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The Kneeling Man: My Father's Life as a Black Spy Who Witnessed the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
"This untidy, honest, fascinating account compels the reader to reflect on profound questions of loyalty and race . . . All of us want to see our parents as heroes. It is to Ms. Seletsky’s great credit that she explores the depths of her father’s story with love, hope and critical realism.” — The Wall Street Journal
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 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?
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 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?
304 pages, Paperback
First published April 4, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
April 28, 2023
Full disclosure—Leta McCollough Seletzky is my wife. We met at the Spy Museum in D.C. in 2003, at a mutual friend’s birthday party. That uncanny fact has nothing to do with her dad’s being a spy or her writing The Kneeling Man. Or does it?
You should read and find out. Or, actually, you should read the book because it’s good. “Mac” McCollough was not a civil rights icon. He was a cop, then a cop-spy, then a full-time spy. In part, because he kept doing well on tests that were gateways to cop jobs, law enforcement was his path to The American Dream, one of the few paths available to him as a Black son of sharecroppers coming of age under segregation in the Jim Crow South in the 1960s.
He wasn’t a civil rights icon; he was a Black guy who was lucky enough to land a decent job as a cop in Memphis in 1967. And then the white establishment that ran the Memphis police basically rolled the dice with his life.
So, before you judge the guy, or write him off as a race traitor, or whatever, remember that like most of us he never set out to be a civil rights icon, he just wanted what most of us want, a decent job, a house, kids, the full all American catastrophe. And instead, he pretty much got a life that came close to alienating him from his family, including his beloved daughter, for nearly half of a century. Until that daughter decided she wanted to know him and his story, which happened to be history, or at least a revealing footnote to it, as one reviewer has called it.
Well, if it’s a footnote it’s still a hell of a good story, and I tell that to everyone who gives me any entrée to talk about the book. You might think that’s because I’m an unreliable, biased narrator, and that’s fine—I already disclosed that Leta’s my wife and, if you can believe it, after 18 years of marriage I still love her (and Dad too!), notwithstanding that about a decade ago she gave up her lucrative legal career to be a penniless writer. But if you read the book, you might also learn something about or even come to feel what it’s like to be in someone else’s skin, someone whose perspective might make you look at things from a new perspective, that of a Black spy.
You should read and find out. Or, actually, you should read the book because it’s good. “Mac” McCollough was not a civil rights icon. He was a cop, then a cop-spy, then a full-time spy. In part, because he kept doing well on tests that were gateways to cop jobs, law enforcement was his path to The American Dream, one of the few paths available to him as a Black son of sharecroppers coming of age under segregation in the Jim Crow South in the 1960s.
He wasn’t a civil rights icon; he was a Black guy who was lucky enough to land a decent job as a cop in Memphis in 1967. And then the white establishment that ran the Memphis police basically rolled the dice with his life.
So, before you judge the guy, or write him off as a race traitor, or whatever, remember that like most of us he never set out to be a civil rights icon, he just wanted what most of us want, a decent job, a house, kids, the full all American catastrophe. And instead, he pretty much got a life that came close to alienating him from his family, including his beloved daughter, for nearly half of a century. Until that daughter decided she wanted to know him and his story, which happened to be history, or at least a revealing footnote to it, as one reviewer has called it.
Well, if it’s a footnote it’s still a hell of a good story, and I tell that to everyone who gives me any entrée to talk about the book. You might think that’s because I’m an unreliable, biased narrator, and that’s fine—I already disclosed that Leta’s my wife and, if you can believe it, after 18 years of marriage I still love her (and Dad too!), notwithstanding that about a decade ago she gave up her lucrative legal career to be a penniless writer. But if you read the book, you might also learn something about or even come to feel what it’s like to be in someone else’s skin, someone whose perspective might make you look at things from a new perspective, that of a Black spy.
August 29, 2022
This is a remarkable and important book. And it is downright beautiful. Leta McCollough Seletzky has braided together her father's story, her own exploration of that story, and her own story in a remarkable texture. Her sense of pacing is impeccable. The whole time I was reading, I felt I was being handed this precious treasure--something of substance, heft, import, endowed with the hopes and dreams and ambitions and heartbreaks and relationships of whole generations--and the preciousness of that history was always front and center. The writing itself sparkles--there's wit, and just damn good storytelling, and devastating candor, and mind-blowing intelligence on every page.
