The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. Volume II: Rediscovering Precious Values, July 1951-November 1955

Clayborne Carson, Ralph Luker, Penny A. Russell, and Peter Holloran, eds.

University of California Press at Berkeley and Los Angeles

1994

Volume II begins with King's doctoral work at Boston University and ends with his first year as pastor of the historic Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. It includes papers from his graduate courses and a fully annotated text of his dissertation. There is correspondence with people King knew in his years before graduate school and a transcription of the first known recording of a King sermon. We learn, too, of King's marriage to Coretta Scott.

Accepting the call to serve Dexter, King followed the church's tradition of socially active pastors by becoming involved in voter registration and other issues of social justice. In Montgomery he completed his doctoral work, and he and Coretta Scott began their married life.

Introduction

date	title
15 Oct 1951	To Sankey L. Blanton
26 Oct 1951	From Morton Scott Enslin
4 Dec 1951	"The Personalism of J. M. E. McTaggart Under Criticism”
6 Dec 1951	To Edgar S. Brightman
6 Dec 1951	“A Comparison and Evaluation of the Philosophical Views Set Forth in J. M. E. McTaggart’s Some Dogmas of Religion, and William E. Hocking’s The Meaning of God in Human Experience with Those Set Forth in Edgar S. Brightman’s Course on ‘Philosophy of Religion ’”
12 Dec 1951	“Crozer Quarterly”
2 Jan 1952	“Karl Barth’s Conception of God”
9 Jan 1952	Final Examination Answers, Philosophy of Religion
Jan 1952	Final Examination Answers, Personalism
13 Sept 1951–15 Jan 1952	“Contemporary Continental Theology”
2 Apr 1952	“Reinhold Niebuhr”
9 May 1952	"Reinhold Niebuhr’s Ethical Dualism”
26 May 1952–5 July 1952	Examination Answers, History of Recent Philosophy
29 July 1952	To Charles E. Batten
14 Aug 1952	From Melvin H. Watson
18 Sept 1952	Petition to the Boston University Faculty
31 Oct 1952	From H. Edward Whitaker
6 Nov 1952	From William R. Strassner
18 Nov 1952	From W. T. Handy, Jr.
3 Dec 1952	Sankey L. Blanton to William R. Strassner
22 Sept 1952–28 Jan 1953	Notecards on Books of the Old Testament
22 Sept 1952–28 Jan 1953	Final Examination Answers, Religious Teachings of the Old Testament
4 Feb 1953	Petition to the Boston University Faculty
17 Feb 1953	From D. E. King
Mar 1953	To Otto R. Loverude
