To Gardner C. Taylor
Author: King, Martin Luther, Jr.
Date: January 25, 1962
Location: Atlanta, Ga.?
Genre: Letter
Topic: Martin Luther King, Jr. - Career in Ministry
Details
King congratulates Taylor on his appointment to the Brooklyn Democratic Party’s executive committee and invites him to speak at an event celebrating the 75th anniversary of Ebenezer. Taylor agreed to speak, if the event was postponed to 27 May.1
The Rev. Gardner Taylor
Concord Baptist Church
833 Marcy Avenue
Brooklyn 16, New York
Dear Gardner:
Pursuant to our conversation concerning the Anniversary Observance of our church, the committee has decided on the date May 20, 1962. As I said in our telephone conversation, this will be the occasion of the 75th Anniversary of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. We are seeking to make this the greatest event that has ever taken place in these seventy-five years. Your presence and your message could do so much to climax this event. Both our members and the Atlanta community look forward to your coming. Please let me know as soon as possible whether this date is satisfactory to you, and we will make this a firm commitment.
I should say that we would want you to preach for the eleven o’clock service. This would be your only responsibility. We can offer a modest honorarium of $150.00 plus travel expenses and all other expenses incident to your visit.
I saw the article in the New York TIMES concerning your elevation to the leadership of the Democratic Party in Brooklyn. There was also a long article and a picture in the ATLANTA DAILY WORLD this morning.2 Let me congratulate you for such a significant achievement. A good man cannot be defeated even by the conniving methods of J. H. Jackson and the shortsightedness of the National Baptist Convention.3 May God continue to bless you in your great work.
Let me hear from you as soon as possible concerning the Anniversary.
Very sincerely yours,
(Mike)
Martin Luther King Jr.
Km
Dictated by Dr. King, but signed in his absence.
1. Taylor to King, 29 January 1962. Ebenezer’s week-long celebration from 21–27 May also featured local Atlanta pastors William Holmes Borders of Wheat Street Baptist Church and Ralph Abernathy of West Hunter Baptist Church (Ebenezer Baptist Church, Program, Seventy-fifth anniversary diamond jubilee, 21 May–27 May 1962).
2. Leo Egan, “3 of Mayor’s Men Succeed Sharkey,” New York Times, 19 January 1962; “Dr. Taylor Named to Brooklyn Demo Party,” Atlanta Daily World, 24 January 1962. New York councilman and Brooklyn Democratic leader Joseph T. Sharkey resigned after opposing Mayor Robert Wagner’s nomination for a third term in office. Taylor, along with industrialist Aaron Jacoby and banker John Lynch were appointed as a three-man council to serve in Sharkey’s place until the next primary in the fall.
3. King refers to Taylor’s 1961 failed bid for the presidency of the National Baptist Convention.
Source: MLKJP-GAMK, Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers (Series I–IV), Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Inc., Atlanta, Ga.