Book

The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. Volume VII

Preserving the legacy of one of the twentieth century’s most influential advocates for peace and justice, The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. was described by one historian as being the “equivalent to a conversation” with King.

To Save the Soul of America, the seventh volume of the anticipated fourteen-volume edition, provides an unprecedented glimpse into King’s early relationship with President John F. Kennedy and his efforts to remain relevant in a protest movement growing increasingly massive and militant.

Following Kennedy’s inauguration in January 1961, King’s high expectations for the new administration gave way to disappointment as the president hesitated to commit to comprehensive civil rights legislation. As the initial Freedom Ride catapulted King into the national spotlight in May, tensions with student activists affiliated with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) were exacerbated after King refused to participate in subsequent freedom rides. These tensions became more evident after King accepted an invitation in December 1961 to help the SNCC-supported Albany Movement in southwest Georgia. King’s arrests in Albany prompted widespread national press coverage for the protests there, but he left with minimal tangible gains.

During 1962 King worked diligently to improve the effectiveness of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) by hiring new staff and initiating grassroots outreach. King also increased his influence by undertaking an overcrowded schedule of appearances, teaching a course at Morehouse College, and participating in an additional round of protests in Albany during July 1962. As King confronted these difficult challenges, he learned valuable lessons that would later influence the campaign to desegregate Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963.

Introduction

Introduction to Volume VII

Date	Title
2 Jan 1961	“The Negro and the American Dream,” Emancipation Day Address Delivered at Municipal Auditorium
3 Jan 1961	From Saul David Alinsky
10 Jan 1961	To Gordon R. Carey
10 Jan 1961	From Elizabeth Knight
12 Jan 1961	To Milton A. Reid
28 Jan 1961	To Adam Clayton Powell
30 Jan 1961	To Aurelia Sheller
31 Jan 1961	From Maya Angelou
Jan 1961	Memo, “Leadership Training Program and Citizenship Schools”
4 Feb 1961	“Equality Now: The President Has the Power”
6 Feb 1961	To Nathan Paul Feinsinger
6 Feb 1961	From Bayard Rustin
8 Feb 1961	To J. R. Butts
13 Feb 1961	To Robert Clifton Weaver
15 Feb 1961	“Self-Portrait of a Symbol: Martin Luther King”
17 Feb 1961	To Diane Nash and Charles Sherrod
25 Feb 1961	From Lonnie C. King and Mary Ann Smith
Mar 1961	To the Editor
1 Mar 1961	To John F. Kennedy
6 Mar 1961	To Kivie Kaplan
16 Mar 1961	To John F. Kennedy
22 Mar 1961	Interview by Lester Margolies
28 Mar 1961	To Sammy Davis, Jr.
31 Mar 1961	To John H. Herriford
2 Apr 1961	“What Is the World’s Greatest Need?”
10 Apr 1961	To Carlton B. Goodlett
19 Apr 1961	Lecture Delivered to Christian Ethics Class at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Question and Answer Period
19 Apr 1961	From Rosa Parks
25 Apr 1961	To Andrew Young
26 Apr 1961	To Percival Leroy Prattis
27 Apr 1961	“After Desegregation—What”
3 May 1961	To Barbara Lindsay
4 May 1961	To Robert F. Kennedy
8 May 1961	From Gordon R. Carey
8 May 1961	Statement at Lawyers Advisory Committee Meeting
9 May 1961	From Lawrence Dunbar Reddick
17 May 1961	To Members of the United Packinghouse Workers of America
21 May 1961	Address at Freedom Riders Rally at First Baptist Church
21 May 1961	Statement Delivered at Freedom Riders Rally at First Baptist Church
23 May 1961	From Septima Poinsette Clark
23 May 1961	Press Conference Announcing the Continuation of the Freedom Rides
25 May 1961	From Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis
30 May 1961	From Anne Braden
31 May 1961	From Robert F. Williams
May 1961	From Amrit Kaur
5 June 1961	Press Release, Statement Calling for Executive Order Declaring Segregation Illegal
5 June 1961	To Stuart LeRoy Anderson
6 June 1961	To J. Raymond Henderson
16 June 1961	From George Meany
7 July 1961	From Gardner C. Taylor
9 July 1961	From Jim Zwerg
11 July 1961	To A. Lincoln James
19 July 1961	To George M. Houser
22 July 1961	From Ranganath Ramachandra Diwakar
1 Aug 1961	To Benjamin Elijah Mays
5 Aug 1961	To Robert F. Kennedy
9 Aug 1961	To Nelson A. Rockefeller
21 Aug 1961	From the Monroe Non-Violent Action Committee
Sept 1961	From James R. Wood
2 Sept 1961	Invocation Delivered at the Funeral of John Wesley Dobbs at Big Bethel AME Church
6 Sept 1961	To Ruby Doris Smith
10 Sept 1961	“The Time for Freedom Has Come”
10 Sept 1961	To J. H. Jackson
11 Sept 1961	From Andrew Young
12 Sept 1961	From J. H. Jackson
14 Sept 1961	From J. Pius Barbour
15 Sept 1961	From Lawrence Dunbar Reddick
19 Sept 1961	To Erma Jewell Hughes
26 Sept 1961	To James Baldwin
3 Oct 1961	“Outline of Lecture in Social Philosophy”
3 Oct 1961	Notes, Seminar in Social Philosophy
6 Oct 1961	To Robert F. Kennedy
11 Oct 1961	To Thurgood Marshall
13 Oct 1961	Press Release, Statement in Defense of A. Philip Randolph
16 Oct 1961	Press Conference after Meeting with John F. Kennedy
30 Oct 1961	To Tom Roland
30 Oct 1961	To Harold Courlander
1 Nov 1961	To Thomas Kilgore
1 Nov 1961	From Stanley D. Levison
1 Nov 1961	To William Berry Hartsfield
2 Nov 1961	To I. Logan Kearse
6 Nov 1961	From Charles C. Diggs
7 Nov 1961	To Harry H. Wachtel
24 Nov 1961	From Anne Braden
28 Nov 1961	To Carter Zeleznik
28 Nov 1961	To Herman Jackson
11 Dec 1961	Address Delivered at the Fourth Constitutional Convention of the AFL-CIO
14 Dec 1961	To James M. Ault
15 Dec 1961	Address Delivered at Albany Movement Mass Meeting at Mt. Zion Baptist Church
16 Dec 1961	From Herschelle Sullivan
17 Dec 1961	From Ralph Abernathy
17 Dec 1961	To John F. Kennedy
19 Dec 1961	Letter to the Editor, “Rev. M. L. King Clarifies Stand”
20 Dec 1961	To O. Clay Maxwell
20 Dec 1961	From Nicholas W. Raballa
21 Dec 1961	To Herbert H. Eaton
21 Dec 1961	From Hazel R. Gregory
29 Dec 1961	To Evelyn R. Spraitzar
29 Dec 1961	To Audrey V. Mizer
Jan 1962	“Gandhi and the World Crisis: A Symposium”
3 Jan 1962	To Roy Wilkins
4 Jan 1962	To Oke G. Pamp
9 Jan 1962	To David Johnson
11 Jan 1962	Stanley D. Levison to the Editor of Time Magazine
16 Jan 1962	“I Predict: Twenty-five Farseeing People Tell What They Hope, Fear and Imagine for 1987”
18 Jan 1962	From Allan Knight Chalmers
19 Jan 1962	To Leslie Dunbar
22 Jan 1962	To Glenn E. Smiley
25 Jan 1962	To Robert F. Kennedy
25 Jan 1962	To Gardner C. Taylor
26 Jan 1962	To William H. Rhoades
30 Jan 1962	From Nicholas W. Raballa
3 Feb 1962	“People in Action: Turning Point of Civil Rights”
6 Feb 1962	Form Letter to Doctor
9 Feb 1962	Notes on Recruitment of Volunteers
9 Feb 1962	To Carl Braden
11 Feb 1962	A Knock at Midnight, Sermon Delivered at the Installation Service of Ralph Abernathy at West Hunter Baptist Church
12 Feb 1962	To Luther White
12 Feb 1962	To Harry H. Wachtel
14 Feb 1962	Interview by Inter-American University Students and Faculty
26 Feb 1962	Statement to Newsweek Magazine on the Proposed Department of Urban Affairs
26 Feb 1962	To C. Kenzie Steele
3 Mar 1962	“Fumbling on the New Frontier”
3 Mar 1962	“People in Action: Pathos and Hope”
6 Mar 1962	From Virginia Foster Durr
8 Mar 1962	To T. Y. Rogers
9 Mar 1962	To Eugene Exman
17 Mar 1962	To Aaron Henry
30 Mar 1962	To John F. Kennedy
31 Mar 1962	“People in Action: Most Abused Man in Nation”
2 Apr 1962	From Alfred Daniel King
5 Apr 1962	Press Release, Statement on Intensified Voter Registration Drive
13 Apr 1962	From Lyndon B. Johnson
14 Apr 1962	“People in Action: Virginia’s Black Belt”
22 Apr 1962	“The Meaning of Easter,” Sermon Delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church
28 Apr 1962	“People in Action: Nothing Changing Unless”
30 Apr 1962	To Mrs. E. D. Johnston
4 May 1962	“A Prayer”
12 May 1962	“People in Action: Unknown Heroes”
17 May 1962	Address at the Formation of the Gandhi Society for Human Rights
17 May 1962	From Adelaide Tambo
22 May 1962	From Chauncey Eskridge
26 May 1962	“People in Action: Literacy Bill Dies”
8 June 1962	From Carl L. Manfred
9 June 1962	To Benjamin J. Massell
14 June 1962	To Lillian Eugenia Smith
17 June 1962	“The Dilemma and the Challenge Facing the Negro Today,” Address Delivered at Zion Hill Baptist Church
23 June 1962	“People in Action: New Harassment”
27 June 1962	To Harold Edward Fey
2 July 1962	To J. Oscar Lee
5 July 1962	Press Interview on Atlanta Hotel and Restaurant Desegregation
5 July 1962	Address Delivered at the “Freedom Fund Dinner” at the Fifty-third Annual Convention of the NAACP
10 July 1962	Press Release, King and Abernathy Choose Jail Time over Fine
11 July 1962	Albany Jail Diary from 10 July–11 July 1962
12 July 1962	To Otto Kerner
12 July 1962	Address Delivered at Mass Meeting at Shiloh Baptist Church
15 July 1962	“Albany Manifesto”
16 July 1962	Address Delivered at Albany Movement Mass Meeting at Shiloh Baptist Church
17 July 1962	To Albany City Commission and Asa D. Kelley
19 July 1962	Address Delivered to the National Press Club and Question and Answer Period
20 July 1962	Address Delivered at Albany Movement Mass Meeting at Third Kiokee Baptist Church
20 July 1962	To Jackie Robinson Testimonial Dinner
22 July 1962	Press Conference Regarding Albany Injunction
23 July 1962	To Robert F. Kennedy
24 July 1962	To Albany City Commission and Asa D. Kelley
24 July 1962	Address Delivered at Albany Movement Mass Meeting
25 July 1962	Press Conference Denouncing Violence in Albany
26 July 1962	Statement on Nonviolence at Pool Hall
31 July 1962	Albany Jail Diary from 27 July–31 July 1962
1 Aug 1962	From S. S. Seay
2 Aug 1962	To John F. Kennedy
7 Aug 1962	Albany Jail Diary from 1 August–7 August 1962
8 Aug 1962	Testimony in Asa D. Kelly et al., v. M. S. Page et al.
9 Aug 1962	From Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights
10 Aug 1962	Albany Jail Diary from 8 August–10 August 1962
15 Aug 1962	Statement Delivered at the Ruins of Shady Grove Baptist Church
15 Aug 1962	Address Delivered at Albany Movement Mass Meeting at Shiloh Baptist Church
21 Aug 1962	To Bertrand Russell
21 Aug 1962	From Eubie Blake
22 Aug 1962	To Ralph Lord Roy
30 Aug 1962	To Alfred Daniel King
31 Aug 1962	To John F. Kennedy

