From Bayard Rustin
Author: Rustin, Bayard
Date: February 6, 1961
Location: New York, N.Y.
Genre: Letter
Details
In May 1960, writer James Baldwin shadowed King for an article he was writing for Harper’s Magazine.1 Following the publication of the article in February 1961, Rustin, King’s longtime advisor, objects to Baldwin’s portrayal of his resignation from SCLC.2 In a 6 March reply to Rustin, King wrote that he had thought about responding to Baldwin’s article, but decided that it would be “better coming from you.”3
Dear Martin,
You have no doubt seen James Baldwin’s article on you in Harper’s Magazine. I was distressed with his comment on me and my relation to you.
I have therefore, today, sent Harpers Magazine a copy of the enclosed letter.4 I tried to handle it simply. I presume Jim Lawson will write a similar letter.5
Hope all goes well with you and the hard job you have to do.
Sincerely,
[signed] Bayard
1. Baldwin to King, 26 May 1960, in Papers 5:460–461.
2. In the article, Baldwin wrote that King lost “moral credit” when he allowed pressure from Congressman Adam Clayton Powell to force Rustin’s resignation from SCLC (“The Dangerous Road Before Martin Luther King,” Harper’s Magazine, February 1961, p. 42).
3. King to Rustin, 6 March 1961. King later wrote Baldwin thanking him for the “many kind things you said about me and my work in the article,” and made no mention of the Rustin controversy (see King to Baldwin, 26 September 1961, pp. 286–287 in this volume).
4. In the letter, Rustin explained that he had resigned from SCLC because Powell “suggested that I am an obstacle to his giving full, enthusiastic support to Dr. King” (Rustin to the Editor of Harper’s Magazine, 6 February 1961).
5. In his article, Baldwin also questioned the exclusion of James M. Lawson from SCLC: “It would seem, certainly, that so able, outspoken, and energetic a man might prove of great value to this organization: why, then, is he not a part of it?” (Baldwin, “The Dangerous Road,” p. 42). Responding to a query to King about Lawson’s relationship to SCLC, James R. Wood emphatically stated that Lawson had been a member of SCLC since October 1960. “Very often opinion articles create concepts which are more personal to the writer than factually correct,” Wood wrote. He further elaborated that “Mr. Lawson is a personal friend of Dr. King. This friendship has existed for a very long time” (June Megill to King, 1 March 1961; Wood to June Megill, 27 March 1961).
Source: MLKP-MBU, Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers, 1954–1968, Boston University, Boston, Mass.