The Individual, Auto/biography and History in South Africa

and “The Annual Salute to Greatness Awards Dinner” as part of its management of
the King Holiday Observance. This is where the King Papers Project was initiated to
facilitate the dissemination of information on King’s life and work. This project,
directed by Stanford historian Clayborne Carson, developed as an authorised
biographic project of collection, dissemination and publication, leading to the
production of guides to King research, King’s collected papers (four volumes), a
docudrama, a collection of sermons, and even a “posthumous autobiography”.
Through Carson’s work, materials were released into the public domain under
carefully chosen authority of the academy. The project also became one of biographical
defence, to contain possible disgrace, as the research revealed evidence of large‐scale
plagiarism in King’s scholarly writings. 99
The King Centre is also where the intellectual property dimensions of King’s words,
voice and image were carefully managed on behalf of the King estate and the King
family. In one of his first acts as president of the King Centre, Dexter King is reputed
to have met with “the caretakers of Elvis’ image to learn how to market King like the
King”. 100 Large fees were charged from authors and TV producers who wanted to
reproduce or broadcast King’s speeches. King’s collected works were turned into the
Centre’s most valuable asset, and a licensing deal was negotiated with Time Warner
99 Martin Luther King, Jr National Historic Site, ‘I Have a Dream’ (Brochure and Map, 1997); The King
Centre, ‘2002 King Holiday Observance – Schedule of Events’ (Pamphlet, 2002); The Autobiography of
Martin Luther King, Jr (Warner Books, 1998) was created by Clayborne Carson as an effort “to assemble
King’s dispersed autobiographical writings into a coherent narrative”. The notion of ‘autobiography’
here seems to have been more of a marketing decision and a claim on the authenticity of a text created
by Carson, rather than one based on scholarly argument about self‐narration. See also Clayborne
Carson, ‘Editing Martin Luther King, Jr: Political and Scholarly Issues’, in George Bornstein and Ralph
G Williams (eds), Palimpsest: Editorial Theory in the Humanities (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan
Press, 1993), pp 305‐316, where it is argued that King’s plagiarism “may have allowed him to avoid
internalising the European‐American modes of thought that underlay the passages” and “may have
been more effective than more original writings in allowing [him] to play his chosen role as an
African‐American leader seeking to influence white Americans”.
100 David Plotz, ‘Content is King: Dexter King is a King for the ‘90s’, .
Memphis, Tenessee, of course, is the home of the Elvis Industry, represented by Elvis Presley
Enterprises Inc and with its home at the growing Graceland Complex, Presley’s home‐turned‐tourist‐
attraction. It consists of Graceland Plaza (with shops, a cinema and exhibits), a shopping centre
(Graceland Shopping), the Heartbreak Hotel, Presley’s Graceland mansion home, and his gravesite,
and constitutes a business empire centred on the musical legacy and posthumous celebrity of Elvis
Presley. See Jim Patterson, ‘Elvis is still the king of rock’, Cape Argus, 12/8/02.
88