Chronology

1961

Date	Event
Jan	Ebony publishes King’s article “What Happened to Hell?”
1 Jan	King preaches “How Big Is Your God?” at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.
2 Jan	At the Savannah, Georgia, Municipal Auditorium King delivers “The Negro and the American Dream” at a rally for the Emancipation Proclamation Association.
12 Jan	In Sioux Falls, South Dakota, King attends a reception held in his honor at First Baptist Church and later speaks before the Knife and Fork Club at the Sheraton-Cataract Hotel.
13 Jan	On the first day of his three-day speaking tour in Los Angeles, King gives a press conference at the Ambassador Hotel.
14 Jan	At Zion Hill Baptist Church in Los Angeles, King delivers the keynote address at the founding meeting of the Western Christian Leadership Conference (WCLC). Following the address, King attends a reception in his honor at the Wilfandel Club.
15 Jan	King preaches “Three Dimensions of a Complete Life” at the morning worship services at Woodland Hills Community Church in Woodland Hills, California. In the evening, he delivers “The Future of Integration” at Canoga Park High School.
16 Jan	In St. Louis, King attends a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Sunday School and Baptist Training Union (BTU) Congress at the Baptist Educational Center to plan the Congress’s annual meeting. Following the meeting, King and the other members of the executive committee have lunch at Memorial Baptist Church. Those attending the meeting, including King, board a plane for Hot Springs, Arkansas.
17–19 Jan	King is in Hot Springs at the National Baptist Hotel and Bath House where National Baptist Convention (NBC) officials headed by J. H. Jackson vote to recognize as independent a competing group of NBC members headed by Gardner C. Taylor and to assume the mortgages of African American farmers in two Tennessee counties facing foreclosure because they registered to vote.
20 Jan	King flies from Atlanta to Chicago.
21 Jan	King attends the Public Review Advisory Commission meeting of the United Packinghouse, Food and Allied Workers of America at the Palmer House hotel in Chicago. Afterward, he flies back to Atlanta.
27 Jan	At New York’s Carnegie Hall, King is the guest of honor at a Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) fundraiser and celebrity gala organized by Harry Belafonte and A. Philip Randolph.
28 Jan	King flies from New York to Chicago.
29 Jan	In Chicago, King preaches at the morning worship service at Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church. Later that evening, King delivers “The Man Who Was a Fool” at Orchestra Hall for the Chicago Sunday Evening Club. The address is broadcast on radio station WIND.
30 Jan	King flies from Chicago to Atlanta, canceling an appearance in Philadelphia at an Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) Roosevelt Day dinner to be with his wife, Coretta, who has given birth to Dexter Scott, the couple’s third child. Once in Atlanta, King addresses the ADA over the phone.
31 Jan	In Salt Lake City, King delivers “The Future of Integration” at the University of Utah.
1 Feb	King arrives in New York.
2 Feb	In New York, King receives the 1961 Distinguished Award at an ADA Roosevelt Day dinner. He is also a guest on “Mike Wallace Interviews,” which airs on WNTA-TV the following week.
3 Feb	Still in New York, King meets with Stephen Courier of the Taconic Foundation. At the home of Dorothy Norman, an activist and philanthropist from New York, King meets Eleanor Roosevelt and others, to raise funds and talk informally about nonviolence.
4 Feb	King remains in New York. The Nation magazine publishes an article by King entitled “Equality Now: The President Has the Power.”
5 Feb	King travels from New York to Washington, D.C., and then flies home to Atlanta.
7 Feb	At Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia, King addresses the Interseminary Movement. Part one of King’s interview with Wallace airs.
8 Feb	Part two of King’s interview with Wallace airs.
9 Feb	In New York King speaks at Newark State College as part of the M. Ernest Townsend Memorial Lecture Series.
10 Feb	At New York University (NYU), King lunches at the Stevenson Faculty Club, then speaks on “The Future of Integration” at the Hall of Fame Playhouse at the University Heights campus of NYU before flying back to Atlanta.
14 Feb	Upon his arrival at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, King is interviewed by reporters. Later that evening he delivers “Facing the Challenge of a New Age” at the Religious Emphasis Banquet, followed by a public question and answer session.
15 Feb	In Atlanta, King sits in a Fulton County courtroom to lend moral support to ministers arrested during a sit-in. Later that day, before an overflow crowd, King speaks at a mass meeting at Warren Memorial Methodist Church to garner support for students and ministers involved in the Atlanta sit-ins.
17 Feb	King flies from Atlanta to Washington, D.C., where he delivers an address at Metropolitan Baptist Church to the Negro American Labor Council’s Workshop and Institute on Race Bias in Trade Unions, Industry and Government.
18 Feb	King is en route to the Bahamas.
19–26 Feb	King is in Nassau, Bahamas, for vacation with Gardner Taylor and Chauncey Eskridge.
26 Feb	At Chicago’s Shoreland Hotel, King speaks to the Eighth Annual Brotherhood Week dinner of the Chicago Conference for Brotherhood.
28 Feb	King flies from Chicago to Atlanta.
5 Mar	King delivers “Why Dives Went to Hell” at Ebenezer.
6 Mar	King preaches “The Man Who Was a Fool” at Central Methodist Church as part of the Detroit Council of Churches Noon-Day Lenten Service series, followed by a question and answer period and luncheon. He later gives the keynote address following a dinner meeting sponsored by the cultural committee of Detroit’s Second Baptist Church.
7 Mar	At Detroit’s Central Methodist Church, King preaches “Loving Your Enemies” at the Noon-Day Lenten Service.
8–9 Mar	King attends an emergency SCLC Administrative Committee meeting at Ebenezer to discuss programming and the New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964) libel case.
10 Mar	At a mass meeting at Warren Memorial Methodist Church in Atlanta, King urges unity among groups seeking to end segregation in Atlanta stores and lunch counters.
12 Mar	In Worcester, Massachusetts, King delivers “The Question of Progress in the Area of Race Relations” at the Temple Emanuel Community Forum series. His address and the question and answer period that followed are broadcast on radio station WTAG the next evening.
13 Mar	At the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut, King receives a humanitarian award, delivers “The American Dream” for the annual Frank Jacoby Lecture, and answers questions from the audience. Afterward, he travels to New York.
14 Mar	King is in New York.
15 Mar	In Kansas City, Missouri, King speaks at a dinner hosted by the Temple Brotherhood of Congregation B’nai Jehudah. He also conducts an interview with WDAF-TV.
16 Mar	King flies from Kansas City to Atlanta.
19 Mar	King preaches at Ebenezer on the observance of the church’s seventy-fourth anniversary. At Jacksonville, Florida’s Mt. Ararat Baptist Church, he delivers “This is a Great Time to Be Alive” at an event sponsored by the Duval County Citizens Benefit Corporation and the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance.
20 Mar	In Atlanta, King attends the opening session of a seminar series presented by the Atlanta Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends.
22 Mar	King is interviewed in his office at Ebenezer by Lester Margolies, a graduate student at Southern Illinois University.
23 Mar	King begins a four-day tour of the West Coast with a press conference at the San Francisco International Airport.
24 Mar	Under the auspices of Monterey Peninsula College’s faculty Spiritual and Moral Subcommittee, King discusses the moral and spiritual aspects of integration with a student assembly. Following the discussion he holds a press conference in the student union and lunches with Talcott and Margaret Bates, local civil rights activists. That evening King dines with the college faculty before delivering a free public lecture at the college on “The Power of Nonviolence” and answering questions from the audience. In the late evening he gives a short address at Friendship Baptist Church in Seaside, California.
25 Mar	In the morning, King visits Easter Hill Methodist Church in Richmond, California, where he speaks to ministers involved in WCLC about the role of clergy in the civil rights movement.
26 Mar	King preaches at Progressive Baptist Church in Berkeley, California. Later he delivers an address to an overflow crowd at a mass meeting at the Oakland Auditorium in Oakland, California.
27–30 Mar	King and Coretta Scott King are in Miami.
2 Apr	King delivers “The Easter Faith” at Ebenezer. King’s contribution to a collection of essays on the topic “What Is the World’s Greatest Need?” appears in the New York Times Magazine.
5 Apr	In Atlanta, King receives a phone call from Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.
7 Apr	Following the Georgia Court of Appeals’ decision that King’s sentence of twelve months’ probation for a traffic violation he received in 1960 was excessive, he appears in DeKalb County Superior Court and receives a reduced sentence of six months’ probation.
9 Apr	King preaches “The Meaning of Freedom” at Ebenezer.
10 Apr	King flies to Philadelphia.
11 Apr	At Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, King delivers “The Dimensions of a Complete Life” at the campus’s Allison Church. Following his sermon, King attends a luncheon with college faculty at the James Wilson Hotel.
12 Apr	King arrives in New York for a three-day fundraising trip.
14 Apr	In Ithaca, New York, King delivers “The Future of Integration” at a fundraising event held at Cornell University’s Bailey Hall, sponsored by the Ithaca Freedom Walk and the Cornell Committee Against Segregation.
