Clayborne Carson (born June 15, 1944) is an acclaimed American history academic, educator, scholar, and author, a preeminent human rights expert historian, and an MLK Jr. Centennial Professor Emeritus at Stanford University as well as the founder of Stanford's Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. Since 1985, at the request of Coretta Scott King, Dr. Carson has directed the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project, a long-term effort to edit and publish the papers of Martin Luther King Jr.