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From St. Louis Magazine Before Lerone Martin joined Stanford in 2022 as director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute, he spent years in St. Louis asking how religion moves through public life: through Black preaching, recorded sound, political institutions, state surveillance, and the moral vocabulary of American power. At Washington University’s John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics, he pursued those questions as a scholar of African Ame

From Religious News Only one of those titles would be commonly guessed to describe the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. But a new 420-page book by scholar Lerone Martin reveals those and other little-known pieces of King’s history. In “Young King: The Making of Martin Luther King Jr.” — which will be released Tuesday (May 5) — he describes the family, friends and educators who helped shape King into the man who would one day draw some 250,000 people to the 1963 March on Washington

From Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences Lerone A. Martin’s Young King reveals the boy behind the man. Lerone A. Martin, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Centennial Professor and director of Stanford’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, might not seem like he has much in common with Cher. But there is one thing: Both had books on BookPage’s list of the most anticipated nonfiction of 2026. And while we can’t speak to Cher: Part Two, we can confirm that

Highest Power: Church + State, a weekly podcast from Baptist News Global, hosted by Rick Pidcock. Support faith-based journalism ... Listen now ...

From New York Post A Stanford professor looks at the early years of “Little Mike” to better understand what fueled him and who he became. The book also includes rarely seen photos from the civil rights icon’s high school and college days.

From Stanford Photo: Jess Alvarenga As a high school student in Ohio, Lerone Martin wondered about the world beyond his hometown. His parents worked in factories, assembling car parts. It provided a comfortable life and taught him the value of hard work. Still, Martin wanted to build on that foundation, like many kids. But how? His parents didn’t attend college. His older brother had played football in college—maybe sports was a way to see the world. Or perhaps he could becom

Featured on NPR Elder Lightfoot Solomon Michaux (center) holding a child at Happy News Café in Washington. Harris & Ewing/Library of Congress Dr. Martin serves as a primary expert voice throughout this 14-minute Radio Diaries segment on Elder Michaux's relationship with the FBI and his opposition to MLK. Listen/Read ...

In this special MLK Day episode of The Learning Curve , co-hosts Alisha Searcy and U-Arkansas Prof. Albert Cheng interview Prof. Lerone Martin , Martin Luther King, Jr. Centennial Professor at Stanford University and Director of the MLK Research and Education Institute. Dr. Martin offers deep insights into the life and legacy of Dr. King. He explores MLK’s role as a spiritual and political leader, advocating for nonviolent protest and “soul force.” Prof. Martin discusse

Produced on C-SPAN Dr. Martin spoke as a panelist at a two-day conference on religious influence on U.S. politics and foreign policy, presenting original content on his research into the FBI and religion. Archived in the C-SPAN Video Library. Watch now ...