To Benjamin J. Massell
Author: King, Martin Luther, Jr.
Date: June 9, 1962
Location: Atlanta, Ga.?
Genre: Letter
Topic: Martin Luther King, Jr. - Political and Social Views
Details
Following sit-in protests at the Tasty Coffee Shop on the ground floor of the building that houses SCLC headquarters, King, in this unusually long letter, informs the building’s owner that he is breaking the lease because the restaurant refuses to serve black patrons.1 Embarrassed by the situation, King explains that he is being questioned “all over the nation” about “the inconsistency of taking a stand against segregation on the one hand and having my office in a building with a segregated restaurant on the other.” King pledges to dedicate his life to ending segregation: “I am willing to give every ounce of my energy to get rid of it, and, if necessary, I am willing to die, to give a redemptive witness to the ideal of the brotherhood of man.” By the end of June, SCLC relocated their offices to the Prince Hall Masonic Temple on Auburn Ave.
Mr. Ben J. Massell
40 S. Pryor Street, S.W.
Atlanta 3, Georgia
Dear Mr. Massell:
The Executive Board of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference has unanimously voted to embark on a course of action which I, as president, feel morally bound to call to your attention. After serious and prayerful consideration, we have decided to move our office from your building at 41 Exchange Place. This decision resulted from a situation existing in the building which we can no longer endure.
When we signed the lease for the office space at 41 Exchange Place, we were told by your Realtor that all the facilities of the building, including the ground floor restaurant, were desegregated. With this understanding and assurance, we signed the lease and moved in about eight months ago. Before the moving van had completely unloaded our furniture and equipment, we discovered that we had been grossly misinformed. On that same day, Mr. James Forman, a young Negro student leader, who had come to visit one of the offices in the building, was denied service in the restaurant.2 My first impulse was to move from 41 Exchange Place immediately, even though we had signed the lease. But after thinking the matter through, I decided to go on and try to work out the problem within.
I immediately authorized my staff head, the Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker, to look into the matter. Following the true spirit of the non-violent movement, we began, not with direct action, (i.e. sitting-in), but with sincere negotiation. Mr. Walker talked first with your agent who had told us that the restaurant was not segregated, and he responded by asserting that he was not aware of its segregation policies. He went on to say that the restaurant was not operated by the owner of the building, but was leased to another person. On discovering this, Mr. Walker, under my authorization, went directly to Mr. Carswell, the operator of the restaurant. For well-nigh three months we talked patiently and calmly with him about this matter. We made it clear that we were issuing neither threats nor ultimatums, but that we were seeking, through peaceful negotiation, to work out a problem that was a constant drain i on our sense of dignity and self-respect. The occupants of almost every other office in the building joined us in requesting that Mr. Carswell operate his restaurant on a racially integrated basis. We even made studies to prove to him that on the basis of other places that had integrated eating facilities, he would not face an economic loss. In spite of all of these good faith efforts on our part, Mr. Carswell remained adamant, and insisted that he would not integrate his restaurant.
When we saw the futility of our negotiating efforts, we felt that we had no alternative but to present our very bodies as a witness to the truth as we saw it, and as a means to arouse the oconscience of the perpetrators of this unjust condition. Under my authorization, members of our staff and other concerned citizens began sitting in the restaurant. Not only were they refused service, but at times were the objects of abusive language from waitresses and Mr. Carswell consistently called the police and threatened them with arrest. To add insult to injury, I received a rather unkind letter from Mr. Sam A. Goldberg stating that you had authorized him to demand that we cease and desist in our effort to desegregate the restaurant.3 When I received this letter I called my staff in and said: “The cup of endurance has run over. We can take it no longer. We must move.” A few days later the matter was called to the attention of our Executive Committee and they unanimously concurred with my recommendation.
Mr. Massell, I cannot begin to express in words the agonizing and frustrating hours I have spent as a result of this situation. It has caused me undue embarrassment. All over the nation people have questioned me about the inconsistency of taking a stand against segregation on the one hand and having my office in a building with a segregated restaurant on the other. My only explanation has been that we were given the impression that the restaurant was integrated when we moved in only to find that we had been inadvertently misled.