15 Apr	King is in New York City.
16 Apr	At Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, King delivers “The Dimensions of a Complete Life” at the Helen Hills Hills Chapel morning worship services. Following the service, King attends a lunch reception and leads a discussion for the Smith community at the Cushing House. In Williamstown, Massachusetts, King attends a dinner meeting of the Williams College Chapel Association and speaks on “The Strategy of Southern Sit-ins.” Afterward King delivers “The Three Dimensions of a Complete Man” at Williams College’s Thompson Memorial Chapel. Before an overflow audience in Jessup Hall on campus, King attends a question and answer session on the civil rights movement. King spends the night at the college’s Faculty House.
17 Apr	In Massachusetts, King speaks in Johnson Chapel at Amherst College. Later that night, he flies from Hartford, Connecticut, to Chicago.
18 Apr	King leaves Chicago for Louisville, Kentucky.
19 Apr	King preaches “The Church on the Frontier of Racial Tension” as part of the Julius B. Gay Lecture series at the morning chapel service at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Following his speech, King meets with an overflow noontime class on Christian Ethics in the chapel, and attends a luncheon with the seminary faculty. At the invitation of Louisville mayor Bruce Hoblitzell, King is a guest of a community committee studying the city’s integration problems. Concluding the day, King speaks at a mass meeting before student activists at Quinn Chapel AME Church.
21 Apr	In Washington, D.C., King meets with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. King flies to New York.
22 Apr	King is in New York for conferences regarding the New York Times v. Sullivan (1964) libel suit. He flies back to Atlanta.
23 Apr	King preaches “The Prodigal Son” at Ebenezer.
24–26 Apr	At Ebenezer, King attends a training class on Church Methods sponsored by the Atlanta Baptist Education Center.
27 Apr	King speaks at the 25th Anniversary Dinner of the International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) at Cobo Hall in Detroit, Michigan.
30 Apr	At the United Liberal Church in Atlanta, King and Coretta Scott King attend a reception by the Southern Conference Education Fund in honor of Carl Braden and Frank Wilkinson, who are about to enter prison for refusing to answer the questions of the House Un-American Activities Committee.
3 May	King flies to New York to consult with officials from the UAW regarding a voter registration campaign.
5 May	King speaks at a luncheon meeting of the All Citizens Voter Registration Drive at the Butler Street YMCA in Atlanta and holds a conference call with students of Professor James A. Burkhart at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri.
6 May	King is in Atlanta.
7 May	King preaches “The Other Prodigal Son” at Ebenezer.
8 May	King travels to New York to confer with lawyers on the New York Times v. Sullivan (1964) libel suit, and speaks at the founding meeting of the Lawyers Advisory Committee on the same subject. In the evening, he travels to East Orange, New Jersey, to lecture on “The Impact of Religion on Community Living in the United States” and answer audience questions at Temple Sharey Tefilo as part of their series on “The Impact of Religion on American Life.”
9 May	King flies from New York to Atlanta and then to Montgomery.
10 May	Before the start of the two-day SCLC Executive Board meeting in Montgomery, King meets with the Administrative Committee during lunch at the Regal Café. Later that afternoon, the executive board meets at Abernathy’s First Baptist Church to discuss the New York Times v. Sullivan (1964) libel suit. In the evening, King leads a mass meeting at Holt Street Baptist Church.
11 May	King and other members of SCLC’s executive board meet in closed session to discuss strategy and tactics for gaining full citizenship for African Americans. The board passes resolutions in support of Carl Braden, the U.S. Department of Justice’s suit to reopen public schools in Prince Edward County, and in opposition to the treatment of African American protesters by Mississippi police forces.
13 May	King eats dinner with Congress of Racial Equality’s (CORE’s) freedom riders as they pass through Atlanta.
14 May	King preaches “Crisis in the Modern Family” at Sunday morning services at Ebenezer.
15 May	King is in Atlanta.
18 May	In Greensboro, North Carolina, King addresses the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) at the War Memorial Auditorium. He spends the evening with Dr. Samuel DeWitt Proctor, president of North Carolina A&T College.
19–20 May	King is in Chicago.
21 May	King travels from New York, intending to fly to Hanover, New Hampshire, but departs without appearing at scheduled Dartmouth College events, after learning of violent attacks on freedom riders in Montgomery, Alabama, the day before. In Montgomery, King speaks to an estimated 1,000 people at an evening rally sponsored by the Montgomery Improvement Association at Abernathy’s First Baptist Church. Due to a violent mob gathered outside, King and others are forced to spend the night inside the church. King speaks to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy by phone as the crisis at First Baptist unfolds.
22 May	In the early morning, a few hours after speaking by phone with Robert F. Kennedy, King and others are escorted from First Baptist Church by Alabama national guardsmen, and King is taken to the home of Dr. Richard Harris. That evening King meets with James Farmer and the freedom riders at the local YMCA. The meeting continues at the home of Dr. Richard Harris where the freedom riders and Dr. King are staying. The freedom riders ask King to join them on the bus to Jackson, Mississippi, but he declines.
23 May	Into the early morning hours, King continues meeting with freedom riders to discuss the future of the campaign. At a press conference in Abernathy’s house in Montgomery, King, Abernathy, James Farmer, and John Lewis announce the rides will continue on to Jackson, Mississippi, despite threats of danger.
24 May	In the morning King holds a prayer meeting with the freedom riders, then sees off the first bus of riders at the Montgomery bus station as they leave for Jackson a little after nine. At Abernathy’s home, King meets with a group of freedom riders led by Yale University chaplain William Sloane Coffin and speaks with Robert F. Kennedy and Burke Marshall by telephone. The Los Angeles Mirror publishes a letter to the editor from King, thanking journalist Bill Kiley for his thoughtful coverage of the civil rights movement. King returns to Atlanta.
25 May	King has a phone interview and asserts that the Freedom Rides will resume on 29 or 30 May.
26 May	At Ebenezer King convenes a meeting of representatives from SCLC, CORE, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Nashville Christian Leadership Council, and the National Student Association (NSA). The group discusses the future of the Freedom Rides and creates a Freedom Ride Coordinating Committee.
28 May	King preaches the Sunday morning service at Ebenezer.
29 May	King flies to Montgomery.
31 May	Before returning to Atlanta, King testifies at a hearing in Montgomery on whether to grant the federal government’s request for an injunction to prevent factions of the Ku Klux Klan and Montgomery police officials from interfering with interstate bus travel.
2 June	King is in Atlanta for a strategy meeting to discuss whether to appeal an injunction granted against the freedom riders.
3 June	King leaves Atlanta on a fundraising tour.
4 June	King is hosted by Dr. Charles F. Petitjean in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he receives an honorary Doctor of Laws (L.L.D.) degree at the University of Bridgeport’s commencement exercises. King and the other award recipients are recognized at a luncheon before the exercises and a reception afterward.
5 June	King holds a press conference at the Sheraton-Atlantic Hotel in New York, at which he urges President Kennedy to issue a second Emancipation Proclamation making racial segregation illegal by executive order. Later that evening, King speaks to an overflow crowd at Mount Olivet Baptist Church along with Reverends Abernathy, Wyatt Tee Walker, S. S. Seay, and George Lawrence.
6 June	At the commencement exercises at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, King delivers “The American Dream” and receives an honorary doctor of laws. In the evening King speaks at an SCLC fundraising event at Concord Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York.
8 June	King speaks at Calvary Baptist Church, in Jamaica, New York.
9 June	King speaks before the Negro Affairs Committee of District 65 in Astor Place in New York.
11 June	King delivers “Mastering Our Fears” at Ebenezer.
13 June	King gives testimony by deposition at the federal courthouse in the Middle District of Alabama, Montgomery, in the case of Parks v. New York Times Co., 308 F.2d 474 (1962).
14 June	King speaks at a voter registration rally sponsored by the Alabama State Coordinating Association for Registration and Voting at Birmingham’s Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.
15 June	King attends a dinner meeting at the home of New York lawyer Theodore Kheel.
16 June	King arrives in Albany, New York, on Governor Nelson Rockefeller’s private plane, and is his guest at a large reception and small private dinner at the Sheraton-Ten Eyck Hotel. He then appears at a fundraising rally at Wilborn Temple First Church of God in Christ under the auspices of the New York State Empire Baptist Convention.
17 June	King arrives in Los Angeles for an afternoon of press interviews, including an exclusive interview with the Los Angeles Times, a taping of the “Los Angeles Report,” and an appearance with commentator Tom Duggan.