Mar 1953	To D. E. King
15 May 1953	“A Comparison and Evaluation of the Theology of Luther with That of Calvin”
19 May 1953	Final Examination Answers, History of Christian Doctrine
4 Feb 1953–22 May 1953	"An Exposition of the First Triad of Categories of the Hegelian Logic—Being, Non-Being, Becoming"
2 June 1953	From Rosemary Murphy
23 June 1953	From Charles E. Batten
14 Aug 1953	From Henry Nelson Wieman
22 Sept 1953	From Paul Tillich
2 Nov 1953	Qualifying Examination Answers, Theology of the Bible
3 Nov 1953	J. Timothy Boddie to Martin Luther King, Sr.
16 Nov 1953	J. T. Brooks to Martin Luther King, Sr., and Alberta Williams King
19 Nov 1953	From Melvin H. Watson
20 Nov 1953	Qualifying Examination Answers, History of Doctrine
24 Nov 1953	To Melvin H. Watson
24 Nov 1953	To J. Timothy Boddie
24 Nov 1953	To J. L. Henry
24 Nov 1953	To J. T. Brooks
1 Dec 1953	To Werner Rode
1 Dec 1953	To Reinhold Niebuhr
1 Dec 1953	To George W. Davis
3 Dec 1953	From Ven and Joel Lawrence King
7 Dec 1953	From George W. Davis
8 Dec 1953	From Bernard M. Loomer
9 Dec 1953	To Joel Lawrence King
17 Dec 1953	Qualifying Examination Answers, Systematic Theology
30 Dec 1953	From L. Harold DeWolf
12 Jan 1954	From G. A. Key
16 Jan 1954	From J. T. Brooks
17 Jan 1954	From Walter R. McCall
25 Jan 1954	A. A. Banks, Jr., to Martin Luther King, Sr.
25 Jan 1954	From Alberta Williams King
4 Feb 1954	From Joel Lawrence King
8 Feb 1954	From Joel Lawrence King
8 Feb 1954	From R. D. Crockett
13 Feb 1954	From J. McKinley Lee, Sr.
19 Feb 1954	From A. A. Banks, Jr.
24 Feb 1954	Qualifying Examination Answers, History of Philosophy
28 Feb 1954	Rediscovering Lost Values
7 Mar 1954	From R. D. Nesbitt and T. H. Randall
10 Mar 1954	From Joseph C. Parker, Sr.
10 Mar 1954	To Pulpit Committee, Dexter Avenue Baptist Church
15 Mar 1954	From R. D. Nesbitt
14 Apr 1954	To Dexter Avenue Baptist Church
15 Apr 1954	From J. T. Brooks
16 Apr 1954	From Leonard G. Carr
19 Apr 1954	From R. D. Nesbitt
8 May 1954	From H. Edward Whitaker
13 May 1954	From R. D. Nesbitt
15 May 1954	To L. Harold DeWolf
15 May 1954	To Joseph C. Parker, Sr.
15 May 1954	To Leonard G. Carr
22 May 1954	To Montgomery Pastors
24 June 1954	From Thomas Kilgore, Jr.
24 June 1954	To Thomas Kilgore, Jr.
Apr 1953–June 1954	"The Theology of Reinhold Niebuhr"
26 July 1954	To Francis E. Stewart
29 July 1954	From Francis E. Stewart
3 Aug 1954	From Nannie H. Burroughs
5 Aug 1954	From Walter R. McCall

