- Written by
- Dr. King, Martin Luther Jr., American, 1929 - 1968
- Published by
- Harper & Brothers, American, 1817 - 1962
- Subject of
- Rosa Parks, American, 1913 - 2005
- Rock Rest Tourist Home, American, 1948 - 1976
- Owned by
- Sinclair, Clayton, American
- Sinclair, Hazel, American
- Date
- 1958
- Medium
- ink on paper (fiber product) with book cloth (textile material) on cardboard
- Dimensions
- H x W x D: 8 7/16 × 5 7/8 × 7/8 in. (21.5 × 15 × 2.3 cm)
- Description
- A first edition, hardcover copy of Stride Toward Freedom by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is a cloth bound hardcover book with black cloth spine tape and deckle page edges on the elongated end. The background of the front of the dust jacket is divided into white, red, and blue bands from top to bottom, divided by thin, black lines. Red, black, and white text of varying sizes and fonts in the three bands reads [A leader of his people tells / The Montgomery Story] in the top band, [STRIDE / TOWARDS / FREEDOM] in the middle band, and [By / MARTIN / LUTHER / KING, Jr.] in the bottom band. In the bottom right corner is a cut out black-and-white photograph of King. King is depicted in three-quarters bust pose, looking towards the left edge of the book. He is wearing a dark suit jacket, white dress shirt, and a dark tie with six bands of repeating white patterns. The jacket spine is divided in red and blue fields divided by a thin black line. Printed in white text on the spine is the book title, author, and publisher’s name, [HARPER] at the bottom. The back of the jacket is white and features five promotional blurbs from the Atlanta Constitution, Bishop James Price, The Rev. John LaFarge, the Carolina Israelite, and the President of Morehouse College. The front and back covers are blue gray with black cloth spine tape. Embossed in silver on the front cover, in the bottom right corner, is the logo for Harper Books: a torch inside a double banded circle with the letters [H] and [B] printed on either side of the torch. The back cover is plain. Silver text printed on the black spine reads [KING] at the top, [Stride Toward FREEDOM / THE MONTGOMERY STORY] at the center, and [HARPER] at the bottom of the spine. The interior pages are white with black text. The book has 230 pages. Contents include a preface, eleven chapters, an appendix, and an index. Pages 65-68 and 165-168 feature glossy black-and-white photographs.
- Place collected
- Kittery, York County, Maine, United States, North and Central America
- Place printed
- New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
- Collection title
- The Rock Rest Tourist Home Collection
- Classification
- Books and Published Materials
- Type
- hardcover books
- Topic
- Activism
- Black Enterprise
- Black interiors
- Civil rights
- Race discrimination
- Race relations
- Resistance
- Segregation
- Travel
- U.S. History, 1961-1969
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail, Inc.
- Object number
- 2011.12.52.21
- Restrictions & Rights
- © Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.




