Voter registration

Martin Luther King, Jr., made history, but he was also transformed by his deep family roots in the African-American Baptist church, his formative experiences in his hometown of Atlanta, his theological studies, his varied models of religious and political leadership, and his extensive network of contacts in the peace and social justice movements of his time. Although King was only 39 at the time of his death, his life was remarkable for the ways it reflected and inspired so many of the twentieth century’s major intellectual, cultural, and political developments.

At Jefferson County Armory, King speaks before a crowd of 9,000 at a mass rally in support of voter registration efforts in the South. 

In the evening King addresses a “Summit Conference on Registration and Voting” at St. Mark AME Zion Church in Durham.

In Detroit King meets with Congressman Charles C. Diggs, Jr. to discuss the SCLC voter registration drive. Diggs takes King on a tour of his businesses.

King addresses a mass meeting at Miami’s Greater Bethel AME Church to launch SCLC’s Crusade for Citizenship. Twenty simultaneous mass meetings are held that day in cities throughout the South. 

At Ebenezer the SCLC executive committee meets for an all-day planning session. At a press conference following the meeting, King discusses plans for the 12 February launching of the Crusade for Citizenship.

At Galilee Baptist Church in Shreveport, Louisiana, King speaks on behalf of a voter registration drive sponsored by the United Christian Movement.

In Atlanta, King addresses a southern regional conference of the NAACP on voter registration. 

Speaking at a press conference at the Overseas Press Club in New York, King and Wilkins announce a nonpartisan crusade to register one million black voters.