Clayborne Carson
Carson in 2017
Born	(1944-06-15)June 15, 1944 (age 81) Buffalo, New York, U.S.
Spouse	Susan Ann Carson
Children	2
Academic background
Education	University of California, Los Angeles (BA,MA,PhD)
Academic work
Era	20th century
Institutions	Stanford University
Main interests	Civil Rights Movement Martin Luther King Jr.

Clayborne Carson (born June 15, 1944) is an American academic who was a professor of history atStanford University and director of the Martin Luther King Jr., Research and Education Institute. Since 1985, he has directed the Martin Luther King Papers Project, a long-term project to edit and publish the papers ofMartin Luther King Jr.

Carson was born on June 15, 1944, inBuffalo,New York; son of Clayborne and Louise Carson. He grew up nearLos Alamos,New Mexico, where his father was a security guard for theLos Alamos National Laboratory.^[1] His was one of a very small number ofAfrican-American families in Los Alamos, and he attributes his lifelong interest in theCivil Rights Movement to that experience. "I had this really strong curiosity about the black world, because in Los Alamos the black world was a very few families. When the civil rights movement started, I had this real fascination with it, and I wanted to meet the people in it."^[2]

After graduating fromLos Alamos High School in 1962, Carson attended theUniversity of New Mexico for his first year on college during the 1962–1963 school year. At age 19, Carson metStokely Carmichael at a national student conference inIndiana. Carmichael convinced him to attend theMarch on Washington For Jobs and Freedom as a member of theStudent Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, pronounced "snick").^[3] On August 28, 1963, Carson was overwhelmed to find himself among hundreds of thousands of African Americans at the March. This was the first big thing Carson had done in contribution to theCivil Rights Movement.^[4] Recalling the March, at which Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech at theLincoln Memorial, Carson says, "I have a lot of vivid memories, but not of King's speech." What left the biggest impression, he says, were "the people I met there."^[2] The March was also the only time Carson had ever heard Dr. King speak in public.^[3]

It wasn't until 1964 after Carson had transferred to theUniversity of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) that he became more active in what he calls the "northern version of the southern struggle",^[4] and continued with SNCC.^[3] At UCLA Carson Changed his field of study fromcomputer programming toAmerican History. Here he earned hisB.A. (1967),M.A. (1971), and wrote his doctoral dissertation on Stokely Carmichael and SNCC which earned him hisPh.D. (1975).^[3] While studying at UCLA, he was also involved withanti-Vietnam War protests. He speaks of that experience in his current writing, highlighting the importance of grassroots political activity within the African-American freedom struggle.

Carson was a professor atStanford University for more than 40 years, where he primarily taught U.S. History and African American History.^[5][6] He teaches and lectures about Martin Luther King,Malcolm X, theStudent Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), theBlack Panther Party, and other subjects related to the black struggle andcivil rights. He has been a frequent guest onPacifica Radio stationKPFA inBerkeley, California, and has also appeared on programs likeNPR'sFresh Air, theTavis Smiley Show, theCharlie Rose Show,Good Morning America, and theCBS Evening News. Carson is a member of the global council of theCalifornia International Law Center at theUniversity of California, Davis School of Law.^{[citation needed]}

Carson has also written several books and articles regarding the Civil Rights Movement, and has made contributions to many more as well as documentaries, and interviews.^[7] His first bookIn Struggle: SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s was awarded theFredrick Jackson Turner Award in 1982.^[8] Carson was also the Historical Adviser for the filmFreedom on My Mind, which in 1995 was nominated for anOscar.^[8]

In 1985,Coretta Scott King asked Carson to lead a project to publish King's previously unpublished works.^[5] In an interview conducted in 2008, Carson explains that he initially declined to work as Senior Editor to Dr. King's works, Carson had "never really thought of [himself] as a King biographer. [He] was a SNCC person," he said, referencing the discord between SNCC and Dr. King that occurred during the movement. Carson eventually agreed to oversee the project mentioning that he would not have accepted the job if the family held control over Dr. King's works. Carson and his staff have spent over 20 years working to edit and publish Dr. King's works.^[9]

Carson retired from Stanford in 2020.^[10]

In 2021, Carson was nominated by PresidentJoe Biden to serve as a member of the newly formedCivil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board.^[11]

Carson married Susan Ann Beyer in 1967, who at the time was a librarian.^[3] Until her retirement, she was the managing editor of the King Papers Project, and lives inPalo Alto, California. He has a daughter and son.