date	title
5 Sept 1954	"Recommendations to the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church for the Fiscal Year 1954-1955"
1954	Notes on Speech by Martin Luther King, Jr., at Woman's Auxiliary, National Baptist Convention on 9 September 1954
15 Sept 1954	From H. Edward Whitaker
21 Sept 1954	From Nannie H. Burroughs
24 Sept 1954	From Estelle Jackson
Oct 1954	To Samuel D. Proctor
4 Oct 1954	From Harold Edward Pinkston
9 Oct 1954	From Clyde L. Reynolds
19 Oct 1954	To Paul Tillich
19 Oct 1954	To Ralph W. Riley
19 Oct 1954	To Walter R. McCall
20 Oct 1954	From Melvin H. Watson
21 Oct 1954	From Walter R. McCall
26 Oct 1954	To William H. Hester
Oct 1954	To Benjamin Elijah Mays
Nov 1954	From Major J. Jones
1 Nov 1954	From Sankey L. Blanton
2 Nov 1954	From William H. Hester
2 Nov 1954	To Melvin H. Watson
3 Nov 1954	From Paul Tillich
4 Nov 1954	From Benjamin Elijah Mays
4 Nov 1954	"Montgomery-Antioch Ass'n. Endorses Wilson and Washington"
6 Nov 1954	To Ebenezer Baptist Church Members
18 Nov 1954	From Samuel W. Williams
24 Nov 1954	To Ralph Abernathy
24 Nov 1954	To William H. Hester
24 Nov 1954	To Benjamin Elijah Mays
29 Nov 1954	From Melvin H. Watson
30 Nov 1954	From Benjamin Elijah Mays
2 Dec 1954	From Martin Luther King, Sr.
10 Dec 1954	From Roland Smith
15 Dec 1954	From Melvin H. Watson
21 Dec 1954	From J. Pius Barbour
1955	From Percy A. Carter, Jr.
1951–1955	“The Challenge of the Book of Jonah”
1951–1955	“The Bigness of God”
1951–1955	“God's Love”
12 Jan 1955	From Emory O. Jackson
14 Jan 1955	From W. W. Law
25 Jan 1955	“Apathy Among Church Leaders Hit in Talk By Rev. M. L. King”
5 Feb 1955	From William J. Cole
24 Feb 1955	From Roland Smith
26 Feb 1955	First Reader’s Report, by L. Harold DeWolf
26 Feb 1955	Second Reader’s Report, by S. Paul Schilling
2 Mar 1955	To Julian O. Grayson
3 Mar 1955	From Walter R. McCall
14 Mar 1955	From Julius James
15 Apr 1955	Table of Contents and Headnote, “A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman”
15 Apr 1955	Abstract of “A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman”
15 Apr 1955	Chapter I, “A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman”
15 Apr 1955	Chapter II, “A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman”
15 Apr 1955	Chapter III, “A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman”
15 Apr 1955	Chapter IV, “A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman”
15 Apr 1955	Chapter V, “A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman”
15 Apr 1955	Chapter VI, “A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman”
15 Apr 1955	Bibliography, “A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman”
18 Apr 1955	From Samuel D. Proctor
19 Apr 1955	From H. Edward Whitaker
2 May 1955	From H. Councill Trenholm
6 May 1955	From Walter R. McCall
6 May 1955	From Melvin H. Watson
11 May 1955	From William A. Bell
12 May 1955	J. Raymond Henderson to Martin Luther King, Sr.
12 May 1955	From J. Raymond Henderson
16 May 1955	Martin Luther King, Sr., to J. Raymond Henderson
28 May 1955	From L. Harold DeWolf
31 May 1955	From Duncan E. MacDonald
May 1955	From Major J. Jones
June 1955	From Major J. Jones
4 June 1955	From L. Harold DeWolf
7 June 1955	From Archibald J. Carey, Jr.
7 June 1955	From Daniel W. Wynn
28 June 1955	To Benjamin Elijah Mays
June 1955	From Major J. Jones
21 July 1955	From J. Pius Barbour
25 July 1955	From Albert W. Dent
Aug 1955	From Major J. Jones
1 Aug 1955	From Sankey L. Blanton
8 Aug 1955	From Kelly Miller Smith
20 Aug 1955	From Sylvester Jones
26 Aug 1955	To Sylvester Jones
26 Aug 1955	From Rosa Parks
28 Sept 1955	From J. H. Jackson
29 Sept 1955	From Walter R. McCall
22 Oct 1955	From Walter R. McCall
27 Oct 1955	From Nathaniel Garth
27 Oct 1955	To Dexter Avenue Baptist Church Members
1 Oct 1954–31 Oct 1955	Annual Report, Dexter Avenue Baptist Church
31 Oct 1955	To Howard Thurman
2 Nov 1955	To W. T. Handy, Jr.
2 Nov 1955	To Vernon O. Rogers
2 Nov 1955	To Roosevelt Smitherman
3 Nov 1955	From John Thomas Porter
14 Nov 1955	From Howard Thurman
15 Nov 1955	To Ralph W. Riley
16 Nov 1955	To Rev. and Mrs. J. C. Bonner
18 Nov 1955	To John Thomas Porter
18 Nov 1955	To Samuel D. Proctor
25 Nov 1955	From C. R. Williams
29 Nov 1955	To C. R. Williams
30 Nov 1955	To H. Edward Whitaker