May 1, 2023
Wow. I can't imagine - having this family story, uncovering this family story, telling and sharing this family story and doing it with such grace and wonderful - beautiful - storytelling. Weaving together the many lines of history - delving into so much research - and processing all this information not only for the reader, but more importantly for --- herself. A must read.
"All his life, freedom had been his lodestar, the goal of his strivings. It wasn’t an abstract concept, but something real that could be felt and experienced, like lungs filled with air and vegetables sprouting from earth. It was patched clothes, going to school, and playing baseball on Saturdays. And it was also duties, being responsible to others. As simple as these things might appear, they hadn’t been easy to attain and keep. It took community, order, and truth, which kept him alive, built him up, and gave him something to work for."
"All his life, freedom had been his lodestar, the goal of his strivings. It wasn’t an abstract concept, but something real that could be felt and experienced, like lungs filled with air and vegetables sprouting from earth. It was patched clothes, going to school, and playing baseball on Saturdays. And it was also duties, being responsible to others. As simple as these things might appear, they hadn’t been easy to attain and keep. It took community, order, and truth, which kept him alive, built him up, and gave him something to work for."
April 28, 2023
Overall, this was a pretty fascinating family history about the man who held MLK's head and tried to stop the bleeding after he was shot in 1968. The backstory of Marrell McCullough was interesting and unique in that he had a foot in two worlds - one, as an undercover cop investigating the more radical sectors of the late 60's Memphis civil rights movement and, two, as a black man experiencing a rapidly evolving cultural climate up close and personal. This was well written, but a little sluggish at times. Recommended for anyone interested in the complexities of the time period.
January 24, 2023
I read for entertainment and knowledge so my normal genre is historical fiction; but what is even better, is a non-fiction book that is so well written that you "forget" you aren't reading a made-up story. "The Kneeling Man, My father's life as a black spy who witnessed the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr." by Leta McCollough Seletzky is one such book. The Kneeling Man is the story of Leta's father, a poor son of a sharecropper, a Memphis police officer, a member of the C.I.A, a son, husband and father. An honest, superbly written book about one man who believed the American Dream belongs to us all.
May 11, 2024
I completed reading The Kneeling Man: My Father's Life as a Black Spy Who Witnessed the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr by Leta McCollough Seletzky. It is an intriguing story of one woman's discovery of her father's secret. Marrell McCullough was a member of the Memphis Police Department in the spring of 1968 and had infiltrated a radical group called the Invaders who were more provocative in rhetoric than in actual deeds. The Invaders and representatives of Dr. King had been in conversation to establish some type of alliance to challenge the power structure in Memphis, particularly in the areas of employment and housing. The alliance was never really established. Mr. McCullough's job was to find out who made up the Invaders and what they were planning. The book title refers to the fact that Mr. McCullough is seen in a famous photograph kneeling over the mortally wounded Dr. King moments after being shot on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel April 4th, 1968. It is a story that reveals the author's own thoughts and feelings as she discovers her father's secret. The story doesn't so much focus on the King assassination as it does discussing events related to the Invaders. There is mention of the FBI's notorious campaign to embarrass and harass Dr. King. This is a very personal story. I applaud Ms. Seletzky's courage in writing this story. There is much more in this book that I've not mentioned. Highly recommended. This book is available in accessible formats from the Centre for Equitable Library Access (CELA) in Canada and Bookshare in the United States.
February 5, 2023
There are no words to describe the night Martin Luther King was assassinated. When thinking of him, it is impossible not to think of his family. This book "The Kneeling Man" may give us more insight into who was there in Memphis, Tennessee that night.
In this story, we gain a picture of one of the men there. They called him Mac. More is learned about this man's character and that night. We can never read enough information about Martin Luther King and the people who followed him.The Kneeling Man by Leta McCullough Seletzky is very good. Not only do we learn about that night, but we also learn about the character of one black man telling us what it is like being black in America.Thank you to Catapult, Counterpoint ...Press.This is a complimentary copy.
November 10, 2023
I'm very conflicted about this book. Was it uninteresting? No. Badly written? No. Irrelevant? No. I think I had unrealistic expectations going into it (the description on the inside flap does the actual content of the book no favors). This book felt a bit scattered, like it was drawn with very broad strokes, rather than being finely detailed, and it felt strangely emotionless to me. It's not bad, it's not great, it just is.
