To J. H. Jackson
Author: King, Martin Luther King, Jr.
Date: September 10, 1961
Location: Atlanta, Ga.?
Genre: Letter
Details
On 6 September during the 81st annual National Baptist Convention (NBC) in Kansas City, Missouri, a fight broke out between supporters of incumbent president Jackson and Gardner C. Taylor, a challenger backed by King. During the mêlée, sixty-four-year-old Arthur Wright, a Jackson supporter, fell four feet from the podium and suffered a fatal head injury. Three days later, Jackson reportedly said that King “masterminded the invasion of the convention floor … which resulted in the death of a delegate.”1 Below, King demands that Jackson retract the “libelous” allegation, fearing it would cause “irreparable harm to the freedom movement.” Jackson replied on 12 September 1961.2
dr j h jackson
am deeply distressed about statement which appeared in headline coverage in several leading newspapers across the country in which you are quoted as saying that i masterminded an invasion of the national baptist convention which resulted in the death of reverand wright3 in substance the statement accuses me of giving impetus to a conspiracy which had as its goal a homicide. such an unwarrented untrue and unethical statement is libelous to the core and can do irreparable harm to the freedom movement in which i am involved. the fact is that i was not in the auditorium when the violence occurred and i participated in no strategy session prior to the convention because i did not arrive in kansas city until after midnight tuesday. while i feel that dr taylor and his supporters were always honorable and non violent in their action, i had nothing to do with mapping the strategy. in fact my overcrowded schedule made it impossible for me to attend a single strategy session of the taylor team. as you know my whole philosophy of life and social action is one of love and non violence and for one to give the nation the impression that i am little more than a hoodlum with a reckless disregard of the lives and safety of persons is both libelous and injurious to my public immage. i therefore ask you in a christian spirit to retract this statement immediately and urge the press to give as much attention to the retraction as it gave to the original accusation.4 please send a copy of retraction to me.
martin luthur king jr
1. “Church Conclave Violence Blamed on Martin King,” Birmingham News, 10 September 1961. Both Jackson and Taylor claimed the presidency of the NBC at the 1960 convention held in Philadelphia. In 1961, both ministers asserted the right to preside over the Kansas City convention where members of Taylor’s group descended on the dais and were blocked by Jackson supporters. Two days after the incident, Taylor conceded the presidency after gaining only 1,519 votes to Jackson’s 2,732 votes. Jackson served as president of the NBC from 1953 until 1982. For more on the 1960 convention, see Introduction in Papers 5:34.
2. See pp. 281–282 in this volume.
3. The day after Jackson made the accusation, the New York Times, Washington Post, and Chicago Tribune each ran stories about Jackson’s claim (“Dr. King Is Accused in Baptist Dispute,” New York Times, 10 September 1961; Wallace H. Terry, “Baptist Leader Charges Dr. King Sparked ‘Invasion’ of Rival Forces,” Washington Post, 10 September 1961; “Calls Dr. King ‘Master Mind’ of Fatal Riot,” Chicago Tribune, 10 September 1961).
4. The Associated Negro Press published excerpts from King’s telegram to Jackson on 11 September (Press release, “Dr. King denies link in violence at Baptist meet in K.C.; Asks President Jackson to retract statement,” 11 September 1961).
Source: MLKP-MBU, Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers, 1954–1968, Boston University, Boston, Mass.