Martin Luther King

The Memorandum of Agreement deals with the German translation of „Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community“ (German title is added by hand: „Wohin führt unser Weg?“). The document contains details on the publishing deal, the consideration of One Dollar and other good and valuable considerations: The publisher receives the „World German-language rights“, MLK is granted a non-refundable advance of US-$ 1,500 and royalities: • 7 1/2 per cent of the retail price on the first 5,000 copies sold; • 10 per cent on the next 10,000 copies sold; • 12 1/2 per cent on all copies sold thereafter. If the work is issued in two or more styles of binding the royalty shall be calculated according to the price of each. The Copyright notice reads „©1967 by Martin Luther King, Jr.“. The translation into German has to be completed and published within 18 months from the date of the agreement. Die Übersetzung muss innerhalb 18 Monate erfolgen. Die Abrechnung der Lizenzgebühr erfolgt alle sechs Monate. For any money the publishing house makes through rights for newspapers etc. King is granted 50 per cent of the proceeds. King’s book agent, Joan Daves, who is acting in all matters for King, will retain 20 per cent of all sums. „Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community“ was published in 1967, it is the fourth and last book by Martin Luther King, Jr.. In order to write it, King retired to Jamaica. In the book, King reflects on hope, the civil rights movement, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, poverty and how a social movement can establish itself jointly in the two parties. There is also a chapter which is fed by King's Nobel Prize lecture at the University of Oslo in December 1964. MLK was preoccupied by the social question in the last months of his life. He tried to achieve better living conditions for all disadvantaged people, especially of course for the black community. This is why he had planned to organize a Poor People’s March in Washington in 1968. In this context he went to Memphis where King gave a speech on April 3. On the evening of April 4, 1968 he was shot dead..

As the head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, King advocated for non-violent resistance to end Birmingham, Alabama’s racist policies and led the historic March on Washington on August 28, 1963. The demonstration’s highpoint was King’s celebrated “I Have a Dream” speech that set the stage for his selection as Time magazine’s 1963 “Man of the Year.” In October 1964, King won the Nobel Peace Prize, making him – at age 35 –- its youngest recipient up to that time. In March 1965, King led the famous march from Montgomery to Selma to bring attention to the ongoing problem of segregation, despite the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. Written while King was co-pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church..

Wall: Your sensitive letter and the moving poem which was attached have been received and I wish to express my very deep appreciation for these expressions of your personal commitment to our search for freedom and justice. Without hope, all things become meaningless, and thus we who are so deeply involved in this nonviolent revolution must always keep in mind the conviction that our nation is moving towards its proper and pronounced ideal of real democracy and equality for all citizens. Support such as you have indicated provides us with additional strength to continue our struggle with ever-increasing vigor, and love for those who would perpetuate injustice. Thank you again for your letter. May God bestow His blessings upon you and Mrs. Wall and your loved ones. Sincerely yours, Martin Luther King, Jr." As Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) began their civil rights campaign in St. Augustine, Florida, King wrote to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania poet, Alban Wall (1921-2005), thanking him for his support and for a poem Wall wrote in honor of Dr. King. King's letter was written the day after he and the SCLC made their first visit to St. Augustine, where demonstrations to end segregation had begun the previous summer. At this time the Civil Rights Act was stalled in a Senate filibuster after passing in the House on February 10, 1964, and King and the SCLC hoped that their support of the protests in the country's oldest city would help garner national attention in support of the Act's passage. A month after this letter, on June 19, the filibuster ended and the Civil Rights Act passed in the Senate, and on July 2, it was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Dr. King would go on to receive the Nobel Peace Prize later that year. Provenance: Alban Wall, thence by descent in the family..