’s words emphasized his concern about the rapid pace of technological advancement contrasted with the lack of compassion and unity among humanity. This dissonance deeply troubled him, not only for the future of the United States but for the global community. Martin Luther King Jr.’s relentless fight for both equality and equity extended beyond Black Americans; it was a universal struggle for justice that inspired people of all races, religions, and creeds. His efforts, along with those of many unnamed and unsung heroes, created the foundation on which countless others would stand. Ultimately, it was this fight for civil rights that Martin Luther King Jr. loved and sacrificed his life for.

Tragically, on April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, where he had been advocating for Black sanitation workers demanding fair wages and working conditions. His untimely death left an indelible mark on the nation, solidifying his legacy as a martyr for justice and equality.

This Forum Post is not meant to be comprehensive biography of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life but rather a moment to reflect on his pivotal contributions to the civil rights movement and the sacrifices made to secure the freedoms many enjoy today. As we honor his memory, it is fitting to revisit a passage from his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech:

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

As we navigate the challenges of our time, let us hold fast to King’s dream of a just and equitable society for all. By embracing and celebrating our individual differences, we move closer to realizing the American dream that King envisioned for everyone—a dream of unity, justice, and equality.

References:

Loewen, James. Sundown towns: A hidden dimension of American racism. The New Press, 2018.

Morris, Wesley. Music. In The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story, edited by Nikole Hannah-Jones, 359-381. New York: One World Books, 2021.

Author’s Bio

Curtis Ladrillo Chamblee M.A. is a scholar specializing in media studies, critical cultural studies, and African American rhetoric, with a research focus on the representation and construction of Black masculinity in film and television. Their work critically engages with themes of place, identity, and cultural discourse, exemplified in their dissertation on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Curtis is committed to fostering equity and inclusion through teaching, mentoring, and rigorous scholarship, while also reflecting on the enduring influence of personal experiences and relationships in shaping their academic and intellectual pursuits.

2024 was the second time I have had to teach first thing in the morning after a Trump victory. This time around, I was more seasoned, probably a little more pessimistic, and definitely less shocked than I was eight years prior as a mere 26-year-old, first-year teaching assistant, facing my students with thinly veiled emotions and a loss of words.

Since that first Trump election in 2016, a lot has changed. I have steeled myself against the relentless attacks on the political and human rights that my communities and I had previously held more certain. I became more aware of mutual aid networks, and I got more involved in direct community support and grassroots activism (in Washington D.C. of all places!) as some of our best response to these attacks. And I have also become a more veteran instructor of service-learning pedagogy, having trained in 2018 with the University of Maryland’s Do Good Institute to develop a community-oriented version of the standard public-speaking basic course. In this class, students individually choose a local nonprofit that they must research and speak about informatively before conducting a needs-based assessment through an interview with a staff member, and then creatively (and critically) pitching persuasively a small-scale community project that they might want to enact as a class in the last few weeks of the semester. My public speaking students, therefore, learn to not only speak well, but to also do good.

On November 6, 2024, I walked into my classroom at the University of South Carolina Upstate – a regional college in a very conservative state where I have seen students don anti-Biden/pro-Trump apparel – without any fanfare regarding the election, and quickly turned them to the task at hand: the launch of our service-learning inspired civic engagement projects. For the six years that I have been leading service-learning public speaking, “Group Kick Off” day is always my favorite day of the semester, as students transition from individually researching, analyzing, assessing, and speaking about community needs to collaboratively starting group projects to address those needs. Over the next few weeks, my students would spend the rest of the semester raising money to support the Public Education Partners of Greenville County, encouraging college-student literacy through a book swap event benefiting the minority-owned Hub City Writers Project, collecting Christmas gifts for the children and women at the Julie Valentine Center, and even doing a pet-rock race fundraiser for Children’s Cancer Partners of the Carolinas. Collectively, they raised nearly $1,000 and forged lasting partnerships between the university and local organizations. These projects not only helped meet immediate community needs but also empowered students to see themselves as active agents of change.”

This is what gives me hope in a sea of despair following the Trump victory. Students, some still high schoolers in dual enrollment, are working with joy and vigor to help their communities and make them stronger. They are working to help public school teachers, creative thinkers, survivors of domestic and sexual abuse, and children undergoing cancer treatment. They are helping to redistribute resources. They are using critical thinking to consider community needs and then putting their feet on the ground to address those needs. They are learning that we have so much more individual power than we ever really sit down and consider, and even more power when we work together.

