“TO AUNT WOODIE AND UNCLE JERRY, FOR WHOM I HAVE GREAT LOVE AN RESPECT AND WHOSE LOYAL SUPPORT I CHERISH VERY DEEPLY”: MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.’S LAST BOOK, INSCRIBED BY HIM TO HIS AUNT AND UNCLE

KING Jr., Martin Luther. Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? New York, Evanston, and London: Harper & Row, (1967). Octavo, original half black cloth, original dust jacket. Housed in a custom clamshell box.

First edition, presentation/association copy, of Dr. King’s last book, published the year before he was assassinated, in scarce original dust jacket, inscribed by him, “To Aunt Woodie and Uncle Jerry, For whom I have great Love and Respect and whose loyal support I cherish very deeply. M.L.”

King’s final book was published the year before the legendary civil rights leader was assassinated in Memphis. Based upon his last address as President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, delivered in August 1967, the book discusses issues raised by recent urban race riots, white backlash, and the 1966 shooting of James Meredith. “We have inherited a large house, a great ‘world house’ in which we have to live together—black and white, Easterner and Westerner, Gentile and Jew, Catholic and Protestant, Moslem and Hindu.” Copyright page with “First Edition” stated, “D-R” code. Woodie Clara King Brown was the elder sister of Martin Luther King, Sr. Christine King Farris, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s eldest sister, noted Woodie Brown’s support after King’s assassination: “One thing that is most prominent in my memory of that period, and for which I am forever grateful, is the care and support provided for us by Aunt Woodie, Mrs. Woodie Brown of Detroit, Michigan? Aunt Woodie came to Atlanta for the funeral and simply decided to put her life on hold and to stay with us to care for her brother. Her presence was comforting to us all? She stayed almost an entire year. I will never forget her extraordinary act of kindness and selflessness in being with Dad. I am indented to her, and her late husband, my uncle Jerome Brown. I can never thank them enough” (Farris, Through It All: Reflections on My Life, My Family, and My Faith). Among Woodie King’s possessions auctioned off after her death was the King family Bible, which had once belonged to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s mother and which listed the date of his death. Martin Luther King, Jr., used his initials to sign correspondence with family members only; such initialed inscriptions are quite rare.

Book fine; slight wear to extremities of bright dust jacket. A fine inscribed copy with exceptional provenance.