• Andrew Mellon Fellowship (1977)^[8]
• Fredrick Jackson Turner Award of the organization of American Historians forIn Struggle:SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s (1982)^[12][8]
• Society of American Historians; elected member (1991)^[8]
• Honorary Doctorate fromPacific Graduate School of Psychology (1995)^[8]
• International design competition for the NationalMartin Luther King Jr. Memorial inWashington D.C; winning team member (2000)^[8]
• Gandhi King Ikeda Award fromMartin Luther King, Jr. International Chapel, Gandhi Institute for reconciliation,Morehouse College, Atlanta (2004)^[8]
• Honorary Doctorate from Morehouse College (2007)^[8]
• Honorary Doctorate fromNiagara University (2008)^[8]
• Honorary Doctorate fromWestminster College (2015)^[8]

• Carson, Clayborne (1981).In struggle : SNCC and the Black awakening of the 1960s. Harvard University Press.ISBN 9780674447264.^[12]
• Senior Academic Adviser "Eyes on the Prize" PBS,1987-1990.^[12]
• co-editor,The Eyes on the Prize Civil Rights Reader. Penguin Books, 1991.ISBN 0-14-015403-5
• Historical Adviser,"Freedom on My Mind" Tara Releasing, 1994.^[12]
• Co-editor with David Gallen,Malcolm X: the FBI file. Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1991.ISBN 978-0-88184-758-1^[3]
• Co-author withCarol Berkin and others,American Voices A History of the United States. Scott Foresman and Company, 1992.ISBN 0673352579^[3]
• co-author,A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Grand Central Publishers, 1998.ISBN 978-0-446-52346-2
• co-author,The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. Grand Central Publishers, 2001.ISBN 978-0-446-67650-2
• co-editor,African American Lives: The Struggle for Freedom. Volume I. Longman, 2004.ISBN 978-0-201-79487-8
• co-editor,African American Lives: The Struggle for Freedom. Volume II. Longman, 2004.ISBN 978-0-201-79489-2
• co-author,The Martin Luther King, Jr. Encyclopedia. Greenwood Press, 2008.ISBN 978-0-313-29440-2^[3]
• senior editor,The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.. Vols. 1–4. University of California Press, 1992–2007.
• co-editor with Kris Shepard,A Call to Conscience: The Landmark Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Warner Books, Inc., 2001.ISBN 0-446-52399-2^[3]
• consultant,Civil Rights Chronicle : the African-American Struggle for Freedom Publications International, Ltd., 2003.ISBN 978-0-785-34924-2^[3]
• Martin's Dream: My Journey and the Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. A Memoir. Palgrave MacMillan, 2013.ISBN 978-0-230-62169-5
• — (2015)."Prologue. Martin's dream : the global legacy of Martin Luther King Jr"(PDF).Bulletin of the German Historical Institute (Washington DC). Supplement 11:15–21. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on September 12, 2015.
• Historical Adviser, "Chicano! History of Mexican American Civil Rights" NLCC Educational Media, 1996 .^[12]
• Historical Adviser, "Black and Jews" 1997 .^[12]
• co-author, "Blacks and Jews in the Civil Rights Movement," inStrangers and Neighbors: Relations between Blacks and Jews in the United States, University of Massachusetts Press, 2000.ISBN 978-1-55849-236-3^[13]
• Author of introduction,Stride Toward Freedom: Montgomery Story. Beacon Press, 2010.ISBN 0807000698^[3]
• Co-Author,This Light is Ours: Activist Photographs of the Civil Rights Movement. WW Norton & Co, 2009.ISBN 0393306046^[3]
• Author of playPassages of Martin Luther King. 1993^[6]

• Clayborne Carson Home Page, Stanford University (archived)
• Appearances onC-SPAN
• "Historian Clayborne Carson, with stories fromMartin's Dream".Tavis Smiley.PBS. January 21, 2013. Archived fromthe original on December 30, 2016. RetrievedDecember 30, 2016.
• Interview with Clayborne Carson

• 1944 births
• Activists for African-American civil rights
• Activists from California
• 21st-century African-American academics
• 21st-century American academics
• African-American non-fiction writers
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• 21st-century American historians
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• American anti–Vietnam War activists
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• Living people
• American male biographers
• Stanford University Department of History faculty
• University of California, Los Angeles alumni
• Academics from New York (state)
• People from Los Alamos, New Mexico
• Morehouse College faculty
• American male non-fiction writers
• Historians of the civil rights movement

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