A. A. Banks, Jr. to Martin Luther King, Sr.
Author: Banks, A. (Allen) A. (Second Baptist Church)
Date: January 25, 1954
Location: Detroit, Mich.
Genre: Letter
Topic: Martin Luther King, Jr. - Family
Details
Banks, a friend of the King family and pastor of Second Baptist Church in Detroit, confirms King, Jr.’s preaching engagement at Second Baptist in February.1 Banks refers to King, Sr.’s sister, Woodie Clara King Brown, who lived in Detroit at the time.
Dr. M. L. King,
193 Auburn Avenue, N.E.,
Atlanta, Georgia.
Dear Dr. King:
I received your letter of January 21, 1954 confirming the engagement of your son, Rev. M. L. King Jr., to preach for us on the fourth Sunday, February 28, 1954 at ten-thirty o’clock in the morning.
I will be out of the city. In fact, I will leave probably the previous Wednesday as I am to preach at Virginia Union University February 26th and at Virginia State on February 28th.
Since I am leaving then, I would like for him to contact me when he gets to Lansing. I understand that he will be in the state prior to preaching here. Our office is closed on Saturdays. However, if he can let the office have his subject by Monday, February 22nd, the same can be posted on bulletin board and listed in order of worship; also suggested Scripture.
I believe your sister’s name is Brown; is that right? Things are moving nicely. Note ‘I have a Sermon in “Pulpit Digest”’ for February.2
Yours in Christ,
[signed]
A. A. Banks Jr., Pastor,
Second Baptist Church of Detroit.
1. Allen A. Banks, Jr. (d. 1977), graduated from Bishop College with a B.A. and received an M.A. in economics from Howard University. He then received his B.D. in 1938 and his M.A. in 1943 from Howard University’s School of Religion. From 1947 until his death he was pastor of Second Baptist Church in Detroit. In 1956, the congregation of Second Baptist would contribute over $2,600 to the Montgomery Improvement Association.
2. A. A. Banks, Jr., “Jonah’s Folly: A Prerequisite to Our Fellowship with God Is Brotherly Love for All Men,” Pulpit Digest 34, no. 190 (February 1954): 61–64.
Source: MLKP-MBU, Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers, 1954-1968, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University, Boston, Mass.