Thank you, Counterpoint Press, for sending me this book as a Goodreads Giveaway.
Thank you, Counterpoint Press, for sending me this book as a Goodreads Giveaway.
July 8, 2023
This book was written by the daughter of an undercover Memphis Police Officer who was kneeling by Martin Luther King Jr when he was assassinated. Interesting history of how black people were held back in jobs in the late 1960’s and into the 80’s. Similar to women in that era. Glass ceilings for both groups.
July 24, 2023
This book would have been much more readable for me if it would've just stuck to the chronological story line of the main character, Mac. The author inserts bits and pieces of her story at various points of the book which did nothing but the track from the story for me.
This is a book that would've benefited from different editorial choices.
This is a book that would've benefited from different editorial choices.
October 22, 2023
This is the story of Mac McCullough, the man who knelt beside Martin Luther King Jr when he was assassinated. At the time he was working as an undercover police officer for the Memphis Police department. He went on to work for the CIA. I would have loved to have heard more details from that time of his life.
The author is his daughter and she's an excellent writer. But she makes these sudden switches to her own life that feels somewhat disjointed from the story. It would have been helpful to put a date whenever she switched eras.
Overall it was interesting to read a piece of history I knew little about.
The author is his daughter and she's an excellent writer. But she makes these sudden switches to her own life that feels somewhat disjointed from the story. It would have been helpful to put a date whenever she switched eras.
Overall it was interesting to read a piece of history I knew little about.
February 6, 2024
3/5–
Not enough MLK details for me but a great work at that. Yeah it was fine.
Not enough MLK details for me but a great work at that. Yeah it was fine.
February 10, 2023
Thank you NetGalley and Catapult, Counterpoint Press, and Soft Skull Press for the copy of The Kneeling Man by Leta McCollough Seletzky. This is the true story of the author’s father, a Black undercover police officer who witnessed MLK’s assassination. I enjoyed learning about the author’s journey to connect with her father Mac. His story and what he went through was eye-opening. I really admired what he was willing to do in his dangerous job.
I didn’t love the writing style and a lot of the book felt like a series of random vignettes instead of a cohesive story, so I would have appreciated some connecting text to tie everything together. The different timelines got confusing and I would have love dates at the beginning of the chapters as well as the name of whose story it was. I enjoyed how informative this book was and Mac’s extraordinary career, and it was good, but I think more rigorous editing would have made it more readable. I don’t read a lot of nonfiction so this book would probably be better for someone who does.
I didn’t love the writing style and a lot of the book felt like a series of random vignettes instead of a cohesive story, so I would have appreciated some connecting text to tie everything together. The different timelines got confusing and I would have love dates at the beginning of the chapters as well as the name of whose story it was. I enjoyed how informative this book was and Mac’s extraordinary career, and it was good, but I think more rigorous editing would have made it more readable. I don’t read a lot of nonfiction so this book would probably be better for someone who does.
February 17, 2025
Interesting book about the author's father - mostly history with a splash of memoir. Last year I read Hellhound on His Trail by Hampton Sides, which is an excellent book that follows James Earl Ray from the time of his prison escape to Memphis and the ensuing manhunt. If you're particularly interested in that era, I'd read that book first and then follow it up with this one. I enjoyed the history portions more than the memoir, but that just reflects my personal preferences for genres. The story of her father's youth is reminiscent of The Warmth of Other Suns. Not quite the classic Great Migration story, it's still a powerful tale of growing up in Mississippi in the 50's and 60's and navigating one's journey as an ambitious young Black man. Mac's brush with history was brief, but there's so much more to his life than that moment on the balcony. It's great that she reached out to her dad to learn more about his past and then followed through with this book.
July 23, 2023
I was so excited to read this book because the synopsis looked really interesting. At first, I couldn't put it down and then the author weaved in chapters of her thoughts, basically about her. I realize that she's wanting to write a father/daughter story, but i wish the book would have been 90% about her dad, Mac. There was also some sections that were out of sync and she tends to go back in time after a chapter of 'where he is right now in his life'. I ended up skipping sections that I thought weren't relevant to his story overall. She could have put her thoughts and stuff about her (growing up with him, as an adult, etc.) at the end as if it were a concluding/wrap up chapter.
It's a decent read but Mrs. McCollough Seletzky could've done so much more with her dad's very interesting life.
