Galvanized by his Christian faith and the peaceful teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. helped Black people achieve genuine progress toward racial equality using the power of his words and acts of nonviolent resistance. He led with the principle that people everywhere, regardless of color or creed, are equal members of the human family.

As the world remembers King today, explore his legacy with these inspiring documentaries, books, sermons, podcasts, and songs.

‣ Breathtaking in its scope, the documentary King: A Filmed Record...Montgomery to Memphis paints a vivid portrait of King’s work and life from 1955 to 1968, almost entirely through archival footage and audio. This version of the film, which was originally screened in 1970 for a one-night special event, was restored by the Library of Congress from the 35 mm negative.

‣ We Are the Dream chronicles the 40th annual Oakland MLK Oratorical Festival, a public-speaking competition where hundreds of students perform poetry and speeches inspired by King.

‣ Many of King’s speeches are available in audiobook form, including “Eulogy for the Young Victims of the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing.” Delivered on September 18, 1963, the speech memorialized the girls who died when Ku Klux Klan members set off a bomb in a Birmingham, Alabama, church during Sunday service: “Their death says to us,” King told those gathered, “that we must work passionately and unrelentingly for the realization of the American dream.”

‣ “The Road to the Promised Land, 50 Years Later”—an episode of the Code Switch podcast—chronicles King’s final days in Memphis and the speech he gave shortly before his death, which connected civil rights struggles in the United States with human-rights movements happening around the world.

‣ In the Ezra Klein Show podcast episode “A Revelatory Tour of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Forgotten Teachings,” King scholar Brandon Terry and Klein discuss how King’s politics and philosophies are still relevant today.

‣ In 1980, Stevie Wonder released “Happy Birthday” as part of a campaign to have King’s birthday declared a national holiday. Stream it with these apps.

‣ The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr. brings together the civil rights leader’s most famous and impactful speeches and essays, including “The Power of Nonviolence,” “I Have a Dream,” and his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance address. Historian Clayborne Carson introduces the writings.

‣ In Stride Toward Freedom, a young King recounts his experiences during the Montgomery bus boycott—a pivotal act of nonviolent resistance and catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement.

‣ The beautifully designed hardcover book I Have a Dream memorializes King’s legendary speech at the March on Washington—and includes an introduction by Amanda Gorman, the country’s first National Youth Poet Laureate.

‣ Interwoven with never-before-seen materials from King’s archives, The Dream Journal encourages a daily writing practice with poignant prompts and compelling images inspired by King’s life and words.

‣ King outlined a framework for nonviolent resistance in his sermons. A Gift of Love collects 16 of these homilies, some of which King wrote from jail after his arrest at a prayer vigil in Albany, New York. In “Loving Your Enemies,” he explains the need for—and path to—unconditional love. Quoting Abraham Lincoln: “Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?”

‣ King never wrote a formal autobiography, but The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.—edited by the former director of Stanford University’s Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute—creates a poignant portrait by weaving together passages from published books, essays, sermons, and speeches with previously unpublished letters and manuscripts.

Purchase these books using the apps below—or see if your local library has a digital copy you can borrow for free with the Libby app.