King Biographer to Lecture at University of Richmond

October 19, 2005

Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Taylor Branch will discuss Martin Luther King Jr. and “Non-violent Leadership: The Essence of Democracy” Nov. 14 at the University of Richmond.

The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 7 p.m. in the Jepson Alumni Center. It is the second James MacGregor Burns Lectureship in Leadership Studies and Biography, named for a founding faculty member of the Jepson School of Leadership Studies.

Branch dedicated more than 15 years of meticulous work to the first two volumes of his King trilogy, which chronicles the immense undertaking the civil rights movement was for all involved, especially its leader. The third volume, “At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years 1965–1968,” will be released in January 2006.

Born in the segregated South, Branch graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1968 and did graduate work at Princeton. He worked in magazine journalism before undertaking the King biography. Although centered on King, the trilogy brings to the forefront much that is of interest to leadership studies students. He writes about America of the times and places King’s critics in context. He also explores King’s followers and supporters, including members of churches and organizations as well as individuals who helped King accomplish what he did.

For more information, call (804) 287-1960.