How the legacies of James Baldwin and Martin Luther King Jr. resonate today

James Baldwin and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were two of the most influential thinkers of the Civil Rights Movement. This hour, we reflect on their legacies as we think about our present political moment.

Kyle Bass wrote the play Citizen James, or the Young Man Without a Country, which will be performed in Hartford in February. It portrays a young James Baldwin at an inflection point in his life, before he became a renowned writer.

And Randal Maurice Jelks is the Ruth N. Halls Professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies at Indiana University Bloomington. His book Letters to Martin: Meditation on Democracy in Black America started as a talk he gave shortly after President Donald Trump’s first inauguration back in 2017. It puts Dr. King’s ideas in conversation with present-day political questions.

GUESTS:

• Kyle Bass: Resident Playwright at Syracuse Stage and Assistant Professor of Theater at Colgate University. His play Citizen James, or the Young Man Without a Country is being performed by Hartford's Heartbeat Ensemble in February.

• Randal Maurice Jelks: The Ruth N. Halls Professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies at Indiana University Bloomington. He is also a documentary film producer and author whose books include Letters to Martin: Meditations on Democracy in Black America.

You can find more information about Heartbeat Ensemble's performances of Kyle Bass' play Citizen James, or the Young Man Without a Country here.

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