18 June	In Los Angeles, King preaches at The People’s Independent Church of Christ for their Men’s Day Sunday. King’s interview with the “Los Angeles Report” airs at eleven A.M. on channel two. That afternoon he participates in a “Freedom Riders Rally” at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, sponsored by WCLC. Among the estimated 26,000 people in attendance were California’s Governor Edmund Brown and Lieutenant Governor Glenn Anderson.
21 June	After missing his flight, King arrives a day late to the National Sunday School and BTU Congress convention held at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis, Missouri. He is a guest on Parker Wheatley’s “Eye on St. Louis.”
23 June	Still in St. Louis, King delivers “The American Dream” at a rally sponsored by the National Sunday School and BTU Congress. He is later interviewed at the Sheraton-Jefferson Hotel where he speaks out in support of the Freedom Rides.
25 June	King preaches at St. Louis’s Central Baptist Church. He then flies to Indianapolis.
26 June	In Indianapolis, King visits Marion Stuart, the owner of a local trucking company, and his wife, Cordie King Stuart, a model for Ebony magazine. Accompanied by Abernathy, King addresses a packed audience at a membership drive on behalf of the NAACP at Mount Zion Hill Baptist Church.
27 June	In Jackson, Mississippi, King meets with the Freedom Riders Coordinating Committee and visits Wyatt Tee Walker, who was in the Hinds County Jail along with his wife, for participating in a freedom ride.
30 June	King flies to Norfolk, Virginia, and speaks at a mass rally for the Virginia Christian Leadership Conference at the Municipal Auditorium.
1 July	King flies to Atlanta.
2 July	King delivers “Our Christian Witness” at Ebenezer.
5 July	At the AME Minister’s Institute at Flipper Temple AME Church in Atlanta, King delivers “Paul’s Letter to American Christians.”
6 July	In Jackson, Mississippi, King speaks at an evening mass meeting sponsored by the newly formed Jackson SNCC, where he advocates nonviolent methods for ending segregation.
7 July	King returns to Atlanta.
9 July	King speaks at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, at the second annual Freedom Jubilee.
10 July	In Philadelphia King attends the 52nd Annual Convention of the NAACP.
11 July	King flies to Washington, D.C., and meets with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy regarding voter registration. He then boards a plane for New York.
12 July	King attends a fundraising dinner at the New York home of Mrs. Von Rutledge Gordon.
13 July	King delivers “The American Dream” at Syracuse University’s 10th Annual All-University Summer Sessions Reception and Dinner. The address, which was advertised as “Facing the Challenge of a New Age,” was later broadcast on the University radio station, WAER.
14 July	King briefly travels to Philadelphia, where his father is in the Methodist-Episcopal Hospital following a car accident. King then flies to Hartford, Connecticut, and speaks at a rally sponsored by the Hartford Interdenominational Alliance at Bushnell Memorial Hall. At the rally, King receives the keys to the city from Hartford mayor Dominick DeLucco.
15 July	King flies from New York to Baltimore to address a SNCC conference at the Masonic Lodge, and attends its business sessions. He then catches a flight to Atlanta.
20 July	At Tougaloo Christian College outside of Jackson, Mississippi, King attends a conference of interracial clergy in support of the Freedom Rides. King then spends the night in Philadelphia, where his father is still hospitalized after a car accident.
23 July	King preaches “The Motive for Being Good” at Ebenezer. In San Francisco, King speaks at a rally at the Cow Palace sponsored by WCLC.
24 July	King stays in San Francisco.
25 July	King delivers “The Future of Integration” at Wisconsin State College in Whitewater, Wisconsin.
26 July	King is in Chicago.
28 July	In New York, King meets with the Taconic Foundation regarding voting rights. That evening he attends the Committee for Better Human Relations’ salute to SCLC and the freedom riders at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.
29 July	King speaks about race relations to a conference of foreign students at Ebenezer.
30 July	King preaches at Ebenezer.
31 July	King flies from Atlanta to Martha’s Vineyard.
1–4 Aug	King is in Martha’s Vineyard working on the manuscript for Strength to Love.
5 Aug	King is in Atlanta.
6 Aug	King delivers “Paul’s Letter to the American Christians” at Ebenezer’s morning service. He also preaches the evening service.
10 Aug	At Ward AME Church in Los Angeles, King speaks at a Bon Voyage Banquet for Dr. L. Sylvester Odom, who will attend the World Council of Methodism in Norway.
12 Aug	King is in New York.
13 Aug	King delivers “Paul’s Letter to American Christians” at the Riverside Church in New York. That evening, he preaches at a rally at Bright Hope Baptist Church in Philadelphia, and spends the night in New York.
14 Aug	King is in New York.
16 Aug	In Miami Beach, Florida, King participates in a panel discussion and speaks on the topic “Christ Lives in the World” at the first international convention of the Luther League of the American Lutheran Church at the Miami Beach Convention Hall.
20 Aug	King delivers “Man’s Sin and God’s Grace” at Ebenezer. At the home of Lorimer D. Milton, King attends a meeting for Atlanta mayoral candidate Ivan Allen.
21 Aug	King is in Martha’s Vineyard.
22 Aug	King flies to New York.
23 Aug	At the Taconic Foundation in New York, King meets with Stephen Currier to discuss voter registration.
25 Aug	King is in New York.
30–31 Aug	King is in Martha’s Vineyard.
Sept 1961–May 1962	King coteaches Social Philosophy at Morehouse College with Reverend Samuel Williams. The upper level course was designed to consider problems of social thought, justice, property rights, natural and divine law, the state and the individual, and nonviolent action.
1 Sept	King flies from Martha’s Vineyard to New York.
2 Sept	King flies from New York to give the invocation at the funeral services of John Wesley Dobbs, Grand Master of the Georgia Prince Hall Masons, at Big Bethel AME Church in Atlanta.
3 Sept	King delivers “The Meaning of Christ’s Temptation” at Ebenezer’s morning services, and also presides over evening services.
5–9 Sept	With his wife, Coretta, King attends the NBC in Kansas City, Missouri.
10 Sept	King preaches the morning and evening worship services at Ebenezer. New York Times Magazine publishes King’s article “The Time for Freedom Has Come.”
11 Sept	King delivers the invocation at the funeral of Samuel Garrett Sellers, a local funeral parlor director, at West Hunter Baptist Church in Atlanta.
14 Sept	At Atlanta University, King speaks to a group of twenty-five African students participating in the United Negro College Fund Orientation to American Life and Education Program.
17 Sept	King delivers “Where God Is Found” at the morning worship service at Ebenezer. He also presides at the evening worship service.
24 Sept	King attends the Men’s Day celebration at Ebenezer. Dr. Mordecai Johnson, president emeritus of Howard University in Washington, D.C., is the guest speaker.
25 Sept	In New York, King speaks at a meeting of Local 1199 of the Drug and Hospital Employees Union at the Hotel Diplomat, then flies back to Atlanta.
26 Sept	King travels to Nashville.
27 Sept	At Nashville’s First Baptist Church, King convenes a morning meeting of the SCLC Executive Committee followed by an SCLC annual board meeting in the afternoon. In the evening, King presents scholarships to ten Freedom Ride participants during a “Tribute to the Freedom Riders” that included the Chad Mitchell Trio, comedian George Kirby, and Miriam Makeba.
28 Sept	In the morning, King formally opens SCLC’s annual meeting at Clark Memorial Methodist Church. Later, he delivers an address at a rally at the War Memorial Auditorium.
29 Sept	On the last day of SCLC’s annual meeting, King is reelected president. He returns to Atlanta.
Oct	King’s article “Crisis and the Church” appears in Council Quarterly.
1 Oct	At Ebenezer King delivers “Making Life Worth Living” at morning worship and later presides over the evening worship.
4 Oct	King arrives in New York and stays at the Hotel Roosevelt.
5 Oct	In New York, King addresses a morning session at the Eleventh Constitutional Convention of the Transport Workers Union of America at the Hotel Roosevelt. He then returns to Atlanta.
8 Oct	King delivers “Paul’s Letter to American Christians” as guest minister for New Calvary Baptist Church’s Annual Men’s Day in Detroit.
9 Oct	In Schenectady, New York, King delivers “The Future of Integration” at the Freedom Forum at Linton High School, followed by a question and answer session.
10 Oct	King remains in New York.
12 Oct	King speaks on “Non-Violence, Civil Disobedience and the Future of the Negro” and answers audience questions at the Atlanta University Center’s monthly town meeting.
15 Oct	At Ebenezer, King delivers the morning sermon, “Dealing with an Inferiority Complex.” In the evening, he delivers “The Wind of Change Is Blowing” before the Winston-Salem, North Carolina, branch of the NAACP at Goler Metropolitan AME Zion Church.
16 Oct	In Washington, D.C., King meets with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and later discusses with President John F. Kennedy his ideas for ending segregation in federally funded housing and a second Emancipation Proclamation declaring all segregation illegal. Following the meetings, King gives a press conference outside the White House.
17 Oct	King is back in Atlanta.
18 Oct	At Atlanta’s Butler Street YMCA’s Hungry Club, King speaks on the subject of “The Changing South: The Redefining of Human Relations.” The first fifteen minutes of the event are broadcast on radio station WERD.
20 Oct	King delivers “Facing the Challenge of a New Age” to a crowd of more than a thousand people at the Temple Mishkan Israel in Hamden, Connecticut.
21 Oct	King takes a train to Philadelphia for the start of a four-day visit to the city. Upon arriving at the station, he is escorted by motorcade to Fellowship House. Afterward he holds a press conference and tours the city.
