The Comic Book That Changed The World

Abstract

For more than fifty years, a myth-like story has grown around the history and influence of a fourteen page comic book called Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story.

Through interviews, reviews of primary historical documents as well as government documents and testimony, this thesis uncovers new information about the earliest days of the comic book, including its role as an inspiration to those who participated in the first Greensboro sit-in on February 1, 1960. Though published by the Fellowship of Reconciliation, perhaps the most prominent public claim has been that the comic book was produced by the "Al Capp Organization." This thesis disproves that claim, instead establishing Graphic Information Services (GIS) as the producer of the comic book as well as offering an evidence supported theory as to who was running GIS at the time and how the company came to exist. This thesis also shows through primary documents how the story was written and by whom.