Explore Black History

1964

A soft cover copy of Why We Can't Wait by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The soft cover book has an adhesive binding. The front cover is white with a large black box dominating the top half of the cover. Inside the box is yellow and white text that reads [MARTIN / LUTHER / KING, Jr. / “Martin Luther King has made himself the unchallenged / voice of the Negro people – and the disquieting conscience / of the whites. That voice in turn has infused the Negroes / with the fiber that gives their revolution its stature.” / -TIME / EIGHT PAGES OF PHOTOGRAPHS]. Below is the box is the book title printed in large black text that reads [WHY WE / CAN’T / WAIT]. At the bottom of the cover, is additional small black text that reads [A SIGNET BOOK COMPLETE AND UNABRIDGED]. In the top right corner, is the publisher logo: the name [SIGNET / BOOKS] printed around a black oval with the book price, [60¢] printed in the negative at the center. Above is the text [P2476]. Printed on the spine is the Signet logo, the title of the book, and the author’s name. The back cover is predominately white with black text. The text at the top reads, [WHY WE CAN'T WAIT / is / MARTIN LUTHER KING’S / explanation of the events, the forces, / the pressures behind today’s / - and tomorrow’s - / quest for civil rights.] At the center of the back cover is a black rectangular box with yellow text that reads, [IN THIS BOOK / FOR THE FIRST TIME / ? The complete, full-length text of Dr. King’s / famous Letter from a Birmingham Jail, in / which he answers the churchmen who criti- / cized him for “unwise and untimely” dem- / onstrations. / ? Dr. King’s personal assessment of the / pattern that the Negro Revolution will take / in the future – a chapter in which he spells / out clearly the full political implications of / the civil rights movement… especially in / an election year.]. Printed inside a thin rectangular frame on the bottom third of the back cover is a short biography of King. The publisher’s information is printed in black text at the bottom of the back cover that reads [PUBLISHED BY THE NEW AMERICAN LIBRARY]. The interior pages are white with black text. Contents include acknowledgments, an introduction, eight chapters, and an index. The chapter titles are [The Negro Revolution, why 1963?], [The Sword That Heals], [Bull Connor's Birmingham], [New Day in Birmingham], [Letter from Birmingham Jail], [Black and White Together], [The Summer of Our Discontent], and [The Days to Come]. The book has 159 pages and five pages of printed black-and-white photographs.

National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection

The Rock Rest Tourist Home Collection

Books and Published Materials

Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail, Inc.

National Museum of African American History and Culture

2011.12.52.20

paperbacks

© Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.

ink on paper (fiber product) and adhesive

H x W x D: 7 1/16 × 4 1/4 × 7/16 in. (18 × 10.8 × 1.1 cm)

Title • Why We Can't Wait

nmaahc_2011.12.52.20

NMAAHC

WHY WE CAN'T WAIT

National Museum of African American History and Culture

CC0

1960s

King, Martin Luther • Sinclair, Clayton • Sinclair, Hazel • Rock Rest Tourist Home • New American Library, Inc.

New York City • United States • Maine • North and Central America • Kittery • York County

Resistance • Description and travel • Activism • Black Enterprise • Discrimination • Black interiors • Segregation • Race • U.S. History, 1961-1969 • Civil rights • Race relations

City • Kittery • County • York County • State • Maine • Country • United States • Continent • North and Central America • City • New York City • State • New York

Use Restricted