22 Oct	King delivers “Paul’s Letter to American Christians” at the Sunday morning sermon at Philadelphia’s White Rock Baptist Church in celebration of their sixty-third anniversary. In the evening, he addresses a crowd of over 500 people at the Fellowship House.
23 Oct	King attends a reception at Philadelphia’s city hall. He then visits three playgrounds where he speaks to adults and children. In the evening King dines with civic leaders at Fellowship House.
24 Oct	In Philadelphia, King meets with senior and junior high school Fellowship Clubs at an event sponsored by Fellowship House in the afternoon. That evening he gives a press conference, then presides over and gives the main address at a mass meeting at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music, where he is presented with a resolution from the City Council. King then returns to Atlanta.
27 Oct	King flies to New York to attend a reception in his honor at the Men’s Faculty Club before delivering the keynote address at Columbia University, at an event sponsored by the Columbia OWL. He then departs for London, England.
28 Oct	King arrives in London. His portrait is drawn by artist Felix Topolski at his studio.
29 Oct	In London, King delivers the “Three Dimensions of a Complete Life,” at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church. In the evening, he is interviewed live by John Freeman, editor of the New Statesman, on the British Broadcasting Corportion’s program “Face to Face.” King is also interviewed by Bill Grundy for the Granada TV network program “Protest,” for a later broadcast.
30 Oct	At London’s Central Hall King speaks at a Christian Action meeting, where he is heckled with shouts of “keep Britain white” and “go back to your own country.” He later attends a reception sponsored by the Afro Asian West Indian Community at Africa Unity House.
31 Oct	King departs London for New York.
3 Nov	King and Coretta Scott King attend the symphony in Atlanta; on the program are “La Gazza Ladra” by Gioacchino Rossini, “Symphony 1” by Serge Prokofieff, “Violoncello Concerto” by Luigi Boccherini, “A Night On Bald Mountain” by Modeste Moussorgky, and “Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra” by Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns.
5 Nov	At Ebenezer, King delivers “Dealing with Fear and Anxiety” at the morning service. He later attends a homecoming dinner before speaking at a special afternoon service.
6 Nov	Accompanied by his wife, Coretta, King participates in the afternoon session of the Fellowship of the Concerned, sponsored by the Southern Regional Council at Clark College in Atlanta. In the evening, at Montgomery’s Bethel Baptist Church, King delivers remarks at a celebration for Ralph D. Abernathy sponsored by the MIA.
7 Nov	King flies from Atlanta to Chicago, and spends most of his seven-hour layover at the Morrison Hotel.
8 Nov	King arrives in Portland, Oregon, in the early morning hours. He holds a morning press conference at the Multnomah Hotel before speaking to the student body at Portland State College. In the afternoon, he delivers “The Future of Integration” at Lewis and Clark College and is interviewed by a panel for a television program to broadcast on KOAP-TV the next day. King has dinner with the boards of the local Urban League, B’nai B’rith, and NAACP at the Multnomah Hotel, then delivers “Facing the Challenge of a New Age” at the Urban League’s Equal Opportunity Day program in the Civic Auditorium. Afterward, he attends a reception sponsored by the Albina Ministerial Association at the home of Rev. O. B. Williams, then departs for Seattle.
9 Nov	At Meany Hall on the University of Washington campus, King delivers an address on “Segregation and Civil Liberties: Implications for Students.” Afterward, he attends a luncheon in his honor and answers questions from faculty. In the evening, he speaks at the Temple De Hirsch’s lecture series in the synagogue’s sanctuary.
10 Nov	King delivers “The American Dream” to the student body of Seattle’s Garfield High School followed by a luncheon sponsored by the Civic Unity Committee at the Windsor Hotel where he is greeted by Mayor Gordon S. Slinton and Washington governor Albert D. Rosellini. In the evening, King speaks at the third annual lecture of the Brotherhood of Mount Zion Baptist Church at the Eagles Auditorium. The event is followed by a reception at nearby Plymouth Congregational Church.
11 Nov	King departs Seattle for Minneapolis.
12 Nov	In Mankato, Minnesota, as part of the Wesley Foundation at Mankato State College’s Third Annual Lectureship, King delivers two morning sermons, both entitled “The Good Neighbor,” at Centenary Methodist Church, and in the evening delivers “Facing the Challenge of a New Age” at Mankato High School.
19 Nov	At Ebenezer, King delivers the morning sermon on the “Secrets of Married Happiness.” In Tampa, Florida, King is interviewed while being transported from the Tampa International Airport to the Fort Homer Hesterly Armory for an event sponsored by the Florida State Conference of Branches of the NAACP. King’s address was delayed by a bomb scare.
23 Nov	King is in Atlanta.
24 Nov	In Indianapolis, King speaks before a crowd of more than one thousand at a fundraising rally at the Murat Temple. Hours before King’s address, a bomb threat was made, prompting Indianapolis police to guard King.
25 Nov	King is in Cleveland, Ohio.
26 Nov	In Cleveland, King delivers “The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life,” at two morning services at Antioch Baptist Church on behalf of the church’s Laymen’s Fellowship. Later King is interviewed and answers questions from the public live on “Open Circuit.”
27 Nov	King returns to Atlanta and attends a Georgia Council on Human Relations dinner at The Progressive Club. There he introduces Carl T. Rowan, the principal speaker.
30 Nov–2 Dec	King is in Mercy-Douglass Hospital in Philadelphia for tests to determine whether he would need surgery to remove scar tissue around the stab wound he received in 1958. He is given a clean bill of health.
3 Dec	King delivers “The Secret of Adjustment” at Ebenezer’s morning service and also presides over evening services.
4 Dec	In his Atlanta office, King meets with Teamster leaders from all over the country to acquaint them with the conditions involving discrimination against black unionists in the South.
7 Dec	In Los Angeles King delivers “The Future of Integration” at Los Angeles Valley College as part of their Athenaeum Series and Bill of Rights Week.
8 Dec	Before a crowd of more than 1,800 King speaks at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium at an event sponsored by Calvary Baptist Church and the Santa Monica Business and Professional Men’s Council. There he receives an official greeting by Mayor Thomas McCarthy.
10 Dec	At Chapman College in Orange, California, King receives a standing ovation for his address on “Non-Violence and Racial Justice” during the college’s Artist Lecture Series.
11 Dec	In Miami Beach, Florida, King delivers the keynote address before 1,000 delegates to the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organization’s (AFL-CIO) Fourth Constitutional Convention at the Americana Hotel. He urges an end to racial discrimination in trade unions.
14 Dec	Following protests from groups who successfully prevented King’s scheduled appearance at New Orleans Municipal Auditorium, King speaks at Union Bethel AME Church under the auspices of the Consumer’s League of Greater New Orleans.
15 Dec	At the invitation of W. G. Anderson, president of the Albany Movement, King arrives in Albany, Georgia, to spur fundraising efforts for the movement. Later King speaks to packed audiences at Shiloh and Mt. Zion Baptist Churches.
16 Dec	After addressing a group of protesters at Shiloh Baptist Church, King, Anderson, Abernathy, and more than two hundred marchers file out of the church and march toward Albany’s city hall to pray. They are stopped short of their goal when Albany police chief Laurie Pritchett orders the arrest of all the demonstrators for parading without a permit, obstructing traffic, and blocking sidewalks. King, Abernathy, and Anderson are held at city hall and later transferred to Sumter County Jail in Americus, Georgia.
17 Dec	King is in Sumter County Jail in Americus, Georgia, and announces to visiting reporter David Miller that he will refuse bond and remain in jail through Christmas if necessary.
18 Dec	In the morning, King and Anderson are transferred from Sumter County Jail in Americus, Georgia, to a coat closet in Albany’s city hall, where they spend most of the day. After several hours of closed-door negotiations between C. B. King and Donald Hollowell and local city officials, the Albany Movement agrees to temporarily halt demonstrations in exchange for the immediate release of employed tax-paying adult protesters on bond by their own signatures, and the release of unemployed adult protesters on bond upon the signature of a financially responsible local citizen. At an afternoon court hearing, Anderson posts $400 security bonds for himself and King. Before leaving for Atlanta, King speaks at a mass meeting at Shiloh Baptist Church.
19 Dec	King is in Atlanta. The Nashville Tennessean publishes King’s response to an editorial accusing him of advocating Communism and Black Nationalism as solutions for discrimination.
23 Dec	In New York, King attends the 100th performance of the Broadway hit “Purlie Victorious,” written by Ossie Davis and starring Davis and his wife, Ruby Dee. King celebrates with the couple backstage.
24 Dec	King preaches on “God’s Love” at Ebenezer.
25 Dec	King spends Christmas surrounded by his extended family at his home in Atlanta.
27 Dec	In Atlanta, King speaks to a reporter with the New York Amsterdam News about his stay in the Americus jail and SCLC’s plans for the upcoming year.
31 Dec	King delivers “Remaining Awake through the Revolution” at United Liberal Church of Atlanta.

