Not-for-Profit Track
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Studies Specialization
The creative and intellectual legacy of Dr. King
The great freedom movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. brought about substantial advances in racial justice. Dr. King’s leadership also made inroads toward peace and economic justice—confronting the “triple evils” of racism, poverty, and militarism. The freedom movement’s successes and failures, and MLK’s prophetic thinking, offer vital lessons to help us bridge divisions, resolve personal and social crises, and transform dysfunctional institutions and systems.
The creative and intellectual legacy of Dr. King
The great freedom movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. brought about substantial advances in racial justice. Dr. King’s leadership also made inroads toward peace and economic justice—confronting the “triple evils” of racism, poverty, and militarism. The freedom movement’s successes and failures, and MLK’s prophetic thinking, offer vital lessons to help us bridge divisions, resolve personal and social crises, and transform dysfunctional institutions and systems.
Discover the creative & intellectual legacy
Union’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Studies Specialization supplements your primary work in Educational Studies, Ethical & Creative Leadership, Humanities & Culture, or Public Policy & Social Change to explore Dr. King’s ideas, ideals, practices and their meaning for today’s complex world. You will be encouraged to be visionary in your thinking and research about our world and how it might be changed for the better.
The Curriculum
overview
MLK scholars take core and advanced seminars on MLK’s leadership and legacy, encompassing intellectual, spiritual, moral, political, psychological, and policy dimensions. They conduct a semester-long internship related to MLK’s legacy of social change and culminate their studies with the MLK capstone seminar. A required workshop and presentations by students and faculty enrich every Ph.D. residency.
Internships of our Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Studies Students
- Interviewing civil rights icons
- Researching the MLK Papers collection at Morehouse College
- Developing a boys-to-men program for African American adolescents
- Policy review and advocacy for felons returning from prison
- Initiating a local food bank & developing area church feeding programs
- Researching the Underground Railroad & collecting video interviews
- Leadership program for lay leaders in a local church
- Advocacy work for women’s reproductive rights
- Academic skill-building for challenged youth
- Poetry and creative writing for high school students
Dissertations, Capstone Papers, & Lectures
Legacy Lectures
Dissertation Titles
Capstone Papers