It's a decent read but Mrs. McCollough Seletzky could've done so much more with her dad's very interesting life.
September 4, 2023
A deeply interesting book about a figure in history I didn’t even know existed outside of a very famous photograph. The framing device of a daughter using her father’s experiences to help color in her own feelings and experiences as a Black person in America is wonderful.
January 14, 2024
Thoughtful and well written, this is much more of a memoir than an expose of MLK’s death. While the book opens with the assassination and explores it in some detail, the focus of the book is more on the author’s father, a Black CIA agent in the Jim Crowe south.
Want to read
March 11, 2023[led here by BookPage blurb]
June 9, 2023
Important story. Great writing. A great family
September 4, 2023
A powerful and personal story that goes beyond a moment in history to give context to our collective US history.
September 26, 2023
a must read of 2023
February 1, 2025
Hyattsville book group, September 2024 selection
August 16, 2023
This is a daughter’s biography of her father who appeared in a famous photograph – a photo that had an outsized impact on his life. The book covers Marrell (Mac) McCollough’s childhood and family situation in rural Mississippi though his time on the Memphis Police force into his career of achievement in the CIA.
I was glued through the description of his growing up in a family of 13 children with a tenant farmer father. The author recounts the circumstances that forced Walter to move his family from one farm to another. Education was valued, but it was a luxury. Through the extended family Mac was able to spend some time in a city where he had short stints in very different schools. You see Mac join the Army and his siblings leave home. His father, after his wife’s death, found a partner and drank a lot.
With luck Mac became one of the only black cops in Memphis. You see his daily life and you learn how he went undercover and spied on the “Invaders”. You learn the internal issues of being black and in law enforcement and how promotions do and don’t take place.
Because he is following young activists who are following the Sanitation Worker’s Strike, he attends related meetings (MLK met with the Invaders who told him that for $500 they would help his campaign with the strike), speeches and rallies. This assignment leads to Mac’s being photographed at the Lorraine Motel just after a single bullet fired from across the street killed Dr. Martin Luther King.
After the assassination, the book's format changes as essays are wedged into the biographical chronology.
The first of these essay chapters recounts a meeting with Andrew Young, 50 or so years since the photo in which Young also appeared. Another such chapter (“Flags”) is a very good stand alone essay a child’s growing awareness of racism and how negative messages are processed. A literary chapter “Land” talks about the meaning of gardening as it is passed from generation to generation.
Here are some takeaways and observations
• The day Mac applied for a job on the Memphis Police force he was given a battery of written and physical tests that lasted into the late hours of night. This was the extent of the selection process. Is this normal?
• It is pretty risky to go undercover in a city where you have lived and worked. Were local white officers recruited for this work too? (I always presumed that newcomers were used for this.)
• As an undercover agent Mac drove Invader members to illegal operations. Is this standard? I wondered about his bringing a gas can (used to start a fire) to the police HQ as evidence. After all his work, there is nothing on his reaction to the decision not to prosecute the crimes he witnessed.
• When Mac’s cover was blown, he was told to leave town, but I do not see that he had any re-location assistance… he had to do this on his own… Upon return he went back on “the beat”. The Memphis Police Department put on a lot of risk on him.
• I flipped back to see if I missed (there is no index) how Mac came to be on balcony of the Lorraine Motel just after Dr. King fell. He was in the neighborhood, but how did he get to where MLK’s most intimate advisors stood? Could anyone just climb the steps at that time?
• I’d have liked more context for the conversation with Andrew Young. It appears the two men avoided the issues that may have separated them 50 years earlier.
• Interestingly, Mark Lane is cited on p.245 for his conspiracy work that would implicate the Memphis Police (and by inference, Mac) in MLK’s death. Lane disappeared in Guyana just as he was scheduled to testify before the 1978 House Committee on Assassinations. Not cited by the author is that since that time it has been revealed that Lane had been receiving $6,000/month for creating positive PR for Jim Jones and his Temple.
There is a lot to learn from this narrative: growing up on tenant farms of the 1950’s and 60’s; some of the ins and outs of police work; how undercover worked and how the operative had to break with family and friends; how Blacks pioneered careers in government and more.
I was glued through the description of his growing up in a family of 13 children with a tenant farmer father. The author recounts the circumstances that forced Walter to move his family from one farm to another. Education was valued, but it was a luxury. Through the extended family Mac was able to spend some time in a city where he had short stints in very different schools. You see Mac join the Army and his siblings leave home. His father, after his wife’s death, found a partner and drank a lot.