1962

Date	Event
4–5 Jan	In Atlanta King convenes an informal SCLC meeting to discuss future plans for the People to People tours and voter registration.
7 Jan	King preaches “The Ultimate Triumph of Goodness” during morning worship service at Ebenezer.
12 Jan	In Wellesley, Massachusetts, King delivers “The Future of Integration” to a large audience in Alumnae Hall at Wellesley College. His address is followed by a question and answer period. King spends the night in New York.
14 Jan	In New Haven, Connecticut, King delivers “The Dimensions of a Complete Life” at Sunday morning services in Yale University’s Battell Chapel and then answers questions at a coffee hour. That evening King preaches to a capacity audience at Wesleyan University’s Memorial Chapel in Middletown, Connecticut. Afterward he speaks at a rally sponsored by the Wesleyan Committee on Civil Rights.
15 Jan	At a fundraising rally sponsored by the Bridgeport-Stratford branch of the NAACP and the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance of Greater Bridgeport, King calls for voter registration and a second Emancipation Proclamation during a speech at Central High School in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
16 Jan	Look magazine publishes King’s contribution to “I Predict: Twenty-five Farseeing People Tell What They Hope, Fear and Imagine for 1987.”
19–20 Jan	King travels to Midway, Georgia, to attend a Citizenship School training session at the Dorchester Center.
20 Jan	Following dinner at Top of the Mart in Atlanta, King and Coretta Scott King spend the evening in discussion with Leslie Dunbar, Dan Pollitt, Sam Cook, and their wives as well as G. W. Foster and several Morehouse University students.
21 Jan	King preaches “Transformed Nonconformists” during morning worship service at Ebenezer. Later that day, the AME Church’s Laymen’s Organization presents King and SCLC with a check during a program at Big Bethel AME Church in Atlanta.
27 Jan	King flies to Columbus, Ohio.
28 Jan	King speaks for the Annual Youth Day at Mt. Olivet Baptist Church in Columbus, Ohio.
29 Jan	In Columbus, Ohio, King addresses the Ohio Council of Churches’ Ohio Pastors Convention.
1 Feb	At the Lotus Club in New York, King attends a luncheon meeting of attorneys hosted by Theodore Kheel to discuss the New York Times v. Sullivan (1964) libel case. He then meets with Harry Wachtel and discusses the possibility of establishing a new foundation dedicated to citizenship education and legal aid for the movement.
2 Feb	King flies to Atlanta and meets with SCLC state and local leaders to discuss SCLC’s People to People tour, voter registration, nonviolent workshops, citizenship schools, and the second Emancipation Proclamation.
3 Feb	King’s first article, “Turning Point of Civil Rights,” of his biweekly column “People in Action” is published in the New York Amsterdam News.
4 Feb	King preaches “The Worth of Man” at Ebenezer’s morning worship service.
6 Feb	King leaves Atlanta for his first People to People tour in Mississippi.
7 Feb	In Clarksdale, Mississippi, King meets with local clergy. He then visits Higgins High School, Coahoma Junior College, Chapel Hill Baptist Church, and Immaculate Conception Catholic School. In the evening, he attends a mass meeting at the Centennial Baptist Church, where Wyatt Tee Walker is the featured speaker.
8 Feb	King travels to Jonestown, Coahoma, Sherard, and Mound Bayou, Mississippi, speaking to local residents about voter registration. Later that evening, he speaks at a political rally for congressional candidate Theodore Trammell at First Baptist Church in Clarksdale, Mississippi.
9 Feb	At Tougaloo College outside of Jackson, King concludes the People to People tour by leading a chapel service before attending a series of nonviolent workshops led by James Lawson.
11 Feb	In the afternoon King delivers A Knock at Midnight at Abernathy’s installation service at West Hunter Baptist Church in Atlanta.
12 Feb	In the morning, King meets in Atlanta with leaders from Huntsville, Alabama, to discuss SCLC involvement in their local sit-in movement. Later that day King speaks at a meeting of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham.
13 Feb	King flies to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and holds a press conference at Green Island Airport where he is greeted by Christian Action Party president José Luis Feliú Pesquera. That evening he tapes an interview for the Puerto Rican show “Pico a Pico.”
14 Feb	In the morning King travels to San Germán, Puerto Rico, where he delivers “The Future of Integration” to upperclassmen at Inter-American University. In the afternoon he delivers “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution” at the University of Puerto Rico’s Mayagüez campus followed by a return to Inter-American University where he delivers “Non-violence and Racial Justice” to faculty.
15 Feb	King delivers “Stride Toward Freedom” to a morning assembly of freshmen at Inter-American University. He later returns to San Juan, where he meets with musician Pablo Casals before attending a dinner with Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) members at Union Church. King stays the night in the guest quarters of the Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico. King’s appearance on “Pico a Pico” airs.
16 Feb	King addresses the Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico on “Non-Violence and Racial Justice.” Later, he delivers “The Future of Integration” and “The Challenge of a New Age” at the San Juan campus of the University of Puerto Rico.
17 Feb	The New York Amsterdam News publishes King’s article “The President’s Record” in his “People in Action” column.
17–24 Feb	King vacations in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
27 Feb	King and Ralph Abernathy return to Albany, Georgia, to stand trial in Recorder’s Court on charges resulting from arrests during the 16 December 1961 protests there. A verdict is postponed for sixty days to allow time for King’s defense team to present additional legal arguments. He returns to Atlanta.
3 Mar	King’s article “Pathos and Hope” appears in his column in the New York Amsterdam News. The Nation publishes his article “Fumbling on the New Frontier.”
4 Mar	After preaching at Ebenezer, King meets with Jerome Davis, who is writing a book on modern world leaders.
5 Mar	In Montgomery, Alabama, King attends the MIA’s installation of officers. He also meets with Moreland Griffith Smith about the situation in Montgomery.
8 Mar	King attends a Birmingham banquet and rally held in the L. R. Gaston Auditorium to honor Reverends Fred Shuttlesworth and J. S. Phifer, who had recently been jailed for protesting segregated bus seating.
9 Mar	In the evening, King dines at the University of Texas at Austin, and he speaks to a capacity audience on “Civil Liberties and Social Action” at an event sponsored by the Texas Union Speakers Committee and the University Religious Council. Afterward King attends a reception with faculty and students.
11 Mar	In Tucson, Arizona, King preaches “Paul’s Letter to the American Christians” at the morning service at Catalina Methodist Church. That afternoon, he attends a Press Club Forum and then delivers “Stride Toward Freedom” at Catalina Methodist’s Sunday Evening Forum in the University of Arizona Auditorium. Afterward, the local NAACP hosts a reception for King.
12 Mar	King leaves Tucson, Arizona, in the early morning hours.
13 Mar	King spends the night in New York en route to Montreal, Canada.
14 Mar	In Montreal, King delivers an evening address on “The Future of Integration” at the Temple Emanu-El Brotherhood Forum.
15 Mar	King travels to Toronto and attends a luncheon hosted by the Social Action Committee of Holy Blossom Temple. He then speaks to a capacity crowd on “Non-Violence and Racial Justice” as part of the Holy Blossom Temple’s Brotherhood Forum Series.
18 Mar	King delivers “Facing Life’s Inescapables” at the morning worship service at Ebenezer. In Birmingham, King delivers “Not to Conquer, but to Excel” at the installation service of his brother, A. D. King, at First Baptist Church.
19 Mar	In Huntsville, Alabama, King lunches with local clergy, meets informally with college and youth groups, and speaks at a banquet at First Baptist Church. In the evening, he speaks at a city-wide mass meeting in the Oakwood College Gymnasium, sponsored by the Community Service Committee.
20 Mar	After his afternoon class at Morehouse College, King travels to Seabury House in Greenwich, Connecticut, arriving late for the first day of a two-day meeting of the Joint Consultative Council. The meeting, organized by Allan Knight Chalmers, is also attended by Walker and the heads of other civil rights organizations, and is intended to address problems of interorganizational cooperation within the movement.
21 Mar	King attends the second day of the Joint Consultative Council conference, which adjourns after lunch.
23 Mar	Arriving in Cincinnati, Ohio, King holds a press conference at the Netherland Hilton Hotel before meeting informally with local clergy at Zion Baptist Church. At the hotel, King is the principal speaker at a testimonial banquet honoring the birthday of Fred Shuttlesworth, sponsored by the Pastors Aid Club of Revelation Baptist Church.
25 Mar	At the morning worship service at Ebenezer, King delivers “The Unpardonable Sin” and later presides over the vesper service at Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia.
27–29 Mar	King embarks on a second People to People tour across Virginia with Abernathy, Walker, Dorothy Cotton, Bernard Lee, and Herbert Coulton.
27 Mar	Upon landing at the Byrd Airport in Richmond, Virginia, King holds a morning press conference and then attends a luncheon at Zion Baptist Church in Petersburg before canvassing door to door discussing voter registration with residents. Later that evening, King travels to Lynchburg where he addresses a crowd of over 2,400 supporters at a rally at E. C. Glass High School.
28 Mar	In Prince Edward County, Virginia, where public schools were closed in an attempt to prevent school integration, King meets informally with residents and children at First Baptist Church in Farmville. At the invitation of the Inter-Fraternal Council, he delivers “The Tragedy of Sleeping Through a Revolution” at Virginia State College. Afterward, King travels to Hopewell, where he meets with sit-in protesters before heading to Mount Level, Virginia, to talk to residents at a local church. In the evening, he makes a brief stop in Rocky Branch and ends the day at a public meeting at First Baptist Church in Petersburg.
29 Mar	Back in Hopewell, King attends the contempt trial of Curtis Harris, who was arrested for refusing to answer questions about his integration activities before the Virginia Legislative Committee on Offenses against the Administration of Justice. Later that day he travels to Wisconsin State College in Eau Claire, where he delivers “Stride Toward Freedom.”
30 Mar	King delivers “The Future of Integration” at the Second Annual Jonas Rosenfield Lecture at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The lecture, sponsored by the Union Forum Committee, is followed by a question and answer session.
31 Mar	King’s article “Most Abused Man in Nation” is published in his biweekly column in the New York Amsterdam News.
