To Erma Jewell Hughes
Author: King, Martin Luther, Jr.
Date: September 19, 1961
Location: Atlanta, Ga.
Genre: Letter
Topic: Nonviolence
Details
In a 16 September 1961 letter to J. H. Jackson, Hughes, a Houston educator, castigated him for accusing King of playing a role in the death of Reverend Wright at the National Baptist Convention (NBC) conference.1 Calling King a “brilliant young man,” Hughes defended him as “a capable leader who is a builder of humanity rather than a destroyer.”2 King thanks Hughes for her support, acknowledging that this “unjust attack is just another cross that I must bear.” Hughes replied on 7 October 1961.
Mrs. Erma J. Hughes
4214 Dowling Street
Houston 4, Texas
Dear Mrs. Hughes:
This is just a note to thank you for your forthright and courageous letter to Dr. Jackson in my defense. I certainly wish it had been an open letter which could have been circulated to many, many papers. It goes without saying that such a vicious and unwarranted attack on my motives and integrity has served to confuse the minds of many people. Numberous friends have urged me to sue Dr. Jackson but I have decided that my commitment to the non-violent philosophy will not allow me to do this.3 Therefore, this unjust attack is just another cross that I must bear.
It is always consoling to have the support of friends of good will. Your letter strengthened me immensely, and I know that you expressed the sentiments of thousands and millions of people of good will who are strongly backing us in this struggle for freedom and human diginity.
Enclosed is a copy of the telegram that I sent Dr. Jackson a few hours after the accusation was made.
Always grateful for your support and concern, I am
Sincerely yours,
Martin L. King, Jr
Martin Luther King, Jr
Km
1. Hughes to Jackson, 16 September 1961; see also King to Jackson, 10 September 1961, and Jackson to King, 12 September 1961, pp. 278–279 and 281–282 in this volume, respectively. Jackson also received criticism from a group of thirty-one religious leaders including Benjamin Mays, Fred L. Shuttlesworth, and Gardner C. Taylor, for his “vicious and un-Christian attack” on King. The group demanded that Jackson “right this grievous wrong” by publicly repudiating his statement (Mays, Shuttlesworth, et al., to Jackson, 12 September 1961; see also SCLC, Press release, “Religious leaders protest alleged attack on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,” 12 September 1961). Erma Jewell Hughes (1913–1965) was raised in Houston and attended high school in nearby Beaumont. She received a B.S. from Tennessee State College, an M.A. from Columbia University, and an LVN from the Lincoln Institute of Nursing. She founded the Erma Hughes Business College in September 1932 in Houston. Hughes corresponded regularly with King, inviting him multiple times to speak at her college’s commencement ceremony. He spoke at Hughes’s college on 18 May 1958 (Erma Hughes Business College, Program, Twenty-fifth annual baccalaureate and commencement exercises, 18 May 1958).
2. Hughes to Jackson, 16 September 1961. Jackson responded: “Your whole letter was based on an untrue statement” (Jackson to Hughes, September 1961).
3. King stated publicly that he would not sue Jackson because his “non-violent philosophy causes me to temporarily hold back at this point” (Eddie L. Madison, Press release, “Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., says he will not sue Dr. Jackson for alleged statement that he masterminded convention violence ‘at this time,’” 20 September 1961).
Source: CABP-ICHi, Claude A. Barnett Papers, Chicago History Museum, Chicago, Ill.