On 6 August 1957 King addressed the National Beauty Culturist League's annual convention, "The Role of Beauticians in the Contemporary Struggle for Freedom," at which he received the organization's Civil Rights Award.1 Below, King declines League president Whickam's 24 June invitation to attend the beauticians' 1958 convention.
In a 16 January letter, Roosevelt invited King to a reception honoring Aubrey Williams, executive director of the National Youth Administration during Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s administration.
Wilkins had notified King by telephone that the Spingarn Award Committee unanimously selected him to receive the NAACP's highest honor for his leadership of the Montgomery bus boycott.1 This letter arrived amidst news reports of conflict among black leaders involved in the Prayer Pilgrimage.2
Mr. Roy Wilkins
20 West Fortieth Street
New York, New York
Dear Roy:
With this letter Wofford, an attorney in the Washington, D.C., law firm of Covington & Burling, enclosed a twelve-page memorandum outlining his recommendations for the proposed Civil Rights Commission.1 In the memorandum he recommended that the Commission serve as a forum for black and white southerners to work toward dissolving “the concentration of emotions” by proving that desegregation would “lift up the whole of the South.” Wofford's memorandum also praised the work of the MIA and sugg
On 27 October Gandhian authority Gregg, who had corresponded with King during the Montgomery bus boycott, offered his assistance in having Stride Toward Freedom published in India.
Mr. Charles O. Akuamoa
Philander Smith College
Little Rock, Arkansas
Dear Mr. Akuamoa:
Thanks for your very kind letter of July 25. I cannot begin to express my appreciation to you for your encouraging words. Such moral support and Christian generosity are of inestimable value in the continuance of our humble efforts. They give me renewed courage and vigor to carry on.
After his trip to Ghana, King received letters from a number of African students who appreciated his linking of the struggle against segregation in the American South with African anti-colonial movements.1 Akuamoa, a Ghanaian studying at Philander Smith College in Arkansas, writes King an admiring letter. 2King replied on 6 August. 3
Following a brief visit to Nigeria, the Kings arrived in Europe. This telegram to the Dexter congregation was printed six days later in the church's newsletter, the Dexter Echo.
Professor TH Randall, Chr Board Deacons 1
Still a Dexter member after many years in California, Nesbitt responds to a call in the Dexter Echo for donations to finance the Kings’ trip to the Ghanaian independence celebration.1 At a 24 February bon voyage party at Dexter Church, congregation members presented the Kings with a $2,500 check to cover “the cost of transportation, as a courtesy from the church to express its love and Christian affection to the honorees"; Nesbitt's letter was read to the gathering.
Steere, a prominent Quaker and member of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), had met with King when she visited Montgomery in April 1956.1 She wrote King on 5 January to report on her meeting in New York with Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Familiar with King and the Montgomery bus boycott, Nehru had expressed interest in meeting him and responded “with enthusiasm” to the suggestion that King visit India.
