"In the famous photograph of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on the balcony of Memphis's Lorraine Motel, one man kneeled down beside King, trying to staunch the blood from his fatal head wound with a borrowed towel. This kneeling man was a member of the Invaders, an activist group that was in talks with King in the days leading up to the murder. But he also had another identity: an undercover Memphis police officer reporting on the activities of this group, which was thought to be possibly dangerous and potentially violent. This kneeling man is Leta McCollough Seletzky's father"-- - (Baker & Taylor)

BCALA Literary Award Winner
Finalist for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award

The intimate and heartbreaking story of a Black undercover police officer who famously kneeled by the assassinated Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr—and a daughter’s quest for the truth about her father

In the famous photograph of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on the balcony of Memphis’s Lorraine Motel, one man kneeled down beside King, trying to staunch the blood from his fatal head wound with a borrowed towel.

This kneeling man was a member of the Invaders, an activist group that was in talks with King in the days leading up to the murder. But he also had another identity: an undercover Memphis police officer reporting on the activities of this group, which was thought to be possibly dangerous and potentially violent. This kneeling man is Leta McCollough Seletzky’s father.

Marrell McCollough was a Black man working secretly with the white power structure, a spy. This was so far from her understanding of what it meant to be Black in America, of everything she eventually devoted her life and career to, that she set out to learn what she could about his life, his actions and motivations. But with that decision came risk. What would she uncover about her father, who went on to a career at the CIA, and did she want to bear the weight of knowing? - (Random House, Inc.)

LETA McCOLLOUGH SELETZKY is a National Endowment for the Arts 2022 Creative Writing Fellow. A litigator turned essayist and memoirist, her work appears in The Atlantic; The New York Times; TheGrio; O, The Oprah Magazine; The Washington Post; and elsewhere. She holds a BA from Northwestern University and a JD from the George Washington University Law School. She grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, and now lives in Walnut Creek, California. - (Random House, Inc.)

Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* James Louw's photograph of Martin Luther King Jr. lying mortally wounded at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, includes a young man who is trying to stop King's bleeding. Essayist and memoirist Seletzky reveals that this kneeling man is her father, Marrell "Mac" McCullough, an undercover Memphis police officer who was embedded in the Invaders, an activist group. Seletzky explains how her father came to the Lorraine, how he used army first aid training to try to save King, and what happened afterward. Her powerful, well-organized, and fast-moving narrative reveals the challenges Mac and his family confronted and tracks how everyone's lives turned out. Despite King's assassination, the oppression of sharecropping, relatives who die too young, segregation, and racism, Seletzky recounts some triumphs. Mac helped break the color barrier at the Memphis police department and then at the CIA. Her grandparents instilled in Mac and Seletzky a strong work ethic, the grit to face challenges, and the ability to find succor in gardening. Seletzky's compelling account of the story of the sanitation workers' strike, the Reverend King's profound leadership, and efforts to overcome racism in Memphis are richly enlightening and may help illuminate the underlying causes of the January 2023 Memphis police murder of Tyre Nichols. Copyright 2023 Booklist Reviews.

Library Journal Reviews

A retired U.S. Foreign Service officer and prolific author of books about the wars between Indigenous peoples and the U.S. government, Cozzens recounts the early 1800s fighting between the Creek Nation and U.S. government forces (led by first-time combat leader Andrew Jackson)— A Brutal Reckoning that ended with the infamous Trail of Tears. Egan, a New York Times best-selling author, National Book Award winner, and Pulitzer Prize—winning journalist, examines the terrifying 1920s rise of the Ku Klux Klan, spearheaded by Indiana Grand Dragon D.C. Stephenson, and the bravery of Madge Oberholtzer, who countered the Klan at great personal cost in A Fever in the Heartland (75,000-copy first printing). In A Madman's Will, lawyer/author May (Jefferson's Treasure) tells the story of Virginia senator John Randolph's manumission in his will of all 383 people enslaved to him, revealing the senator's ever-changing attitudes toward slavery and how prejudice from the North blocked freedmen from possessing the land Randolph had promised them. Marrell McCollough, the Black man seen in photographs kneeling next to Martin Luther King Jr. when he was assassinated at Memphis's Lorraine Motel in 1968, was a member of an activist group in discussion with King—and, as daughter Seletzky painfully reveals in The Kneeling Man, an undercover Memphis police officer reporting on the group's activities (50,000-copy first printing).

Library Journal Reviews

The family legacy passed to Seletzky, a 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellow, is a difficult one for her to come to terms with, especially the life of her father, Marrell McCollough, one of the first Black police officers in Memphis. He worked undercover and infiltrated the Invaders and other Black rights organizations during the height of the civil rights movement. He was present at the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and is famously pictured giving aid, kneeling by King's side, and staunching the flow of blood with a towel. The book is a well-documented and researched narrative of McCollough's life, from impoverished sharecropping child to an eventual career in the CIA. It paints a vivid and gripping picture of Black life at that time, rife with racism, injustice, and moral ambiguity. Interspersed in this narrative are chapters highlighting the author's journey to unravel this story. It is a labor of love and a search for understanding as Seletzky explores the tangled history of the nation and her family. VERDICT This book is perfect for anyone seeking to understand the historical period and what it means to be Black in the United States.—Mason Bennett