The Kneeling Man: My Father's Life as a Black Spy Who Witnessed the Assassination of Martin Luther King...

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Leta McCollough Seletzky

The Kneeling Man

My Father's Life as a Black Spy Who Witnessed the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

Leta McCollough Seletzky

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Hardback

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English

C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd
01 August 2023

Memoirs; Black & Asian studies; Demonstrations & protest movements

In the famous photograph of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, one man kneels beside him, trying to staunch the blood: an undercover Memphis police officer embedded with the Invaders, a militant Black group in talks with King. This spy, the kneeling man, was Leta McCollough Seletzky’s father.

Marrell ‘Mac’ McCollough was a Black man working secretly with the white power structure. To understand this, Leta began looking into her father’s life — his motivations, his career with the police and the CIA, and the truth behind accusations of his involvement in King’s murder. What would Leta uncover, and did she want to know? How might Mac’s story change her own feelings about her place in Trump’s America?

The Kneeling Man is a compelling personal and political tale of alienation and ambivalence; struggle, self-definition and compromised choices. Set vividly in the sharecropper South, on the streets of Memphis and in the halls of power, the twists and turns of this one man’s life tell the story of twentieth-century Black America.

‘A searing portrait of a man divided between his country and his identity. At once historical and timely, Seletzky gifts us a captivating, charged and wholly nuanced narrative that grips you from the first page and does not let go.’

— Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, author of The Revisioners; A Kind of Freedom; and On the Rooftop

‘Mr. McCollough is one of those unsung American heroes either ignored or forgotten by history. The telling of his unique story is inspiring and revelatory. I wholeheartedly recommend Ms. Seletzky’s wonderful, thought-provoking memoir.’ — Ron Stallworth, author of Black Klansman

‘Millions recognize the photo, but hardly anyone knows the fascinating story of the man at its centre: undercover cop Marrell McCollough, in all his complexity and humanity. This deeply engrossing narrative is both an important work of history and an unforgettable family story.’ — David J. Garrow, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Bearing the Cross and The F.B.I. and Martin Luther King, Jr.

‘An important and moving book that everyone should read. Seletzky is a talent.’ — Molly Jong-Fast, former editor-at-large, The Daily Beast, and author of The Social Climber’s Handbook

By: Leta McCollough Seletzky
Imprint: C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781787389243
ISBN 10: 1787389243
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 01 August 2023
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Leta McCollough Seletzky is a National Endowment for the Arts 2022 Creative Writing Fellow. A litigator turned essayist and memoirist, her work appears in 'The Atlantic'; 'The New York Times'; 'TheGrio'; 'O, The Oprah Magazine'; 'The Washington Post'; and elsewhere. She holds a BA from Northwestern University and a JD from the George Washington University Law School. She grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, and now lives in Walnut Creek, California.

Reviews for The Kneeling Man: My Father's Life as a Black Spy Who Witnessed the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

'A searing portrait of a man divided between his country and his identity. At once historical and timely, Seletzky gifts us a captivating, charged and wholly nuanced narrative that grips you from the first page and does not let go.' * Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, author of 'A Kind of Freedom' and 'On the Rooftop' *