Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story
| Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story | |
|---|---|
Cover of Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Fellowship of Reconciliation |
| Format | One-shot |
| Genre | non-fiction |
| Publication date | December 1957 |
| No. of issues | 1 |
| Main character(s) |
Martin Luther King, Jr. Coretta Scott King Rosa Parks Mahatma Gandhi |
| Creative team | |
| Written by | Alfred Hassler and Benton Resnik |
| Artist(s) | unknown |
Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story is a 16-page comic book about Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and the Montgomery Bus Boycott published in 1957 by the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR USA). It advocates the principles of nonviolence and provides a primer on nonviolent resistance.
Although ignored by the mainstream comics industry, The Montgomery Story was widely distributed among civil rights groups, churches, and schools. It helped inspire nonviolent protest movements around the Southern United States, and later in Latin America, South Africa, the Middle East, and elsewhere. In addition, it served as the inspiration for the best-selling, award-winning March trilogy, written by Georgia Congressman John Lewis.
Following the success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which FOR USA had helped organize, executive secretary and director of publicationsAlfred Hassler, and FoR member the Rev. Glenn E. Smiley came up with the idea of using a comic book to bring the story of the bus boycott to a wide audience. (Smiley had been personally active in the bus boycott, and had formed a friendship with Dr. King.) Presenting the comic idea as a way to reach wider audiences (including those with lower reading levels), the group acquired grant funding of $5,000 for the project from the Fund for the Republic. Dr, King himself endorsed the book and even provided a few editorial suggestions.
Cartoonist Al Capp was an admirer of Dr. King; his studio produced Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story at no charge, which was co-written by Hassler and Benton Resnik, and drawn by an anonymous artist. (Benton Resnick had been an editor and writer for the Al Capp-owned comics companies Toby Press and Graphic Information Services.) It was published in December 1957 in full-color with a cover price of 10 cents. 250,000 copies were printed.
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