Summary
Leta McCollough Seletsky (Website; Twitter) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to share the story of her father, the famous “Kneeling Man” – The man knelt next to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at his assassination at the Lorraine Motel in 1968. Leta is a litigator turned essayist and memoirist.
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What You’ll Learn
Intelligence
The life and times of Marrell “Mac” McCollough
The CIA connection between father and daughter
Black power and the counterintelligence program (or, COINTELPRO)
The conspiracies surrounding Dr. King’s assassination
Reflections
Coming to terms with the past … and present
Small but important steps of progress
And much, much more …
*EXTENDED SHOW NOTES & FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE*
Resources
SURFACE SKIM
*Headline Resource*
The Kneeling Man: My Father's Life as a Black Spy Who Witnessed the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Leta McCollough Seletsky (Counterpoint, 2023)
*SpyCasts*
The Counterintelligence Chief with Alan Kohler (2023)
The Third Option – US Covert Action with Loch Johnson, Part 1 (2022)
The Third Option – US Covert Action with Loch Johnson, Part 2 (2022)
The Birth of American Propaganda with John Hamilton (2021)
Juneteenth Special: African-American Spies (2021)
*Beginner Resources*
“I Am A Man” Dr. King and The Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Strike, M. Gailani, Tennessee State Museum (2020) [Short brief]
Martin Luther King Jr., The Nobel Prize (n.d.) [Biography]
COINTELPRO: United States Government Program, N. Frederique, Encyclopaedia Britannica (n.d.) [Short article]
*EXTENDED SHOW NOTES & FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE*
DEEPER DIVE
Books
The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcom X and Martin Luther King Jr., P. E. Joseph (Basic Books, 2021)
An Unseen Light: Black Struggles for Freedom in Memphis, Tennessee, A. Goudsouzian, C. W. McKinney, et al. (The University Press of Kentucky, 2018)
The Heavens Might Crack: The Death and Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., J. Sokol (Basic Books, 2018)
The COINTELPRO Papers: Documents from the FBI's Secret Wars Against Dissent in the United States, W. Churchill & J. V. Wall (South End Press, 2001)
Primary Sources
The King v. Jowers Trial Findings, U.S. Department of Justice (1999)
Final Report of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, United States Senate (1976)
Report from Vietnam, Walter Cronkite (1968)
“I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” Speech, Martin Luther King Jr., AFSCME (1968)
"Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" Speech, Martin Luther King Jr., American Rhetoric (1967)
COINTELPRO Records Collection, FBI Records: The Vault (n.d)
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“The Kneeling Man” – with Leta McCollough Seletsky | SpyCast podcast - Listen or read transcript on Metacast
