To Albany City Commission and Asa D. Kelley
Author: King, Martin Luther, Jr.; Anderson, William G.; King, Slater
Date: July 24, 1962
Location: Atlanta, Ga.
Genre: Letter
Topic: Albany Movement
Details
King sat in the front row of an Atlanta courtroom while attorneys for the Albany Movement presented their appeal to vacate the injunction issued by Judge J. Robert Elliott.1 Deciding in favor of the Albany Movement, Fifth Circuit Court judge Elbert Tuttle dissolved the order, allowing the civil rights leaders to resume demonstrations.2 Describing Tuttle’s ruling as “sober and sound,” King, Anderson, and Slater King plead with the city commission and the mayor to sit down immediately as “brothers” to “discuss ways and means to grant citizenship rights that can no longer be postponed.”3 Outside of the courtroom, King told a reporter that city officials would be given twenty-four hours to respond to the telegram, and if the movement’s overtures were ignored, peaceful demonstrations would resume.4
city commission of albany, care mayor asa kelley =
city hall albany ga =
we do not consider the lifting of the injunction a victory. we feel that it is a sober and sound decision on the part of judge tuttle to preserve basic constitutional rights. the real victory will come when we as brothers sit down and discuss ways and means to grant citizenship rights that can no longer be postponed. we implore you to realize that our ligitimate aspirations for freedom cannot be snuffed out by a series of evasions and legal maneuvers. we therefore beg of you once more, in the name of democracy, human decency and the welfare of albany to give us an opportunity to present our grievances to the city commission immediately =
w g anderson md slater king
and martin luther king jr.
1. Albany Movement lawyers initially appealed to U.S. District Court Judge W. A. Bootle in Macon, Georgia, but he refused, stating that he did not have jurisdiction in the case (Vic Smith, “Judge Tuttle Rules with Negro Leaders,” Albany Herald, 24 July 1962). In addition to the appeal, lawyers for the Albany Movement filed two class action lawsuits against Albany city officials. The first sought to enjoin city leaders from enforcing segregation in public facilities (W. G. Anderson et al., v. Asa D. Kelly et al., 32 F.R.D. 355 [M.D. Ga. 1963]). In the second case, the Albany Movement sought to restrain the City of Albany and its officials from infringing upon Albany’s black residents’ First Amendment right to peacefully assemble, protest, and picket. In addition to W. G. Anderson, Elijah Harris, Slater King, and Emanuel Jackson, King was named a plaintiff in this case (W. G. Anderson et al., v. City of Albany et al., 321 F.2d 649 [5th Cir. 1963]). The City of Albany filed a cross-complaint in the second case, requesting a permanent injunction against further demonstrations by the Albany Movement.
2. In his ruling Tuttle claimed that the “trial court had no jurisdiction to enter this order at all” (Claude Sitton, “Albany, Ga., Police Break Up Protest by 2,000 Negroes,” New York Times, 25 July 1962). Tuttle also made clear that his order did not interfere with Elliott’s planned injunction proceedings on 30 July.
3. Slater Hunter King (1927–1969) was born in Albany, Georgia, into one of the town’s most prominent African American families. A graduate of Fisk University, King earned a B.A. in economics in 1946 and later opened his own real estate office. In November 1961 King was elected vice president of the Albany Movement before becoming president in 1963. That same year, he became the first African American to run, albeit unsuccessfully, for mayor of Albany. For several years King used his real estate experience to purchase property in all-white areas of Albany and sell them to African Americans. Before he was killed in an automobile accident in 1969, he was soliciting funds to build housing for the elderly.
4. John H. Britton, “Injunction in Albany Is Voided by Judge Tuttle; Negotiations Meet Urged,” Atlanta Daily World, 25 July 1962.
Source: AMR-GAMK, Albany Movement Records, Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Inc., Atlanta, Ga.