With luck Mac became one of the only black cops in Memphis. You see his daily life and you learn how he went undercover and spied on the “Invaders”. You learn the internal issues of being black and in law enforcement and how promotions do and don’t take place.
Because he is following young activists who are following the Sanitation Worker’s Strike, he attends related meetings (MLK met with the Invaders who told him that for $500 they would help his campaign with the strike), speeches and rallies. This assignment leads to Mac’s being photographed at the Lorraine Motel just after a single bullet fired from across the street killed Dr. Martin Luther King.
After the assassination, the book's format changes as essays are wedged into the biographical chronology.
The first of these essay chapters recounts a meeting with Andrew Young, 50 or so years since the photo in which Young also appeared. Another such chapter (“Flags”) is a very good stand alone essay a child’s growing awareness of racism and how negative messages are processed. A literary chapter “Land” talks about the meaning of gardening as it is passed from generation to generation.
Here are some takeaways and observations
• The day Mac applied for a job on the Memphis Police force he was given a battery of written and physical tests that lasted into the late hours of night. This was the extent of the selection process. Is this normal?
• It is pretty risky to go undercover in a city where you have lived and worked. Were local white officers recruited for this work too? (I always presumed that newcomers were used for this.)
• As an undercover agent Mac drove Invader members to illegal operations. Is this standard? I wondered about his bringing a gas can (used to start a fire) to the police HQ as evidence. After all his work, there is nothing on his reaction to the decision not to prosecute the crimes he witnessed.
• When Mac’s cover was blown, he was told to leave town, but I do not see that he had any re-location assistance… he had to do this on his own… Upon return he went back on “the beat”. The Memphis Police Department put on a lot of risk on him.
• I flipped back to see if I missed (there is no index) how Mac came to be on balcony of the Lorraine Motel just after Dr. King fell. He was in the neighborhood, but how did he get to where MLK’s most intimate advisors stood? Could anyone just climb the steps at that time?
• I’d have liked more context for the conversation with Andrew Young. It appears the two men avoided the issues that may have separated them 50 years earlier.
• Interestingly, Mark Lane is cited on p.245 for his conspiracy work that would implicate the Memphis Police (and by inference, Mac) in MLK’s death. Lane disappeared in Guyana just as he was scheduled to testify before the 1978 House Committee on Assassinations. Not cited by the author is that since that time it has been revealed that Lane had been receiving $6,000/month for creating positive PR for Jim Jones and his Temple.
There is a lot to learn from this narrative: growing up on tenant farms of the 1950’s and 60’s; some of the ins and outs of police work; how undercover worked and how the operative had to break with family and friends; how Blacks pioneered careers in government and more.
July 14, 2024
Probably around 3.25 stars, rounded down.
I , like millions of others, have seen the April 4, 1968 Lorraine Motel photo plenty of times. But, I didn't know who the kneeling man, Marrell McCullough was.
The story his daughter tells is interesting — but could have been told better.
"Mac" was a Memphis cop who had been assigned by Memphis PD to infiltrate The Invaders, a Memphis-based group of young Blacks who didn't totally agree with Martin Luther King's nonviolence ethos. To the degree they had any political philosophy at all, think of them as junior Stokely Carmichaels, but without the wherewithal to do much. That's how Mac got to the Lorraine.
Mac, per Leta, then leverages his desire to go to college with Memphis PD's desire to infiltrate activist student groups, and goes to Memphis State. Graduates.
Hits the Black glass ceiling at the Memphis PD. Applies to the FBI. Application, after looking favorable, gets slow-walked. So, on a suggestion, applies to the CIA. Is NOT slow-walked. And, eventually hits GS-15. Whether it was more Black glass ceiling or more a superior's personal animus, he doesn't get higher than that, but he is the first Black to get that high.
Add in that many older Black civil rights leaders, and most of the King family, didn't (and still don't) accept that James Earl Ray shot King, and Mac is a suspect of being part of the plot. After diffidence by Mac, years later, via his daughter, he meets with Andrew Young, who talks about his suspicions. This is decades after Mac was hauled before the late 1970s House Select Committee on Assassinations, where several members express the same skepticism that Young continued to do so decades later. (The questioning Congressmen were all Democrats.)