In this regard, there was truly no need to directly address the election results in my class. My decision to focus on the task at hand – to direct my students to be resources for those without, to focus on “speaking well and doing good,” to start their projects for their local organizations – was the only rhetorical choice I needed. Of course, the suffering we face as Americans is intricately and intimately related to the policies driven by state and federal leaders, and I do not wish to discount that. A Trump victory has material and far-reaching negative effects on our quality of life, especially those in marginalized communities. As a teacher, I often find myself balancing the weight of these events with the need to remain hopeful for my students. It’s not always easy to reconcile the global political landscape with the local, hands-on work of education. But it’s in these contradictions that I find the most meaning: teaching students to be agents of change while navigating a world that feels increasingly out of control. And so, rather than direct our attention to the election results, I chose to direct it towards our collective action and our collective power.

In the face of an oppressive empire, we must build community. We must love each other. We must laugh together. We must care for and about each other. I am inspired by my students, and I hope you are too. 2024 has taught me that grief and action can coexist. In the face of insurmountable fear, you do what you can to turn it into love, hope, and belief. And I believe that by focusing on tangible, local efforts we can turn frustration into meaningful change. I’m not always sure on how to do it, but I know that I love my students for the caring justice work they are doing, that we are doing, together. When we care, we win.

Dr. Farzad-Phillips is an anti-racist and feminist scholar who studies at the intersections of public memory, space/place especially in the contexts of higher education controversies. As a teacher-scholar, she is known for her practices in civic engagement and for building student autonomy both in the classroom and out in the community.

Art and social change have never been seen as particularly divergent subjects.  It doesn’t take much study of the American Civil Rights Movement, or any social change movement for that matter, before one begins to find the artists – the musicians, the writers, and the visual artists – who stand shoulder to shoulder with activists to charge us with moving ahead with the critical work of justice.

As part of our mission of teaching, studying, and promoting civil rights and social change, the Hooks Institute recognizes authors who contribute to non-fiction literature exploring the civil rights movement with the annual Benjamin L. Hooks National Book Award.  This fall, the Hooks Institute launched a new initiative to recognize the role of artists in social change: the Frances Dancy Hooks Social Change Art Award and Exhibition.

It felt fitting to create a parallel award for artists in the name of Mrs. Hooks, celebrating her impact while also acknowledging the contributions of artists to the work of social change. In addition to being a dedicated partner in the work of her husband, Dr. Benjamin L. Hooks as the “First Lady of the NAACP,” Frances Dancy Hooks was a powerhouse who founded the Women in NAACP (WIN) to focus on issues pertaining to women and children.  She was also a dedicated patron of the arts, supporting the Memphis Symphony League as well as serving as a trustee of the Memphis College of Art.

Given only the theme “The Beauty of Change,” the first year of the Frances Dancy Hooks Art Award and Exhibition saw an incredible diversity of artists, topics, and media, including sculpture, paintings, photography, digital collage, pastel and mixed media. Twelve finalist artworks were chosen from the submissions for exhibition in the Hooks Institute’s new office and the Ralph S. Faudree Exhibition Space.

The winning piece, “The Story is Not Over” by artist D.Weaver focused on the landmark Brown v Board of Education decision and the educational inequities still present today. Beautifully painted in vibrant acrylic, the bright pink background featured a stylized rendering of a white protest against desegregation.  The foreground featured a modern-day young African American girl with an open book in hand. With 2024 marking the 70th anniversary of Brown, and continual battles surrounding best practices and management of public education, the topic could not have been more poignant, or timely.

James Baldwin counted many visual artists as friends, including Tennessee’s own Beauford Deleaney. Baldwin said, “Through their work, artists can motivate others to see the world differently, challenge preconceived notions, and inspire change.”   

If this topic interests you, there are so many incredible artists and works to be discovered. A few of my personal favorites include:

Jean Michel Basquiat: “Defacement.”  (Trigger Warning – police violence and trauma)

Banksy: “Girl with Balloon” and “Bomb Hugger.”  This mysterious street artist often explores themes of economic and political justice as well as military violence.

Ana Mendieta:  “Silueta Series.” Feminist and Sexual Justice (Trigger Warning – violence against women and sexual assault)

Pablo Picasso – “La Guernica.” This famous piece is a commentary on the horrors of war.

Art Shay – “Images of the Fayette County Tennessee Civil Rights Movement.” The Hooks Institute has a curated exhibition of the photography of LIFE Magazine Photographer Art Shay pertaining to the Fayette County Tennessee Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.  This exhibition is currently on display in the Memphis International Airport.

Amy Ruggaber, MPA, is the Assistant Director of the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change at the University of Memphis with expertise in nonprofit management, education, public policy, and strategic communication.  With more than twenty years of experience in the arts and culture field, specifically, her research and leadership focuses on initiatives aimed at advancing social justice and equity.