Chronology

Date	Event
2 Sept 1951	Martin Luther King, Jr., preaches “What Is Man?” and “What Think Ye of Christ?” at Ebenezer.
13 Sept 1951- 15 Jan 1952	During his first term at Boston University’s School of Theology, King enrolls in Personalism, Formal Logic, Philosophy of Religion, Directed Study in Systematic Theology, and Seminar in Systematic Theology.
16 Sept	King is the guest preacher at the Reverend Gardner Taylor’s Concord Baptist Church in Brooklyn.
2 Oct	Boston University approves King’s outline of study.
22 Nov	King, Jr., attends his parents’ twenty-fifth wedding anniversary celebration in Atlanta.
23 Jan-16 May 1952	For his second semester at Boston, King takes three courses: Religious Teachings of the New Testament, Directed Study in Systematic Theology, and Seminar in Systematic Theology.
Feb	King begins to date Coretta Scott, a student at the New England Conservatory of Music.
4 Feb- 10 June	As a “special student” at Harvard University, King enrolls in the History of Modern Philosophy.
15 Feb	King passes French examination at Boston University, partially fulfilling the language requirement.
16 Mar	King preaches at Ebenezer’s celebration of its sixty-fifth anniversary and of King, Sr.’s twentieth anniversary as its pastor.
18 May	King preaches “The Relevance of the Holy Spirit” at Ebenezer.
25 May	King delivers “The Prevalence of Practical Atheism” at Ebenezer.
26 May- 5 July	King takes two courses during the intersession at Boston University: Seminar in Historical Theology and History of Recent Philosophy.
22 June	King is initiated into Boston’s Sigma chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha social fraternity.
12 July- 7 Sept	King serves as pastor in charge at Ebenezer.
24 July	King attends the annual session of Georgia’s Sunday School and Baptist Training Union Congress in Atlanta.
Aug	Coretta Scott visits Atlanta and meets the King family for the first time.
10 Aug	King preaches “The Challenge of Communism to Christianity” at Ebenezer.
24 Aug	King is Youth Day speaker at Pilgrim Baptist Church in Atlanta.
7 Sept	King preaches “Mental and Spiritual Slavery” at Ebenezer.
22 Sept 1952- 28 Jan 1953	During the first term of his second year at Boston, King takes four courses: Religious Teachings of the Old Testament, History of Christian Doctrine I, Seminar in Philosophy (Hegel), and Seminar in the History of Philosophy.
22 Sept 1952- 26 Jan 1953	King enrolls in the Philosophy of Plato at Harvard.
10 Oct	King fails Boston University’s German examination.
6 Nov	Shaw University President William R. Strassner asks King to apply to become the university’s dean of religion.
Nov	King, Sr., and Alberta Williams King visit Boston.
Fall	King preaches at John Street Baptist Church in Worcester, Massachusetts.
26 Jan- 2 June 1953	King’s final course at Harvard is on the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead.
4 Feb- 22 May	King enrolls in his last courses at Boston: History of Christian Doctrine 11, Seminar in Philosophy (Hegel), and Directed Study in Thesis and Dissertation Writing.
18 Feb	On his second attempt, King passes the German examination, thus completing Boston University’s language requirement.
25 Feb	King’s academic advisor at Boston University, Edgar S. Brightman, dies. King later chooses L. Harold DeWolf as his new advisor.
Apr	Obadiah and Bernice Scott announce the engagement of Coretta Scott and Martin Luther King, Jr.
19 Apr	King speaks at First United Baptist Church in Lowell, Massachusetts, at the invitation of its pastor, the Reverend Otto R. Loverude. King gives a talk on “What it means to be a Negro in the Deep South” and preaches the sermon “What Does It Mean to Believe in God?”
7 May	In a public debate with John Wesley Dobbs, King, Sr., supports Atlanta Mayor William B. Hartsfield’s campaign for reelection.
18 June	King, Sr., performs the marriage ceremony of King, Jr., and Coretta Scott at the Scott home near Marion, Alabama.
21 June	King preaches “By These Things Men Live” at Ebenezer’s morning services and “Does It Pay to Be Faithful?” in the evening. King, Sr., baptizes Coretta Scott King.
Summer	Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King spend the summer in Atlanta. King serves as Ebenezer’s pastor in charge, and Coretta Scott King works in a local bank.
Summer	King attends an interseminary conference at Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia.
28 June	King preaches “Accepting Responsibility for Your Actions” at Ebenezer.
5 July	Atlanta’s WERD, the nation’s first radio station owned and operated by African-Americans, begins broadcasting from Ebenezer for several months.
12 July	King preaches “Transformed Non-Conformists” at Ebenezer.