1 Apr	King delivers “Great, But …” at morning services at Ebenezer.
2 Apr	At Tabernacle Baptist Church in Augusta, Georgia, King addresses a rally of 3,000 as part of a week of protests aimed at integrating the Masters Golf Tournament.
5 Apr	King holds a press conference at the SCLC office in Atlanta to announce the expansion of the organization’s voter registration program and the success of the People to People tours.
7 Apr	King flies to Washington, D.C., where he is greeted by labor leader Theodore Brown.
8 Apr	King delivers “Remaining Awake Through a Revolution” at Howard University’s All University Religious Service in Cramton Auditorium. After the service he lunches with Evans Crawford, dean of the campus chapel.
9 Apr	Still in Washington, D.C., King gives a morning press conference and attends a luncheon meeting of clergy to discuss a local SCLC affiliate at Metropolitan Baptist Church. In the afternoon King meets Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and Assistant Attorney General Burke Marshall about discrimination in voter registration. Afterward, he meets with Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and discusses equal employment opportunities. That evening, King speaks at a rally at Metropolitan Baptist Church.
12 Apr	King begins his third People to People tour by addressing a luncheon at St. Matthew’s Baptist Church in Charleston, South Carolina, on the theme “Our nation has a date with destiny.…” He spends the afternoon canvassing for voters in Charleston and Mt. Pleasant before speaking at an evening rally at Emmanuel AME Church.
13 Apr	On the second day of his tour to South Carolina, King attends informal meetings in Manning, Ellerlee, and Roseville, and addresses students at Clafin College in Orangeburg. He ends the day speaking at a rally at Trinity Methodist Church, also in Orangeburg.
14 Apr	King officiates at funeral services for Hillman Hanley at Ebenezer. His article “Virginia’s Black Belt” is published in his New York Amsterdam News column.
15 Apr	At Ebenezer, King gives an opening prayer before Wyatt Tee Walker preaches the Palm Sunday sermon. He travels to Chicago to speak before the Chicago Sunday Evening Club. King’s address “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution” is televised on WTTW.
16 Apr	In Colorado for the Denver Area Council of Churches of Christ’s Holy Week services, King delivers “The Dimensions of a Complete Life” at First Baptist Church.
17 Apr	King tapes an interview on Max Goldberg’s “On the Spot” television program. He speaks again on behalf of the Denver Area Council of Churches, delivering “Love in Action” at Trinity Methodist Church. At Central Presbyterian Church, King holds an informal question and answer session followed by delivering “Loving Your Enemies” at Park Methodist Church.
18 Apr	In his third address for the Denver Area Council of Churches Holy Week services, King delivers “The Man Who Was a Fool” at Trinity Methodist Church, and in the evening he delivers “Remember Who You Are” at Augustana Lutheran Church.
19 Apr	King visits Denver’s New Hope Baptist Church.
22 Apr	King delivers “The Meaning of Easter” at Ebenezer.
23 Apr	King meets with Harry Wachtel in Atlanta.
27 Apr	King speaks at a SCLC fundraising event at Akron University’s Memorial Hall in Akron, Ohio.
28 Apr	King’s article “Nothing Changing Unless” is published in his column in the New York Amsterdam News.
29 Apr	In Princeton, New Jersey, King delivers “Remaining Awake Through a Revolution” at the Princeton University Chapel as part of the university’s Student Christian Association’s seventh Biennial Religious Conference. After the service, King lunches at the home of Carl D. Reimers, assistant dean of the Chapel.
30 Apr	At Irvine Auditorium in Philadelphia, King is honored along with Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson, CORE president James Farmer, and others at the President’s First Award Night of the Baptist Minister’s Conference of Philadelphia.
2 May	King speaks at Emory University in Atlanta before flying to Chicago to speak at SCLC’s benefit dinner starring Dick Gregory and Mahalia Jackson.
4 May	At Newark, New Jersey’s Mosque Theater, King addresses an audience of 2,500 as the keynote speaker at a rally sponsored by the city’s Baptist Ministers Conference and Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance of Newark and Vicinity.
6 May	King delivers “Lord, Is It I?” at Ebenezer’s morning service. He also preaches the evening sermon.
8 May	King flies to New York.
10 May	In New York, King meets with Stanley Levison and Clarence Jones. At Salem Methodist Church in New York City, King receives the Frederick A. Cullen Achievement Award from the church’s Young Adult Fellowship.
11 May	King travels to Nashville, where he addresses a mass meeting sponsored by the Nashville Christian Leadership Council at the Fisk University gymnasium.
12 May	King’s article “Unknown Heroes” is published in his column in the New York Amsterdam News.
15 May	King attends the SCLC’s board meeting in Chattanooga, Tennessee, at New Monumental Baptist Church. In the evening he addresses an audience of 1,200 at a mass meeting at Memorial Auditorium.
16 May	King attends the morning business sessions and the closing session of SCLC’s board meeting in Chattanooga.
17 May	At the Sheraton-Carlton Hotel in Washington, D.C., King addresses the founding meeting of the Gandhi Society for Human Rights, followed by a press conference. In the evening, he speaks at the Annual Dinner Conference of the Allied Real Estate Board on Long Island, New York.
18 May	In New York, King meets with SCLC supporter Ada Murray to accept her donation.
20 May	King’s interview with Paul Niven is broadcast on CBS-TV’s “Washington Conversation” program.
21 May	King addresses the United Packinghouse, Food and Allied Workers’ Thirteenth Constitutional International Convention at the Pick-Nicollet Hotel in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
22 May	King delivers the Call to Worship at Ebenezer’s 75th Diamond Jubilee Anniversary service.
23 May	At Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, King delivers “Towards Freedom” as part of the Dartmouth College Lecture Series. Afterward King visits the home of Professor Gene Lyons.
24 May	King gives a press conference before delivering “The Mission to the Social Frontier” at the national meeting of the American Baptist Convention in Philadelphia. Earlier in the week, King’s Ebenezer Baptist Church and Abernathy’s West Hunter Baptist Church became members of the predominately white organization. King dines with D. T. Niles.
26 May	The New York Amsterdam News publishes King’s article “Literacy Bill Dies” in his biweekly column.
27 May	King attends Ebenezer’s seventy-fifth anniversary celebration. Gardner C. Taylor is the guest preacher.
28 May	King arrives at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago in company with evangelist Billy Graham. Approximately a hundred people representing several organizations meet at the Jackson Park YMCA to hear King report on his work with SCLC and to plan a mass meeting to be held in Chicago in the fall. In the evening King speaks at Johnson Products Company’s annual banquet at the Sheraton-Blackstone Hotel.
29 May	King leaves Chicago and returns to Atlanta.
3 June	King delivers “The Perfect Faith” at the morning service at Ebenezer. Later in the day, King and Coretta Scott King host New York minister Thomas Kilgore, who preaches the evening sermon at Ebenezer.
5 June	In New York City, King receives a Better Race Relations Award and $500 from the Hotel and Club Employees Union Local 6.
6 June	King travels from New York to Atlanta with Harry Belafonte and others. They are denied service at the King’s Inn restaurant, and that afternoon they host a press conference calling for the restaurant to desegregate. Later that evening, King attends an SCLC benefit concert featuring Belafonte and Miriam Makeba at Atlanta’s Municipal Auditorium.
8 June	As part of SCLC’s People to People tour, King addresses a voter registration rally at Little Union Baptist Church in Shreveport, Louisiana.
9 June	King publishes “Can We Ever Repay Them?” in his weekly column in the New York Amsterdam News.
10 June	King preaches on “False Gods We Worship” at Ebenezer.
11 June	King meets with Stanley Levison in New York City. In the evening, he speaks to a crowd of 1,500 at a Freedom Rally sponsored by the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance at Memorial Auditorium in Gary, Indiana.
12 June	King speaks about the evils of war, economic injustice, and racial injustice at a public reception during the 93rd Annual Grand Communication of the Georgia Prince Hall Grand Lodge Free and Accepted Masons at St. Philip AME Church in Savannah, Georgia.
13 June	In the afternoon King meets in Atlanta with attendees of the Westminster Fellowship Leadership School of the University of Georgia’s Westminster House. At Antioch East Baptist Church, he speaks on the theme “Our Baptist Witness Through Stewardship in an Emerging Age of Freedom” at the Youth Rally for Freedom as part of the 58th Annual Session of the Atlanta Baptist District Sunday School and BTU Congress.
15 June	King speaks with the Washington Post regarding criticisms of the Gandhi Society for Human Rights before flying from Atlanta to Los Angeles. Upon his arrival at Los Angeles International Airport, King holds a press conference before flying to San Diego. Later that night, he speaks on “The Powers Greater Than Violence” at a meeting at San Diego’s Calvary Baptist Church.
16 June	In Los Angeles, King speaks in support of efforts to recall City Councilman Joe Hollingsworth at a breakfast held at McCarty Memorial Church. He dines with city leaders at the Statler-Hilton Hotel at a luncheon hosted by the Southern California-Nevada Council of Churches. In the evening, King speaks on “Powers Greater Than Violence” to a public meeting hosted by the American Friends Service Committee and WCLC at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Pasadena, California.
17 June	King preaches the morning sermon at Los Angeles’s Ward AME Church. His afternoon is packed with events at Tabernacle of Faith Baptist Church, Connor-Johnson Funeral Home, the Bovard Auditorium on the University of Southern California campus, and Zion Hill Baptist Church.
19 June	King flies from Los Angeles to Denver, where he makes a statement about the progress of desegregation.
20 June	At Denver’s New Hope Baptist Church, King speaks at an evening rally.
21 June	King flies to Atlanta.
23 June	King receives an honorary Doctor of Civil Laws degree during the commencement ceremony at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. Before the ceremony, King and other honorees attend a luncheon hosted by college president Reamer Kline. As part of King’s biweekly column, the New Amsterdam News publishes “New Harassment.”
24 June	King addresses the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Maryland at the organization’s semi-annual St. John’s Day Religious Service at the Masonic Temple in Baltimore.
26 June	King delivers “The Theology of Freedom” at a morning session of the 48th Annual Hampton Institute Ministers Conference in Hampton, Virginia.
