From John Dockery

Dockery, president of his local NAACP, informs King of a sympathy boycott of Stockton City Lines, a subsidiary of National City Lines.¹ The Stockton Deliverance Day Committee, formed by the NAACP branch and the Interdenominational Ministers Union, planned a one-day boycott and an evening prayer meeting as part of the National Deliverance Day of Prayer on 28 March (the date in the telegram is a typographic error). The committee raised $450 for the MIA at the prayer meeting but called off the sympathy boycott after local bus officials agreed to hire a black driver.²

rev. m l king jr
309 south jackson st montgomery ala

stockton city bus lines subsidiary national city lines will be boycotted march 18 by stockton negroes unless the company meets with negro leaders of montgomery alabama prior to the 28th to discuss differences

john dockery,
president naacp branch stockton california

^1. John Isaac Dockery (1919-1977), president of the Stockton NAACP branch until 1975, was born in Hawkins, Texas, and attended Jarvis College. After serving in the Navy (1942-1945) he settled in Stockton and became the proprietor of a well-known eatery, Doc’s Bar-B-Q.

^2. See “Bus Boycott Proposal to Be Studied,” 16 March 1956; “Stockton Negro Groups Prepare for Deliverance Day Ceremonies,” 27 March 1956; and “Prayer Day Observed to Aid Negroes,” 29 March 1956; all in the Stockton Record.