ABSTRACT
Martin Luther King Jr. is indisputably an American hero. In a recent Gallup poll, he came in second only to Mother Teresa as the most admired person from the twentieth century (Newport 2006). He and Christopher Columbus are the only two non-presidents to have national holidays designated in their honor. Last year, a full two-thirds of high school students surveyed in a nationally representative sample named Martin Luther King Jr. as one of the fi ve “most famous Americans,” easily vaulting him into fi rst place on the list. A parallel survey of adults similarly earned King one-third of the vote, putting him second only to Benjamin Franklin (Wineburg and Monte-Sano 2008; although it is important to note that respondents were explicitly told to exclude presidents and their wives from the possible list of “most famous”). King’s popularity presumably refl ects, at least in part, his ubiquity in American history textbooks that cover the period, every US civics book, literally thousands of trade books for children and adults, and almost every classroom and media outlet across the country during Black History Month. There is little doubt that Martin Luther King is widely taught and recognized as an “American hero” (Bond 1993).
