About Dr. Martin
Dr. Lerone A. Martin is the Martin Luther King, Jr. Centennial Professor in Religious Studies and African and African American Studies at Stanford University, where he also serves as Director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. As only the second faculty director in the Institute's history, Dr. Martin leads the ongoing work of editing and digitizing King's sermons, speeches, correspondence, and unpublished papers, making them accessible to scholars and the public worldwide through a searchable online database.
A first-generation college graduate who grew up in Ohio, Dr. Martin found his calling through an early experience with higher education that expanded his sense of what was possible. That transformative moment shapes his work today, both as a scholar uncovering hidden histories and as an educator committed to making rigorous academic inquiry accessible to students from all backgrounds. He currently teaches his popular course "Between Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr." to Title I high schools across the country, bringing Stanford-level education to students who rarely see themselves in elite academic spaces.
Dr. Martin is an award-winning author whose scholarship explores the intersections of American religion, race, and political power. His latest book, Young King: The Making of Martin Luther King, Jr. (HarperCollins, May 2026), chronicles the overlooked adolescence and calling of Martin Luther King, Jr., revealing how struggle, mentorship, and self-discovery shaped the man before the movement. He is also the author of The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover: How the FBI Aided and Abetted the Rise of White Christian Nationalism (Princeton University Press, 2023), which has garnered praise from The Nation, Foreign Affairs, The Guardian, and Publisher's Weekly, and Preaching on Wax: The Phonograph and the Shaping of Modern African American Religion (NYU Press, 2014), which received the American Society of Church History's first book award.
His research has been supported by prestigious fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Henry Luce Foundation, and the Louisville Institute. Most recently, he became co-director of a $1 million grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to fund "The Crossroads Project," a four-year, multi-institution initiative advancing public understanding of African American religions.
Dr. Martin's commentary and writing have been featured on NBC's Today Show, The History Channel, PBS, NPR, and C-SPAN, as well as in The New York Times, Boston Globe, CNN, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He served as an advisor on the PBS documentary series Gospel and currently serves as Senior Editor of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project.
A father of three sons, Dr. Martin brings personal insight to his scholarship on mentorship, calling, and the formation of moral leadership. His research into King's adolescence deepened his understanding of his own parenting, reminding him that confusion and struggle are not obstacles to greatness but essential ingredients in its development.
Dr. Martin earned his B.A. from Anderson University, his Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary, and his Ph.D. from Emory University. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.