19 July	Clark College Dean of Women Phoebe Burney is the Women’s Day speaker at Ebenezer. Coretta Scott King is the featured soloist at the morning service.
26 July	King preaches “God’s Revelation to the World” at Ebenezer.
2 Aug	King preaches “Dressing Christ in False Robes” at Ebenezer.
9 Aug	King delivers the sermon “The Tragedy of Almost” at Ebenezer.
16 Aug	King preaches “Lord, Is It I?” at Ebenezer.
23 Aug	King delivers the sermon “Self-Examination” at Ebenezer.
30 Aug	King delivers the sermon “Opportunity, Fidelity, and Reward” at Ebenezer’s morning services; in the evening, he preaches at Pilgrim Baptist Church
6 Sept	King preaches “The Dimensions of a Complete Life” at Ebenezer.
8-14 Sept	King attends the annual meeting of the National Baptist Convention in Miami. The Reverend J. H. Jackson, pastor of Olivet Baptist Church in Chicago, is elected president of the convention.
Sept	The Kings rent an apartment at 396 Northampton Street in Boston and resume their studies.
Nov	Alberta Williams King and King, Sr., spend two weeks in New York and Boston.
15 Nov	King preaches at the Reverend J. Timothy Boddie’s New Shiloh Baptist Church in Baltimore, Maryland.
22 Nov	King preaches at the Reverend J. L. Henry’s Tenth Street Baptist Church in Washington, D.C.
21 Dec	King leaves Boston for vacation in Atlanta.
1 Jan 1954	King attends the Emancipation Day celebration sponsored by the Atlanta branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) at the City Auditorium. The Reverend J. H. Jackson gives the annual address.
3 Jan	King preaches in the morning at Ebenezer.
10 Jan	King preaches in the morning at Ebenezer.
17 Jan	King delivers a trial sermon at First Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
24 Jan	King delivers a trial sermon, “The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life,” at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Dexter’s former pastor Vernon Johns preaches “Segregation After Death” at Ebenezer.
28 Feb	At the invitation of the Reverend A. A. Banks, Jr., King preaches “Rediscovering Lost Values” at Second Baptist Church in Detroit.
7 Mar	King is in Lansing, Michigan, to preach at his uncle Joel Lawrence King’s church in the morning and evening. He also addresses the local branch of the NAACP in the afternoon. By a unanimous vote, Dexter Avenue Baptist Church calls King to its pastorate.
1 Apr	King’s Boston University transcript indicates that he has passed his qualifying examinations.
4 Apr	King meets with the pulpit committee at Dexter.
9 Apr	Boston University approves King’s outline of his dissertation.
14 Apr	King accepts the call to Dexter’s pastorate.
25 Apr	King preaches at the Reverend Leonard G. Carr’s Vine Memorial Baptist Church in Philadelphia.
26 Apr	The Kings host a meeting of a black graduate study group, the Dialectical Society, at their Boston apartment.
10 May	Professor L. Harold DeWolf lectures at a meeting of the Dialectical Society; King offers the opening prayer.
16 May	King preaches at the Thirty-third Annual Memorial Service of the Pullman Porters’ Benefit Association of America at Union Baptist Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
17 May	In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, the U.S. Supreme Court declares racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional.
30 May	King preaches “Loving Your Enemies” at Dexter and presides over the ordination of deacons. He spends the summer commuting between Boston and Montgomery.
13 June	At the invitation of the Reverend Thomas Kilgore, Jr., King preaches at Friendship Baptist Church in Harlem, New York City.
15 June	Coretta Scott King receives her bachelor of music degree in music education from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.
22 June	King, Sr., addresses the opening session of the National Baptist Sunday School and Baptist Training Union Congress in Birmingham, Alabama.
11 July	King preaches “What Is Man?” for Men’s Day at Dexter.
1 Sept	King begins his pastorate at Dexter.
5 Sept	King delivers his first sermon as pastor of Dexter and presents his “Recommendations to the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church for the Fiscal Year 1954- 1955,” which are accepted by the congregation.
6-11 Sept	King, Jr., Alberta Williams King, and King, Sr., attend the National Baptist Convention in St. Louis.
9 Sept	King, Jr., speaks to the Women’s Convention at the request of its president, Nannie Helen Burroughs. King’s noonday message is “The Vision of the World Made New.”
4-10 Oct	Phoebe Burney is the guest speaker for Women’s Emphasis Week at Dexter.
20-21 Oct	King attends the Montgomery-Antioch District Association’s annual meeting at Hutchinson Street Baptist Church in Montgomery. King is appointed to serve as reporter.
