Clyde W. Ford, Current Affairs with the Salish Current

In this presentation, Dr. Clyde W. Ford will discuss the history of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day commemoration in Bellingham, his role as the director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Publishing Project at HarperCollins, and the importance of King as an "inconvenient hero," beyond the King that most know as the orator of "I Have A Dream." Clyde will draw on his background of having established the annual MLK Day event in Bellingham in 1991, his current position at HarperCollins, and his work as a historian and author of the African American experience.

Clyde W. Ford was born in NYC. He's the author of fifteen works of fiction and non-fiction. He's also a psychotherapist, an accomplished mythologist, and a sought-after public speaker. In 2006, Ford received the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Award in African American fiction. In 2019, he was named a finalist for the Hurston/Wright Award in African American nonfiction. In 2021, Clyde received the prestigious Washington Center for the Book award for Think Black, his memoir about his father, the first Black software engineer in America. Clyde also won the Nautilus Book Award in Social Justice, and was named a finalist for the Goddard-Russo Prize in Social Justice for Think Black. In 2023, Clyde was named a finalist for the Washington Center for the Book award for the Of Blood and Sweat: Black Lives and the Making of White Power and Wealth. Clyde was honored as a "Literary Lion" by the King County Library System in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2019. He was voted "Best Writer of Bellingham, Washington" in 2006 and 2007 by readers of the Cascadia Weekly and he received the 2007 Bellingham, Washington Mayor's Arts Award in Literature. Ford is currently a speaker for Humanities Washington, an affiliate of the NEA, where he presents a program entitled, "Technology, Race and Social Justice," around the state. He is also the Director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Publishing Project at HarperCollins. Clyde has participated in hundreds of media interviews and has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, New Dimensions Radio, and National Public Radio. He lives in Bellingham, Washington where, in 1991, Clyde established the city's annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day commemoration. From Bellingham, Clyde enjoys walking in the mountains and cruising the waters of the Pacific Northwest.
THE MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. PUBLISHING PROJECT AT HARPERCOLLINS
In June 2021, HarperCollins signed an agreement with the Martin Luther King, Jr. estate. The agreement granted HarperCollins a 10-year exclusive license to re-publish previously published material from the MLK archives, and to publish new works. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Library Publishing Project was created from this agreement.
Clyde W. Ford is the director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Publish Project at HarperCollins. In that capacity, he advises the president of HarperOne, Judith Curr, on new books that should be published about King, and previous works that should be republished. He is the intermediary between HarperCollins and the Martin Luther King, Jr. estate. With his extensive software background, Clyde has also developed and written an online site for HarperCollins editors, and others, to access the resources of the MLK archives. This includes M.A.S.T. an innovative Multi-Archival Search Tool and artificial intelligence software for M.A.S.T. that discovers hidden topics within search results from the MLK archives, which editors may wish to consider for publication.

The Salish Current is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, online local news organization serving Whatcom, San Juan and Skagit counties. Based in Bellingham, we serve 400,000 residents and tens of thousands of annual visitors to the three-county area. Our region is the ancestral home of Native treaty tribes including the Lummi, Nooksack, Samish, Sauk-Suiattle, Stillaguamish, Swinomish and Upper Skagit. It is home to Western Washington University, Northwest Indian College, Whatcom Community College, Skagit Valley College and Bellingham Technical College.

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