So, why this rating?
First, while it's a fairly short book and some of it is authorial personal reminiscing, it has no index. Due to the qualifiers, I'll just deduct 0.75 stars not a full star. I knew all the "big players" mentioned, but no index made it impossible to reference back to Invaders and fellow travelers.
Second, when her dad is visiting with Young, and despite having read already Hampton Sides' "Hellhound on His Trail" (my review, documenting its several shortcomings) and despite hearing her dad reject conspiracy theories of the assassination, she seems more ready to believe Young than him.
Third, the personal reminiscing adds nothing to the book. But, at the same time, it throws into relief that Seletzky doesn't talk that much about her adult relationship with her dad. And, has he talked more about his years with the CIA? Has their been any modern day reconciliation or whatever with the MPD?
Fourth and related? WHERE ARE THE PHOTOS? The cover photo and authorial blurb photo are IT! There's more on her Oprah interview as far as both photos and adult relationship, than in this book. Ditto on the relationship factor on an NPR interview. That cost a quarter-star at least right there.
I mean, the man has no Wikipedia page, even. This book is the first draft of history and it could have been better.
I , like millions of others, have seen the April 4, 1968 Lorraine Motel photo plenty of times. But, I didn't know who the kneeling man, Marrell McCullough was.
The story his daughter tells is interesting — but could have been told better.
"Mac" was a Memphis cop who had been assigned by Memphis PD to infiltrate The Invaders, a Memphis-based group of young Blacks who didn't totally agree with Martin Luther King's nonviolence ethos. To the degree they had any political philosophy at all, think of them as junior Stokely Carmichaels, but without the wherewithal to do much. That's how Mac got to the Lorraine.
Mac, per Leta, then leverages his desire to go to college with Memphis PD's desire to infiltrate activist student groups, and goes to Memphis State. Graduates.
Hits the Black glass ceiling at the Memphis PD. Applies to the FBI. Application, after looking favorable, gets slow-walked. So, on a suggestion, applies to the CIA. Is NOT slow-walked. And, eventually hits GS-15. Whether it was more Black glass ceiling or more a superior's personal animus, he doesn't get higher than that, but he is the first Black to get that high.
Add in that many older Black civil rights leaders, and most of the King family, didn't (and still don't) accept that James Earl Ray shot King, and Mac is a suspect of being part of the plot. After diffidence by Mac, years later, via his daughter, he meets with Andrew Young, who talks about his suspicions. This is decades after Mac was hauled before the late 1970s House Select Committee on Assassinations, where several members express the same skepticism that Young continued to do so decades later. (The questioning Congressmen were all Democrats.)
So, why this rating?
First, while it's a fairly short book and some of it is authorial personal reminiscing, it has no index. Due to the qualifiers, I'll just deduct 0.75 stars not a full star. I knew all the "big players" mentioned, but no index made it impossible to reference back to Invaders and fellow travelers.
Second, when her dad is visiting with Young, and despite having read already Hampton Sides' "Hellhound on His Trail" (my review, documenting its several shortcomings) and despite hearing her dad reject conspiracy theories of the assassination, she seems more ready to believe Young than him.
Third, the personal reminiscing adds nothing to the book. But, at the same time, it throws into relief that Seletzky doesn't talk that much about her adult relationship with her dad. And, has he talked more about his years with the CIA? Has their been any modern day reconciliation or whatever with the MPD?
Fourth and related? WHERE ARE THE PHOTOS? The cover photo and authorial blurb photo are IT! There's more on her Oprah interview as far as both photos and adult relationship, than in this book. Ditto on the relationship factor on an NPR interview. That cost a quarter-star at least right there.
I mean, the man has no Wikipedia page, even. This book is the first draft of history and it could have been better.
December 16, 2024
The Kneeling Man: My Father's Life as a Black Spy Who Witnessed the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.", written by Leta McCollough-Seletsky, (no relation) was a very engaging read.
We’ve all seen the photo of the group on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, moments after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot on April 4, 1968. Dr. King is lying on the ground with his feet through the railing of the balcony. Three arms are pointing upward to a rooming house across the street. A fourth man is kneeling, appearing understandably tense, holding a white towel to Dr. King’s head. I remember being curious about this man as a child looking at the photo. As I got older, I wondered what he must have been feeling at that moment. Did he know Dr King was dead? At some point, I read the statement, “…Ralph Abernathy cradled his head,” but I was pretty sure that the kneeling man in the photo was not Rev. Abernathy. I wondered who he was.
