The Man Who Kept MLK’s Secrets; an Oral History of the George Floyd Movement; Dorothy Parker’s Parting Gift

[A special delivery from the Vanity Fair Archive.]( [View in your browser]( | [Update your preferences](newsletter=vf) [Vanity Fair's Cocktail Hour logo image]( A daily digest of things to discuss over drinks January 17, 2022 This Martin Luther King Jr. Day, revisit five stories of the fight for civil rights. [True Stories About the Great Fire]( [In late May 2020, as video of George Floyd’s murder spread across the nation, Americans defied the pandemic and rallied to the streets in what would become the largest protest movement in decades. The story of those early days is told here by those who rose up, those who bore witness, those who grieved, and those who hoped.]( [R E A D M O R E »]( [The Man Who Kept King’s Secrets]( [In 2006, Clarence Jones, the galvanizing lawyer who was Martin Luther King Jr.’s trusted lieutenant between 1960 and 1968, had come out from the shadows of civil rights history. In a groundbreaking interview, he shared his untold tale: the secret missions, the FBI wiretaps, and the “real” Martin of those perilous, passionate years.]( [R E A D M O R E »]( [Pride and Prejudice]( [As race riots swept the nation in the summer of 1967, its most beloved movie actor was Sidney Poitier, whose three films that year—To Sir, With Love; In the Heat of the Night; and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner—would also make him Hollywood’s box office king. Charting Poitier’s coolly uncompromising navigation of his symbolic status, Laura Jacobs recalls the pointed message he sent to white America.]( [R E A D M O R E »]( [Al Sharpton, Revisited]( [The Reverend Al Sharpton has been many things to many people: a firebrand, an opportunist, an inspiration, a joke. Today, with race once again roiling America’s conscience, he is arguably the country’s most influential civil rights leader. In 2016, as Sharpton reflected on his five-decade battle, the presidential election, his role as a political power broker, and the controversies he couldn’t shake, Suzanna Andrews learned about the anger that created and nearly consumed him.]( [R E A D M O R E »]( [Rebel in Evening Clothes]( [Immortalized for her cocktail-swilling Algonquin reign, Vanity Fair writer Dorothy Parker also used her wit to skewer prejudice in pre-civil-rights America. And despite the original objections of Lillian Heilman, her onetime literary executor, Parker’s final legacy—to Martin Luther King and the NAACP—is still being affirmed.]( [R E A D M O R E »]( Sponsored [Noom Helps You Start Your Health Journey]( [Noom gives you the keys to weight-loss success with their unique psychology-based approach. They’ll focus on you and why you make the decisions you do so you can achieve lasting results, and you’ll have a support system to help you stay on track to create a sustainable health routine.]( [R E A D M O R E »]( Get on the list Subscribe to our Hollywood newsletter for your essential industry and awards-season news, every day. [Sign Up Now]( [Condé Nast Spotlight | The breaking news and top stories everyone is talking about. All in one place. The most popular stories from Vogue, GQ, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Wired, Architectural Digest and more. STAY INFORMED]( [Vanity Fair Logo](www.vanityfair.com) [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [YouTube]( This e-mail was sent to you by VANITY FAIR. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, vanityfair@newsletter.vf.com, to your address book. View our [Privacy Policy]( [Unsubscribe](newsletter=vf) Copyright © Condé Nast 2022. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.