27 June	Still at the Hampton Institute conference, King delivers “The Church in An Age of Revolution.”
28 June	In an afternoon session of the Hampton Institute’s conference, King delivers “Non-Violence and Social Change.” He then speaks at a fundraising rally at First Baptist Church in Newport News, Virginia.
29 June	King attends an informal board meeting of the Gandhi Society for Human Rights at the Dorset hotel in New York.
30 June	King speaks at the annual CORE conference at the Hampton House in Miami, Florida.
1 July	King preaches the morning worship service at Ebenezer.
5 July	King speaks at the Freedom Fund dinner held at Morehouse College during the fifty-third annual NAACP Convention.
7 July	The New York Amsterdam News publishes King’s article “The Wind of Change” in his column.
8 July	King preaches at Ebenezer.
10 July	Accompanied by their wives, King and Abernathy fly to Albany, Georgia, to appear in court for sentencing related to their 16 December arrest. Both men are sentenced to either pay a $178 fine or serve forty-five days in jail. They elect to fulfill the jail sentence and do a day-long fast.
11 July	King and Abernathy end their fast and remain in the Albany jail. They are visited by C. K. Steele, Andrew Young, and Henry Elkins.
12 July	In the early morning, Albany police chief Laurie Pritchett informs King and Abernathy that their fines had been paid by an “unidentified ‘tall, well-dressed Negro’” and requires them to leave the jail involuntarily. Following their release, they hold a press conference at Shiloh Baptist Church. Later that day, King, Abernathy, W. G. Anderson, and C. B. King meet with Pritchett to renew negotiations. At a mass meeting that night, King announces a potential agreement between the Albany Movement and city officials.
13 July	King and other Albany Movement leaders meet with Pritchett and Albany city manager Stephen Roos in the afternoon. At a mass meeting that evening King promises to stay in Albany until demands are met.
14 July	After speaking at an evening rally in Albany at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, King drives back to Atlanta with Abernathy, Walker, and Andrew Young. The New York Amsterdam News publishes King’s article “A Message from Jail,” which he wrote while detained in the Albany jail.
15 July	King preaches the morning service at Ebenezer. He later gives a press conference with Ralph Abernathy at West Hunter Baptist Church.
16 July	King returns to Albany and meets with local ministers in the afternoon to discuss a strategy for dealing with city officials and goes to Mitchell County Jail in Camilla, Georgia, to visit protesters arrested on 11 July. In the evening, he addresses mass meetings at Mt. Zion and Shiloh Baptist Churches.
17 July	King addresses two groups of teenaged volunteers in Albany.
18 July	King travels to Washington, D.C., and that night he reviews potential questions that may be asked during the National Press Club luncheon the next day.
19 July	King speaks at the National Press Club Luncheon. King, the first African American speaker in the Club’s history, discusses the merits of nonviolence and answers questions from the audience. He then travels to New York.
20 July	King cancels planned visits to New York and Hartford, Connecticut, to return to Albany, Georgia. In the evening, King announces plans to march on city hall to a mass meeting of 1,200 at Third Kiokee Baptist Church.
21 July	Judge J. Robert Elliott of the U.S. District Court of Columbus, Georgia, issues a temporary restraining order preventing King and other named activists from engaging in public protests in Albany. In the afternoon, King and others voluntarily receive the injunction at city hall before meeting privately with Police Chief Laurie Pritchett. Late that day, King holds an impromptu press conference and appears at a mass meeting at Shiloh Baptist Church.
22 July	At a press conference held in W. G. Anderson’s backyard, King speaks out against the recent restraining order prohibiting movement leaders from participating in demonstrations in the city. In the evening, King attends a rally at Mt. Zion Baptist Church before meeting with SNCC representatives in Slater King’s backyard to discuss his decision to obey the federal restraining order.
23 July	King, Abernathy, Walker, and Anderson meet with police chief Laurie Pritchett at city hall. In the evening King addresses a large rally at Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Albany, and announces that he had earlier called Burke Marshall to request an investigation into the treatment of jailed protesters and the beating of Slater King’s pregnant wife by policemen earlier in the day. He later travels to Atlanta.
24 July	King attends a morning hearing before Chief Judge Elbert Tuttle of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, challenging the temporary restraining order issued by Judge Elliott a few days earlier. Judge Tuttle vacates Elliott’s temporary restraining order against demonstrations in Albany, Georgia. King returns to Albany with Coretta Scott King, Anderson, Abernathy, and Charles Jones. The group proceeds directly to a meeting with police chief Laurie Pritchett at city hall. Following the meeting, King visits protesters in the Albany city jail and takes a brief respite at Elliot Funeral Home. That evening, King speaks at mass meetings at Mt. Zion and Shiloh Baptist Churches.
25 July	After violence erupted in Albany the previous night, King holds a press conference calling for a “Day of Penance” at Anderson’s home. King, Abernathy, Charles Jones, and others tour Harlem district bars and pool halls, urging nonviolence. Later that evening, he speaks at a mass meeting and urges marches to resume the following day.
26 July	King continues urging nonviolence in bars and pool halls in the Harlem District of Albany. He calls Albany mayor Asa Kelley to seek a meeting between city officials and Albany Movement leaders.
27 July	King, Abernathy, Anderson, Slater King, Reverend Benjamin Gay, and five female protesters appear outside city hall to request negotiations with the Albany City Commission and to pray. After several warnings, Chief Pritchett arrests them for disorderly conduct, congregating on the sidewalk, and disobeying a police officer. In the evening Lawrence Spivak, host of the television show Meet the Press, calls King collect to request that he post bond so that he can appear on the show on 29 July. King and Abernathy elect to remain in jail, while Anderson posts bond to appear on the show in King’s place.
27 July–10 Aug	King is in jail in Albany, Georgia.
28 July	Coretta Scott King and Wyatt Tee Walker visit King in jail. Pritchett informs King that C. B. King was assaulted by Dougherty County sheriff D. C. Campbell. King tells Walker to contact the Justice Department.
30 July	King attends the first session of a hearing in federal district court before Judge Elliott on whether to dismiss the City of Albany’s temporary injunction barring further protests. He gives a brief press conference, telling the press he will abide by the injunction but appeal it. King goes back to his jail cell.
31 July	King appears at the continued federal court hearing before Judge Elliott. Later he is visited by Congressman William Fitts Ryan (D-NY); his father, Martin Luther King, Sr.; and J. A. Middleton, president of the Atlanta chapter of SCLC.
1 Aug	For a second time, Daddy King and Middleton visit King, Jr., in jail.
2 Aug	Dora McDonald, King’s secretary, visits him in Albany jail. King issues a statement from his jail cell praising President Kennedy’s support for a resolution in Albany.
3 Aug	During a break in the hearing before Judge Elliott, King speaks with a reporter about the segregationist opposition in Albany and the importance of the Albany Movement.
4 Aug	In this week’s column, the New York Amsterdam News publishes “Hall of Famer,” King’s tribute to Jackie Robinson.
5 Aug	Coretta Scott King brings Yolanda, Martin III, and Dexter to visit King in the jail. New York Times Magazine publishes King’s “The Case Against Tokenism.”
6 Aug	In the morning, Coretta Scott King visits King in jail. King spends the rest of the day answering letters, reading, and writing.
7 Aug	King attends the continued federal court hearing before Judge Elliott.
8 Aug	King testifies during the closing session of the federal hearing before Judge Elliott. Anderson treats King in his jail cell for exhaustion.
10 Aug	King testifies on his own behalf in Recorder’s Court in Albany before Judge A. N. Durden on charges stemming from his 27 July arrest. King and Abernathy are found guilty and given suspended sentences of sixty days in jail and $200 fines. King is released from jail and later announces at a news conference that he will travel to Atlanta for weekend church obligations, but return to Albany the following week.
11 Aug	Before returning to Atlanta, King criticizes the Albany City Commission’s decision to decline to meet with Albany Movement representatives.
12 Aug	King preaches on “God in Albany” at morning services at Ebenezer.
13 Aug	Upon his return to Albany, King speaks at a mass meeting at Mt. Zion where he vows to stay in Albany until it is integrated. “Why Non-Violence Will Win in Albany,” the first installment in a three-article series by King, appears in the Chicago Daily Defender.
14 Aug	In Albany, King speaks to a session of voter registration canvassers and tells the press of plans to integrate Albany’s junior high and high schools. King’s article “New Negro Battling for Rights in Albany” appears in the Chicago Daily Defender.
15 Aug	In the morning, King travels to Lee County, Georgia, to lead a prayer meeting and view the destruction caused by the fire-bombing of Shady Grove Baptist Church. In the evening he returns to the ruins of the church to lead a prayer meeting before traveling back to Albany to speak at a mass meeting at Shiloh Baptist Church. The Chicago Daily Defender publishes King’s article “U.S. Help Needed in Rights Fight.”
16 Aug	King returns to Atlanta.
18 Aug	King’s article “Why It’s Albany” appears in the New York Amsterdam News.
19 Aug	At Ebenezer, King delivers “Love Your Enemies.”
23 Aug	Jet publishes King’s diary from his second stint in jail from 27 July through 10 August.
24 Aug	King delivers the eulogy for jazz organist Cleveland Lyons at Ebenezer.
27 Aug	King returns to Albany to coordinate a march of clergy and speaks at a mass meeting at Shiloh Baptist Church in the evening.
28 Aug	King addresses a group of clergy in an Albany church shortly before they march to city hall to stage a mass prayer meeting. Following the arrest of seventy-five of the clergy during the demonstration, King holds a press conference. In the evening King speaks at a rally at Third Kiokee Baptist Church, then returns to Atlanta.
30 Aug	King visits clergy in jail in Albany.

Author(s)

Clayborne Carson

Tenisha Armstrong, eds.

Publisher

University of California Press

Publication Date

2014

The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. Volume VII

Introduction

Contents

Chronology

1961

1962

King Papers

Resources

The Institute

The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. Volume VII

Introduction

Contents

Chronology

1961

1962

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