31 Oct	At King, Jr.'s installation as pastor of Dexter, King, Sr., preaches the sermon, and Alberta Williams King conducts Ebenezer’s choir.
Nov	King and Coretta Scott King spend two weeks in Boston working on a draft of his dissertation.
14 Nov	King preaches at the Reverend William H. Hester’s Twelfth Baptist Church in Boston.
25 Nov	The annual Thanksgiving program at Montgomery’s First Baptist Church features a solo by Coretta Scott King.
28 Nov	King delivers the Men’s Day sermon at Atlanta’s Friendship Baptist Church, whose pastor is the Reverend Samuel W. Williams, his Morehouse philosophy professor.
12 Dec	The Reverend Melvin H. Watson, the son of Ebenezer clerk P. O. Watson, delivers the Seventy-eighth Anniversary sermon at Dexter.
Jan 1955	King and H. Councill Trenholm, president of Alabama State College, Montgomery, deliver eulogies at the funeral of Alabama State professor James Milton Reynolds.
1 Jan	Coretta Scott King sings a solo at an Emancipation Proclamation anniversary celebration at Holt Street Baptist Church.
11-13 Jan	King attends the national board meeting of the National Baptist Convention in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The featured preacher is the Reverend C. L. Franklin, who delivers the sermon “God’s Wheels of Progress.”
23 Jan	King delivers the speech “A Realistic Look at Race Relations” at a meeting of the Birmingham NAACP.
2 Feb	The adjourned session of the Alabama Baptist State Convention meets at First Baptist Church. On 1 Feb King gives the invocation at a service for the group’s newly elected officers.
25 Feb	King delivers the evening inspirational message on the final day of the Montgomery Baptist Bible Institute at the Holt Street Baptist Church.
1 Mar	Following the Reverend M. C. Cleveland’s sermon, King speaks at a mass meeting for the National Baptist Convention’s Home Mission Board. The event, sponsored by the Baptist Ministers’ Conference of Montgomery, is held at Beulah Baptist Church.
2 Mar	Claudette Colvin, 15, is arrested for allegedly violating Montgomery’s ordinance requiring segregation on the city’s buses. King, Jo Ann Robinson of the Women’s Political Council, Rosa Parks of the Montgomery NAACP, and others later meet with city and bus company officials.
6 Mar	Coretta Scott King gives a voice recital at First Baptist Church.
8 Mar	Coretta Scott King directs a “talent night” featuring local youth as part of Dexter’s Youth Emphasis Week.
13 Mar	King’s Morehouse and Crozer classmate the Reverend Walter R. McCall is the guest speaker for Youth Emphasis Week at Dexter. The church’s Baptist Youth Fellowship holds a symposium on “The Meaning of Integration for American Society,” featuring among other speakers Dexter member Cleveland Dennard and the Reverend Robert E. Hughes, executive director of the Alabama Council on Human Relations.
20 Mar	King delivers the Sixty-eighth Anniversary sermon at Ebenezer.
23-24 Mar	King attends a meeting in Nashville of the Advisory Council on Literature and Curriculum, National Baptist Training Union Board of the National Baptist Convention.
10 Apr	King preaches for Easter services at Dexter.
15 Apr	King delivers the final draft of his dissertation to Boston University.
17 Apr	At the invitation of the Reverend Marvin Gibson, King preaches at Union Baptist Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
21 Apr	King defends his dissertation before a faculty committee at Boston University.
24 Apr	Alberta Williams King directs Ebenezer’s choir in a Sunday afternoon concert at Dexter.
27-29 Apr	The Reverend Samuel D. Proctor, president of Virginia Union University in Richmond, gives a series of speeches for Dexter’s Spring Lecture Series.
30 Apr	King serves as a resource and discussion leader at the annual state meeting of Hi-Y clubs at Alabama State College in Montgomery.
8 May	King preaches “[The] Crisis Facing Present-Day Family Life in America” at Dexter’s Mother’s Day service.
15 May	King delivers the baccalaureate sermon at the Alabama State College commencement in Montgomery.
22 May	King preaches the baccalaureate sermon at Talladega County Training School in Renfroe, Alabama.
31 May	The faculty of Boston University votes to confer the doctorate on King. The Supreme Court issues an order to implement the May 1954 Brown v. Board of Education school desegregation ruling.
1 June	The Reverend Archibald J. Carey, Jr., speaks at a citizenship rally sponsored by Alabama State College’s Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. King gives the benediction.
5 June	King is awarded his doctorate from Boston University; he does not attend the commencement ceremony.
12 June	The Reverend Major J. Jones preaches at Ebenezer.
19 June	King preaches “Who Is Truly Great?” at Dexter. King delivers the keynote address at an Alabama NAACP regional mass meeting at Holt Street CME Church.