The book is a fascinating historical memoir focusing of the author’s father, who was a black under-cover police officer in Memphis at the time of the assassination of Dr. King – the kneeling man. Marrell’s and his family’s experiences make for very engaging reading. Leta does a wonderful job of telling the story in a deeply personal way, describing how she connected with her father as she learned about and explored his experiences and came to terms with his role as an under-cover police officer who had infiltrated a black activist group and his later career in the CIA.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and recommend it to anyone with an interest!
We’ve all seen the photo of the group on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, moments after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot on April 4, 1968. Dr. King is lying on the ground with his feet through the railing of the balcony. Three arms are pointing upward to a rooming house across the street. A fourth man is kneeling, appearing understandably tense, holding a white towel to Dr. King’s head. I remember being curious about this man as a child looking at the photo. As I got older, I wondered what he must have been feeling at that moment. Did he know Dr King was dead? At some point, I read the statement, “…Ralph Abernathy cradled his head,” but I was pretty sure that the kneeling man in the photo was not Rev. Abernathy. I wondered who he was.
The book is a fascinating historical memoir focusing of the author’s father, who was a black under-cover police officer in Memphis at the time of the assassination of Dr. King – the kneeling man. Marrell’s and his family’s experiences make for very engaging reading. Leta does a wonderful job of telling the story in a deeply personal way, describing how she connected with her father as she learned about and explored his experiences and came to terms with his role as an under-cover police officer who had infiltrated a black activist group and his later career in the CIA.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and recommend it to anyone with an interest!
May 13, 2023
There are so many reasons to read and love this work. An online review will not do it justice.
I have many reasons to have anxiously awaited this release. The author is my childhood classmate and friend, and I've been following her journey in writing it for several years. I grew up in Memphis, a place sometimes haunted by the aftermath of MLK's assassination, and a city I love the way a child loves a grandparent. For me, Memphis is warm and cozy, a little gruff, but in a way that constantly beckoms me back to its embrace. So my favorite parts of the book? Really, it was the love letter to Memphis, especially to the Memphis I knew in the 1980s and 90s just as the author did. I loved the empathetic descriptions of it - the good, the bad, the delicious, the raw, the people. And I loved the images of returning to that city as an adult in later years . . . the experience of the changes and how those things feel and hit our bodies and souls. Many of us left at age 17 or 18 or 19. The city calls us back at least for visits, and we can't help but feel everything it evokes.
Ultimately this is the thorough biography of a man whose story should be told - Marrell McCullough. His story is both remarkable and simple. His is a life we should read, for all the reality it unfolds: sharecropper life in Mississippi, 1960s in Memphis, law enforcement, military, CIA, fatherhood, marriage, brotherhood, friendship, family. Maybe it could only have been told by his daughter. And I love how her story is interwoven with it.
The insight into law enforcement infiltration in various groups in the 1960s is both astonishing and chilling, while sometimes being uncomfortably humorous. Leta and her father have managed to tell this story with so much rich humanity, so much beauty and pain, so much simple and plain reality.
Leta, you've done it all so beautifully. I can't wait to read your next book. I'm so humbled and so proud.
I have many reasons to have anxiously awaited this release. The author is my childhood classmate and friend, and I've been following her journey in writing it for several years. I grew up in Memphis, a place sometimes haunted by the aftermath of MLK's assassination, and a city I love the way a child loves a grandparent. For me, Memphis is warm and cozy, a little gruff, but in a way that constantly beckoms me back to its embrace. So my favorite parts of the book? Really, it was the love letter to Memphis, especially to the Memphis I knew in the 1980s and 90s just as the author did. I loved the empathetic descriptions of it - the good, the bad, the delicious, the raw, the people. And I loved the images of returning to that city as an adult in later years . . . the experience of the changes and how those things feel and hit our bodies and souls. Many of us left at age 17 or 18 or 19. The city calls us back at least for visits, and we can't help but feel everything it evokes.
Ultimately this is the thorough biography of a man whose story should be told - Marrell McCullough. His story is both remarkable and simple. His is a life we should read, for all the reality it unfolds: sharecropper life in Mississippi, 1960s in Memphis, law enforcement, military, CIA, fatherhood, marriage, brotherhood, friendship, family. Maybe it could only have been told by his daughter. And I love how her story is interwoven with it.
