To George Lawrence
Author: King, Martin Luther, Jr. (Montgomery Improvement Association)
Date: June 4, 1956
Location: Montgomery, Ala.?
Genre: Letter
Topic: Martin Luther King, Jr. - Travels
Details
King thanks Lawrence and the Greater New York Committee for a National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving for organizing the 17 May service at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, at which King delivered the sermon.1
The Rev. George Lawrence, Minister of Education
Friendship Baptist Church
144 West 131st Street
New York 27, New York
Dear Brother Lawrence:
This is just a note to again express my appreciation to you and your very fine committee from the Protestant Council of New York, for making my stay in New York such a meaningful one. The program at St. John the Divine was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I will long remember it. Give my best regards to Tom Kilgore. I hope I will have the opportunity of seeing you in the near future.
With warm personal regards, I am
Sincerely yours,
M. L. King, Jr.,
President
MLK:b
1. George Lawrence (1927-) was secretary of the committee that organized the program at St. John the Divine and executive chairman of In Friendship. He was minister of education for a short time at Friendship Baptist Church, where King's friend Thomas Kilgore served as pastor. Lawrence became pastor of Brooklyn's Antioch Baptist Church in 1959. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s he held various church leadership positions, including press secretary for the National Baptist Convention and director of communications for the Progressive National Baptist Convention.
Source: MLKP-MBU, Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers, 1954-1968, Boston University, Boston, Mass.