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To William Cooper Cumming

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Author: King, Martin Luther, Jr.

Date: September 18, 1956

Location: Montgomery, Ala.

Genre: Letter

Topic: Montgomery Bus Boycott

Details

King replies to one of the many letters he received after the prepared text of his 27 June speech to the NAACP appeared in U.S. News and World Report on 3 August. In a 31 July letter Rev. Cumming had argued that the lengthy boycott had deepened “tensions and antagonisms” in Montgomery. While sympathetic with the boycott's aims, he suggested that tensions would ease if the MIA asked the bus company to run certain buses exclusively for African Americans.

The Rev. William Cooper Cumming, Pastor
Westminster Presbyterian Church
Texarkana, Texas

Dear Rev. Cumming:

Thanks for your very kind letter of July 31, commenting on the article which appeared in The U.S. News and World Report. The idea of having the bus company to run a certain number of busses for Negroes only was once made as a suggestion but most of the people felt that that would be going backwards instead of forward. So the majority of people have the feeling that they would rather sacrifice by not riding the busses at all than accept any jim crow accommodations. At this point we are awaiting a decision from the United States Supreme Court which should be handed down within the next two or three months. We feel that this will clear up the whole matter.

Again let me thank you for your encouraging words. Such moral support and christian generosity are of inestimable value in the continuance of our humble efforts.

Sincerely yours,
M. L. King, Jr.,
President

MLK:mlb

Source: MLKP, MBU, Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers, 1954-1968, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University, Boston, Mass.

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