The insight into law enforcement infiltration in various groups in the 1960s is both astonishing and chilling, while sometimes being uncomfortably humorous. Leta and her father have managed to tell this story with so much rich humanity, so much beauty and pain, so much simple and plain reality.
Leta, you've done it all so beautifully. I can't wait to read your next book. I'm so humbled and so proud.
May 24, 2023
At its heart this is a father daughter story but most of the story is carried by Marrell McCollough, the author’s father. McCollough grew up in the deep south, enlisted in the army, and after his service landed a job with the Memphis Police Department. Not long after joining the force Marrell was tapped to join an undercover team infiltrating a Black militant group. It was this operation that led him to be onsite at the time of Rev Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination—thus captured in the image in the front of the book. (McCollough is the kneeling man in the photo.)
Ms Seletzky became aware of her father’s unusual career path during his lifetime so he was a crucial part of her research. She also interviewed other interesting individuals and pulled transcripts and documents to corroborate the details she recounts. A Black man infiltrating the Black movement is a unique and unexpected premise and I found her writing engaging.
If you are interested in getting one man’s inside look at segregated Memphis during the 60s and 70s this is a great place to start. The book continues beyond this time period with the further professional accomplishments that provided a rich and memorable life for Marrell McCullough.
Ms Seletzky became aware of her father’s unusual career path during his lifetime so he was a crucial part of her research. She also interviewed other interesting individuals and pulled transcripts and documents to corroborate the details she recounts. A Black man infiltrating the Black movement is a unique and unexpected premise and I found her writing engaging.
If you are interested in getting one man’s inside look at segregated Memphis during the 60s and 70s this is a great place to start. The book continues beyond this time period with the further professional accomplishments that provided a rich and memorable life for Marrell McCullough.
August 4, 2023
This is a daughter’s deep investigation into the life of her father in the Jim Crow South, and her examination of her own choices and opportunities in a changing, but still not colorblind world. It is an insightful look into the hard choices that her father, a black man faced to survive and thrive in a segregated society with few good opportunities, and how difficult it was to avoid being used against his own people’s struggle. Being pragmatic, working as an undercover policeman in an unfair world can prompt some to label him an “Uncle Tom,” or worse, a traitor embedded in the Civil Rights struggle.
Going along to get along, or the Man’s Way or the highway, was the only way to keep his job, and the alternative is unemployment, or debt peonage as a sharecropper. That’s a reality we all face to some degree in a society and economy that devalues men and women as cogs in the machine, forcing us to turn a blind eye to abuse until we can advance our position enough to allow our voice to be heard, and just maybe, if our spirit survives, become able to change the system from within.
Going along to get along, or the Man’s Way or the highway, was the only way to keep his job, and the alternative is unemployment, or debt peonage as a sharecropper. That’s a reality we all face to some degree in a society and economy that devalues men and women as cogs in the machine, forcing us to turn a blind eye to abuse until we can advance our position enough to allow our voice to be heard, and just maybe, if our spirit survives, become able to change the system from within.
November 23, 2025
This well-written and thoroughly researched book is about a man in the famous photograph of the moment on the Lorraine Motel balcony after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Kneeling Man in the photograph is perhaps easily overlooked as he is mostly obscured beneath the outstretched arms of others pointing in the direction from which the fatal shot was fired. The Kneeling Man, Marrell (Mac) McCullough, was administering first aid to Dr. King and is the author's father. When the assassination occurred, Mac was already in the midst of an unlikely job as an informant for the Memphis police. The book traces Mac's life from a Mississippi farm to Memphis and eventually to a career with the CIA. The twists and turns along the way result in a fascinating story brilliantly told by Mac's daughter as she explores and processes her father's experiences during then post-King Civil Rights era into the 1980s and '90s.
January 27, 2024
Average writing, it was a good book about a man who had an amazing career. However, there was not as much about the assassination of Dr King. The way the book starts, with the description of smelling gun powder, the hint at exploding government rifle rounds was intriguing. I was expecting the book to talk more about the conspiracy and lend some truth to the assassination. Disappointed that it was just a biography of the kneeling man. The book was disappointing in that aspect. I kept waiting for more but it just fell flat. A good family memoir and history of a father, just disappointed that it didn't seem to go anywhere for the history of the assassination.
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