There are many thick books about the life and times of Martin Luther King Jr. But few historians have told the stories of those in the trenches of the civil rights movement both before King's rise to prominence and after his assassination.
Kansas University graduate Deric Gilliard hopes to change that. He's written "Living in the Shadows of a Legend," a collection of biographical sketches and interviews with 19 men and women, black and white, who were foot soldiers in the battle for civil rights.
"If you read many of Dr. King's speeches, you'll see where he almost always gives credit to and pays homage to his 'ground crew,' the people who labored in obscurity before he brought the movement and its energy to their communities and whose lives were often in danger after he left," Gilliard said during a telephone interview Monday from his home in Atlanta.
"My goal was to seek these people out, meet with them and let them tell their stories in their own words and from their own perspective," he said.
Among those profiled: John Thomas of Montgomery, Ala. Now 92, Thomas was active in the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Gilliard, 47, graduated from KU in 1977. He spent a year reporting for The Wichita Eagle before moving to Atlanta, where he worked for the Atlanta Daily World, the nation's oldest African-American newspaper. He later wrote for USA Today and Time magazine.
Gilliard later became communications director for the Southern Christian Leadership Council, which King co-founded in 1957. Now, Gilliard works for the U.S. Health and Human Services Office in Atlanta.
"They were unsung back then, and they're still unsung today" he said of his book's subjects. "Most of them are struggling financially. They have no pension, no retirement."
But they remain united in admiration for King, he said.
"It amazed me we'd get to talking about Dr. King, and their eyes would get watery and they'd get all choked up," Gilliard said, recalling his interviews. "To them, he was such a selfless individual."
Gilliard published "Living in the Shadows of a Legend" himself. Copies are available at Gilliard's Web site: www.gilliardcommunications.com. They sell for $22.
Gilliard spent much of his childhood in Junction City. He hasn't forgotten his ties to Kansas and Lawrence.
"Oh, I love Lawrence, and I love KU," he said. "I check your (Journal-World) Web site every day."
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