A singular graphic novel about Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Civil Rights Movement is told in the voice of fictional griot Rickydoc Trickmaster. "I am a Hoodoo Lord of the Delta and power is what I do." This vibrant, destiny-driven perspective on King is both honest and opinionated-it emphasizes his gift of words and his power to call the people together, to tie the Civil Rights Movement to the larger claim for human dignity. "At the mass meetings he kept the good colored folk of Montgomery fired up ... Told them we won't stop until we've won our full freedom in this country and redeemed the soul of America. Note that move now; that redeem the soul of America bit. That little bit of ideological orchestration. This what make Martin Luther King special. He saying this not just about us. This about saving everybody ... Equating the Black struggle with the struggle for human dignity. This is where he find his fa." Author Arthur Flowers offers a distilled and powerful view of society up to and including that time of tension between resistance and submission, of the real and realistic fears of death among those who stood up for their dignity, of the rampant racism in the North and the South that manifested in different ways. Sophisticated and electrifying, the narrative is set against the vibrant art of Indian Patua artist Manu Chitrakar, and grew out of a workshop in which Patua artists were invited to apply their traditional visual storytelling style to new tales (hence the Bengali-inspired garb on King and everyone else). A "Conversations Across Cultures" essay at book's end describes how the two elements-words and visual narrative-were created and brought together. "Editorial Notes" provide more information on people and events referenced in the narrative. (Age 15 and older)

African American writer, griot and blues singer Arthur Flowers and Indian scroll painter Manu Chitrakar combine their very distinctive storytelling traditions in an extraordinary jam session, creating this stunning graphic narrative-style biography of Martin Luther King Jr.

The engaging text describes the apartheid South in Martin Luther King's time, which in many ways was not very different from the early days of slavery. Included are descriptions of the Montgomery Bus Boycott; the formation of civil rights groups; mass movements against segregation, such as the Albany Movement and the Children's Crusade in Birmingham, after which King became black America's acknowledged leader; and the influence on King of Gandhi, with his nonviolent approach to resistance. We are told about King's personal struggles as well as the political challenges he faced with the rise of Malcolm X and Black Power. Flowers' text concludes with a brief look at his legacy.

Arthur Flowers tells a masterful story in musical prose, based on griot oral storytelling traditions, bringing his own perspective to the events he describes, while Manu Chitrakar carries the tale into the vivid idiom of Patua art, turning King's historic journey into a truly universal legacy.

Includes editorial notes, a description of how this extraordinary cross-cultural book came to be, and a note on Patua art.