“The Kneeling Man” – with Leta McCollough Seletsky

SpyCast

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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