To Medgar Wiley Evers

King responds to Evers’s invitation to speak in Mississippi. Evers wrote King on 17 December to say that “our greatest inspiration was Sunday's mass meeting where thousands of liberty-loving Americans closed out the Institute. . . . Our only regret was that we were unable to attend all the previous sessions in which you had engaged.”

Mr. Medgar W. Evers, Field Secretary
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Mississippi State Office
Masonic Temple Building
1072 Lynch Street, Room 7
Jackson, Mississippi

Dear Mr. Evers:

This is to acknowledge receipt of your letter of November 13, inviting me to address the Jackson, Mississippi Branch of the NAACP. First, I must apologize for being so tardy in my reply. Absence from the city and the accumulation of a flood of mail account for the delay.

I have considered your request very seriously. It seems, however, that my schedule is too uncertain at this point to make any definite commitment. I am negotiating at this time on the possibility of being out of the country for about two months in the late Spring and early summer. I cannot accept any further engagements until this matter has been finally cleared up. I would suggest that you write me again around the first of February, and I can let you know then exactly whether or not I can come to Jackson. I wish it were possible to give you a definite answer at this time, but present conditions make it impossible.

It was a real pleasure having you in Montgomery yesterday. Your presence added much to the success of our meeting. You have my prayers and best wishes for continued success as you continue your struggle against the forces of evil and injustice in the state of Mississippi.

Yours very truly,
M. L. King, Jr.,
Minister

MLK:mlb

(Dictated by Dr. King but transcribed and signed in his absence.)