From W. W. Law
Author: Law, W. W. (Westley Wallace) (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)
Date: January 14, 1955
Location: Savannah, Ga.
Genre: Letter
Topic: Martin Luther King, Jr. - Political and Social Views
Details
Law, a longtime NAACP activist, notes the announcement in the Birmingham World promoting King’s scheduled speech to the organization’s Birmingham branch.1
Rev. M. L. King, Jr.
Pastor,
Dexter Avenue Baptist Church
Montgomery, Alabama
Dear Mr. King:
Just read in the Birmingham World, the valiant Emory Jackson’s fighting newspaper, that you are the speaker for the installation of the officers for the Birmingham (Ala.) Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
I have followed with interest all of your activities and am very happy over the very rapid strides you have made.
As I remember, you worked in the Morehouse College Chapter, NAACP, and to see you continue interest in this very worthwhile organization (I like to think of it as a movement) in Freedom’s cause, now that you have assumed community leadership, is heartwarming.
I wish, further, to congratulate you in your new post as pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and pray that you will continue to be successful in every way.
Hoping that you will continue to find opportunity for service in the NAACP, I remain
Very sincerely yours,
[signed]
W. W. Law
1. Westley W. Law (1923–) earned his B.S. at Georgia State College (now Savannah State College). Rejected for a teaching position because of his affiliation with the NAACP, Law became a mail carrier for the U.S. Post Office. He was president of the Savannah branch of the NAACP, a position he held for twenty-six years. Law also served as head of the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP. He was a member of the national organization’s board of directors for thirty years beginning in 1950.
Source: MLKP, MBU, Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers, 1954-1968, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University, Boston, Mass.