As editor of The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Dr. Clayborne Carson, with the assistance of his staff at Stanford’s Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute, had access to a variety of documents relating to all aspects of Dr. King’s life and career. The encyclopedia provides readers with over 280 entries that offer fresh and engaging insights into Dr. King and the civil rights movement. From their unique familiarity with these materials, they have compiled an encyclopedia offering a fresh and exciting look at the work of Dr. King and the course of the civil rights movement.

Alphabetically arranged, each entry concludes with a list of sources, both primary and secondary, upon which it is based. The entries cover all facets of Dr. King’s life and career, including the following members of his family:

; his wife, Coretta Scott King

; his father, Martin Luther King, Sr.

; his mother, Alberta Williams King

; his brother, Alfred Daniel Williams King

; and all four of his children

His many friends and associates in the movement:

; Ralph David Abernathy

; Maya Angelou

; Sammy Davis Jr.

; Medgar Evers

; Dick Gregory

; Benjamin Hooks

; James Meredith

; Andrew Young

His campaigns and marches:

; Birmingham Campaign

; Chicago Campaign

; March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

; Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike

; Mongomery Bus Boycott

; Operation Breadbasket

And the many organizations he led or interacted with:

; Congress of Racial Equality

; Montgomery Improvement Association

; National Conference on Religion and Race

; Southern Christian Leadership Conference

; Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee