Martin Luther King and The Montgomery Story: How 50,000 Negroes Found a New Way to End Racial Discrimination.

HASSLER, Alfred and Benton Resnik. [Martin Luther King Jr.; Coretta Scott King].

$25,000.00

Item Number: 138337

Nyack, N.Y: The Fellowship of Reconciliation, [1957].

First and only edition of this highly influential and historic comic book used to teach the tactics and power of nonviolent resistance during the Civil Rights Movement. Quarto, original pictorial wrappers, the text is presented as a graphic novel illustrated in color. Boldly signed by Martin Luther King on the front panel, “Best Wishes Martin L. King” and additionally signed by Coretta Scott King. With annotations in blue pen noting that King signed the book in 1958 and Coretta in 1985. Illustrated by Sy Barry, text by John Duffy. In very good condition. Very rare. Copies of the original comic book are uncommon, and mainly reside in institutions. Copies signed by Dr. King very rarely appear on the market and copies signed by both him and Coretta are exceptionally rare, this possibly being a unique example.

Published in December 1957 and written by Alfred Hassler, executive secretary and director of publications for the pacifist and interfaith justice organization Fellowship of Reconciliation (FoR), and Benton Resnik, Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story chronicles the 13-month-long Montgomery Bus Boycott. This mass protest began with the arrest of Rosa Parks for refusing to give up her seat to a white man, on December 1, 1955, and ended over a year later, on December 20, 1956, with the Supreme Court ruling that ended segregation on public buses. The final pages include an account of "The Montgomery Method" of nonviolent resistance through the telling of its inspiration from the philosophy of nonviolence practiced by Mahatma Gandhi, as well as a four-page primer on its practical application. The comic's formulation was initiated by Hassler and the Reverend Glenn Smiley, FoR's field secretary, both of whom were involved in the boycott and wanted its story to reach a wider audience. The use of a comic book format was a somewhat risky choice at the time as only three years before televised Senate hearings were held that investigated the connection between the consumption of comic books and juvenile delinquency, and that led to backlash against the medium. Nonetheless, Hasseler and the FoR understood that the comic format held the potential for their message of non-violence to reach the widest possible audience. Hassler and Resnik collaborated on the text, and recruited The Phantom illustrator Sy Barry to create the art. When they completed their first draft they sent a copy to Dr. King for his input, and he promptly replied with suggestions that were then incorporated into the final published work. Only a single printing of 250,000 copies was made, and they were distributed widely to schools, churches, and civil rights groups, especially those who taught nonviolence workshops in the South, where it proved incredibly influential to activists, including future Congressman John Lewis. A Spanish language version of this comic book, telling the same story, but utilizing a different artist, was published not long after this in an edition of 125,000 for distribution in Latin America. Less than a year following the publication of this comic, on September 17, 1958, Dr. King published his acclaimed memoir of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story.