26 June	King delivers a sermon titled “Discerning the Signs of History” at Dexter.
27 June - 3 July	King attends the National Baptist Sunday School and Baptist Training Union Congress in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
3 July	King preaches at Friendship Baptist Church in Harlem.
8 July - 3 Aug	King, Sr., Alberta Williams King, and Christine King attend the Baptist World Alliance meeting in London, England.
10 July	Morehouse president Benjamin Mays is the guest speaker for Men’s Day at Dexter.
17 July	King preaches “Am I My Brother’s Keeper?” at Dexter.
22 July	At the invitation of Dillard University president Albert W. Dent, King flies to New Orleans to discuss taking a position as dean of the new university chapel.
24 July	King preaches “The Death of Evil upon the Seashore” at Dexter.
31 July	King delivers “The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life” at the Tuskegee Institute chapel.
July	King speaks on “The Three Levels of Love” at the monthly meeting of Dexter’s Young Matrons Club.
2-5 Aug	King attends the Alabama Baptist State Sunday School and Baptist Training Union Congress at Holt Street Baptist Church in Montgomery. He serves on the Committee on Youth Parade with the Reverends Ralph D. Abernathy, U. J. Fields, J. C. Parker, A. W. Wilson, and other local ministers.
14 Aug	King addresses the Montgomery NAACP.
18 Aug	King hosts the monthly meeting of the Montgomery chapter of the Alabama Council of Human Relations at Dexter.
26 Aug	Rosa Parks, secretary of the Montgomery NAACP, informs King that he has been elected to the executive committee.
28 Aug	King preaches in the morning and evening for Men’s Day at the Reverend J. E. Moss’s Jackson Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. Fourteen-year-old Emmett Till, a black teenager from Chicago, is murdered while vacationing with relatives near Money, Mississippi.
Aug	The Montgomery NAACP submits a petition to the school board to integrate the city’s public schools.
6-11 Sept	King, Jr., Alberta Williams King, and King, Sr., attend the annual meeting of the National Baptist Convention in Memphis, Tennessee. King, Sr., serves as a member of the convention’s board of directors.
9 Oct	Lynette Saine Bickers, associate professor of education at Atlanta University, is the guest speaker for Women’s Day at Dexter.
16 Oct	King delivers “The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life” at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
17-23 Oct	At the invitation of Dean of Students Walter R. McCall, King is the guest speaker for Religious Emphasis Week at Fort Valley State College in Fort Valley, Georgia. The theme of the week is “Christ in Human Relations.” King preaches “The Dimensions of a Complete Life,” “What Is Man?” “Going Forward by Turning Back,” and “The Death of Evil upon the Seashore.” He also participates in panel discussions on “How Christianity Affects Our Fears,” “Christ and Race Relations,” “What Has Christianity to Say About Sex Standards?” “Christ and Business Relations,” and “Christ and Our Physical Surroundings.”
30 Oct	King preaches “The Seeking God” at Dexter.
7 Nov	King speaks at the fall institute of the local Baptist Training Union in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
17 Nov	Yolanda Denise King, the Kings’ first child, is born.
20 Nov	King preaches “The One-sided Approach of the Good Samaritan” at Dexter.

In this Publication

To Julian O. Grayson

King, Martin Luther, Jr. (Dexter Avenue Baptist Church)

March 02, 1955

From Walter R. McCall

McCall, Walter R. (Fort Valley State College)

March 03, 1955

Search Documents

The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. Volume II: Rediscovering Precious Values, July 1951-November 1955

Introduction

Contents

I: Boston University

II: Montgomery, Alabama

Chronology

In this Publication

To Julian O. Grayson

From Walter R. McCall

More Publications

Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.

A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. Volume VII: To Save The Soul of America, January 1961 - August 1962

King Papers

Resources

The Institute

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Search form

The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. Volume II: Rediscovering Precious Values, July 1951-November 1955

Introduction

Contents

I: Boston University

II: Montgomery, Alabama

Chronology

In this Publication

To Julian O. Grayson

From Walter R. McCall

More Publications

Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.

A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. Volume VII: To Save The Soul of America, January 1961 - August 1962

King Papers

Resources

The Institute