To Tom Roland
Author: King, Martin Luther, Jr.
Date: October 30, 1961
Location: Atlanta, Ga.?
Genre: Letter
Details
Following reports that he had accepted a minor role as a Southern senator in the upcoming movie Advise and Consent, King responds to a critical letter from a white CORE activist who expressed shock that King would trivialize the “Negro’s problems” by agreeing to appear in the film and accused the SCLC president of publicity seeking.1 King denies that he ever agreed to play the role and calls Roland’s criticisms and “misconceptions” so “groundless that I need not take the time to answer them.”2
Mr. Tom Roland
2248 Blake Street
Berkeley 4, California
Dear Mr. Roland:
I am in receipt of your letter of recent date expressing shock over the announcement of my appearing in “Advise and Consent.” I can only say that the news releases that you saw on this matter were far from accurate.3 I never gave my consent to act in the film.4 My brief words to the press after the announcement came out will clarify my position on the whole matter. They were as follows:
“I will not be playing a role in the motion picture ‘Advise and Consent.’ Well-meaning associates of mine felt that a positive contribution might be made by my appearance in a film as a Negro Senator, and the producers of the film were aware of these deliberations. However, I had not given my final consent nor signed any agreement. In considering it, in addition to the other factors, I feel that the brief role could not be of any significant value in advancing civil rights, and therefore, have not accepted the proposal.”5
In reading your letter I find that you have many misconceptions concerning my work and my commitment. I hope you will not consider my overlooking your criticisms if I will not take the time to answer them. But I must frankly say that most of them are so groundless that I need not take time to answer them. I hope some day I might have a chance to meet you and know you. As the days unfold let us continue to move on in the solution of a problem which plagues our nation and is destroying the peace of the world.
Sincerely yours,
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Km
Dictated by Dr. King, but signed in his absence.
1. Roland dismissed Preminger’s idea that there could be an African American senator in Congress, claiming that no African American in Georgia could gain such political support “unless a revolution occurred there yesterday.” He also charged that King was out of touch with the movement, arguing that King was “moving in one direction, and the struggle for democracy is moving in the opposite direction” (Roland to King, 20 October 1961). The screenplay was based on Allen Drury’s 1959 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Advise and Consent. The film’s producer Otto Preminger hoped that King’s role would illustrate the possibility for a “Negro to be elected to the United States Senate at any time, now or in the future” (A. H. Weiler, “Dr. King to Play Georgia Senator in Movie of ‘Advise and Consent,’” New York Times, 20 October 1961). Florida Senator Spessard L. Holland called the decision “bad taste,” while an editorial in the Atlanta Constitution claimed that the role would add “nothing to the American Negro’s worthwhile fight for a greater freedom” (Bruce Galphin, “King Rejects Film Role As Critics Rap Overture,” Atlanta Constitution, 21 October 1961; “Dr. King Rightly Refuses to Be Used,” Atlanta Constitution, 21 October 1961). Thomas Van Roland (1937–2013) obtained his B.S. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1960 and was active in the local CORE chapter. He also participated in the 1960 sit-in movement in Miami and in the Freedom Rides the following year. After attending the University of California at Berkeley, Roland taught mathematics until he obtained his J.D. in 1971 from the University of San Francisco Law School. Roland then started a family law practice in Alameda County, California.
2. In his letter, Roland called King’s attempt to avoid fallout in the National Baptist Convention (NBC) fracas “disturbing,” while deprecating King’s support for the Freedom Rides: “One could have asked for much more support from the SCLC in the Freedom Rides this summer, but your reluctance to become more involved could be partially explained by the possible infeasibility of the project in financial terms” (Roland to King, 20 October 1961). For more on King and the NBC, see King to J. H. Jackson, 10 September 1961, and J. H. Jackson to King, 12 September 1961, pp. 278–279 and pp. 281–282 in this volume, respectively.
3. In his letter, Roland referenced a 20 October article in the New York Times (Roland to King, 20 October 1961; Weiler, “Dr. King to Play Georgia Senator in Movie,” 20 October 1961).
4. In a 19 October SCLC administrative committee meeting, it was unanimously agreed upon that King would accept the role. Wyatt Tee Walker sent Nathan Rudich, Preminger’s executive assistant, conditions to be included in the contract for King’s performance. The conditions included King’s filming schedule, a nonrefundable $5,000 contribution to SCLC, and the right to withdraw from the movie should King’s appearance “damage his unusual and unique symbolism” (SCLC, Minutes, Administrative committee meeting, 19 October 1961; Walker to Rudich, 19 October 1961).
5. King made this statement on 20 October after arriving in New York en route to a speaking engagement in Connecticut (“Dr. King Rejects Movie Role of Georgia Senator,” New York Times, 21 October 1961).
Source: MLKP-MBU, Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers, 1954–1968, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University, Boston, Mass.