Before closing, I think I should give just a brief statement of my personale conviction on this matter. I am convinced that segregation is evil. It is against all of the noble precepts of our Judeo-Christian heritage. Therefore, I cannot cooperate with this evil system in any form. I am willing to give every ounce of my energy to get rid of it, and, if necessary, I am willing to die, to give a redemptive witness to the ideal of the brotherhood of man. And may I say, Mr. Massell, that I take this position not merely on behalf of my people, whose lives have for centuries been fettered by the chains of oppression and the manacles of exploitation; I take this position because of my devotion to democracy, justice, and truth. The festering sore of segregation dibilitates the white man as well as the Negro. America faces its midnight hour. The clock of destiny is ticking out. If we fail to get rid of this cancerous disease of segregation in the next few years, America will be relegated to second rate power in the world with no moral or political voice. So I believe firmly that we were helping America when we sat in at the restaurant in your building.
While sitting down, paradoxical as it may sound, we were standing up for the best in the American dream. I also believe that we were helping Mr. Carswell when we sat in his restaurant. We were helping him face truth and to know himself. For some strange reason, Mr. Carswell will never know himself until he knows that every Negro, however dark his skin may be, is his brother.
I must mention a final reason whi I personally must leave your building. A few days ago my little six year old daughter went to my office with me.4 As we entered the building, she looked over and noticed the restaurant. She immediately said: “Daddy, will you take me in for some ice cream?” As I stood there trying to work out my answer, she ran in the restaurant and took a seat. I went in behind her and said: “Come on darling, you can’t have ice cream now.” Then came the inevitable “why” from the inquisitive spirit of a child. Behind that why is America’s greatest tragedy. Behind that why is a system that has caused millions of Negroes to think they are nobody and sent them through life with a terrible sense of inferiority. It is difficult for others to see what segregation has done to the Negro. But just imagine your little six year old child asking you why he or she can’t go in a certain place, and your having to answer you can’t go because you are colored. Yes, I must move because my children and the children of the members of my staff are too precious to walk to their father’s offices in a building where they can’t sit down in the restaurant and eat a little ice cream.
This letter is far too long, longer than any I have written in the last few years. But I felt morally bound to explain our position. In moving we are not unmindful of the fact that we are breaking a lease. I must honestly admit that, as a cause organization, our funds are far too limited to face a suit. But if this comes, we will have to face it with the same faith that has sustained our humble effort over the last few years.5 If taken to court, I will honestly present the facts to the leaders in the Negro community and our friends in the white community, and I am certain that they will support our decision. In short, we cannot in all good conscience continue to have an office in a building where we are constantly embarrassed, daily stripped of our personhood, and where our fundamental rights as human beings are blatantly violated.
I hope you will not take this as an attack on you. Although I have not had the privilege of meeting you, I understand that you are a man of good will, deeply concerned about the progress of Atlanta, and I believe that if you will look objectively and sympathetically at our situation, you will understand why we reached this decision.
With every good wish, I am
Very truly yours,
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Km
CC: Mr. Sam Goldberg
Mr. H. J. Carswell
Mr. Sam Massell
1. “Brief ‘Sit-in’ Staged Here at Coffee Shop,” Atlanta Daily World, 22 March 1962. Benjamin Joseph Massell (1886–1962), born in Lithuania, immigrated to Atlanta where he embarked on a successful career in real estate and construction. Massell built more than 1,000 commercial buildings in Atlanta and was consequently hailed as the “Father of Atlanta’s Skyline” for his contributions to its development into a major metropolis. He was also an active philanthropist who made significant contributions to various Jewish causes, educational institutions, and health-related organizations.
2. Forman (1928–2005) was executive secretary of SNCC.
3. As president of the Allan-Grayson Realty Company, Goldberg managed Massell’s real estate holdings. In his letter to King, Goldberg demands an end to SCLC demonstrations against V. J. Carswell’s restaurant because of their harmful effects on the business, claiming that if Carswell were to integrate the restaurant, he would go out of business. He suggests that an integrated restaurant would not be able to pay as much rent as a segregated restaurant. He concludes by asking King to “use your influence dissuade these people against any continuance of their harrassing tactics which can only result in loss of a tenant on the ground floor of the building” (Goldberg to King, 3 April 1962).
4. King refers to his daughter Yolanda Denise.
5. Massell died three months later and no law suit was filed against SCLC.
Source: SMP-GAHi, Sam Massell Papers, Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center, Atlanta, Ga.