Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. If you're tight with your mother,

and she's still around, you call her lately? Maybe I'm just projecting my own guilt here,

but you might think about it after listening to today's interview. It's from our friends over at 1A at WAMU,

and it's with writer Anna Malika Tubbs,

who wrote a nonfiction book called The Three Mothers. And it's about the mothers of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin. And yeah, while those three men are fascinating

figures of history, Tubbs tells 1A's Jen White how much of their worldview was built by their mothers.

So this Martin Luther King Day, we consider how much of the movement he and these other men

were instrumental in was the result of what their mothers experienced and how little we know

about them.

In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.

On our new show, Sources and Methods.

NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,

helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.

Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

We've all heard of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin, but most of us

know very little about the women who raise them. A new book is trying to change that.

Anna Malika Tubbs is the author of Three Mothers, How the Mothers of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin shaped a nation.

And she joins us now to talk about these important women and why knowing their stories matters.

Anna, welcome. Thank you for having me. It's my

pleasure. So how did you start down this path of researching the mothers of Malcolm X,

James Baldwin, and Martin Luther King, Jr.? I, you know, I started my PhD just wanting to

...