To William E. Newgent
Author: King, Martin Luther, Jr. (Montgomery Improvement Association)
Date: April 26, 1956
Location: Montgomery, Ala.?
Genre: Letter
Topic: Martin Luther King, Jr. - Career in Ministry
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Details
Newgent, a member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, wrote King on 20 April about a newspaper report that stated that he had been asked to resign as Dexter pastor. “In substance,” Newgent said in his letter, “the thought was expressed that some of your members were being influenced by outsiders and they wanted only peaceful living, and had requested your resignation.”
Mr. William E. Newgent
17 67th Avenue, S.E.
Washington 27, D.C.
Dear Mr. Newgent:
This is to acknowledge receipt of your very kind letter of April 20, expressing concern about my situation. If a Washington paper carried a report that I was asked to resign as pastor of my church, it has revealed a total erroneous impression. My congregation is with my stand now and has been with it one-hundred per cent. Actually, the mix-up probably came because of some difficulties which developed with a minister on the other side of town by the name of Rev. U. J. Fields. There were three or four members of his church who tried to bring some type of charge against him but they insisted that it had nothing to do with the bus protest. The charges were later dropped. Rev. Fields is Secretary of The Montgomery Improvement Association and is still pastor of The Bell Street Baptist Church.
With every good wish, I am
Sincerely yours,
M. L. King, Jr.,
President
MLK:b
Source: MLKP-MBU, Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers, 1954-1968, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University, Boston, Mass.