May marks the anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka which outlawed segregation in education, overturned the "separate but equal" decision established in Plessy v. Ferguson, and provided a spark to ignite the civil rights movement. To read more about the decision and its impact, click on the links below.

To read about the court decision.
Thurgood Marshall argued the case before the Supreme Court.
The most noteworthy test of the Court's ruling came in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957.

This month we'd like to hightlight a few signifiicant events that occured in February. Please use the links below to read more about:
Browder v. Gayle The case that ended the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
King travels to India, 1959 King travels to the land of Gandhi and massive nonviolent resistance.
Student Sit-ins in Greensboro, N.C., 1960 Students demand service at lunchcounters sparking a nationwide movement.

December marks anniversaries of both the foundation of the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) and the successful conclusion of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Begun in December 1955, the year-long campaign resulted in the desegregation of the city bus system of Montgomery, Alabama, provided one of the most memorable examples of direct action demonstrations in the history of the United States, and vaulted Dr. King into the national spotlight as the leader of the civil rights movement.

Check out some of the major highlights of the boycott:

Leaflet, "Don't Ride The Bus".
Listen to Dr. King's Address to the First MIA Mass Meeting.
Read the "Integrated Bus Suggestions" distributed by the MIA following the integreation of city buses.

Click here to read more.

King announces his support for the Thanksgiving Fast for Freedom, a youth movement in which students abstain from one meal the Thursday before Thanksgiving and donate the money to feeding families in the Mississippi Delta region.

In honor of Rev. Shuttlesworth's passing, please find additional information about his life here.

On 28 August 1963, more than 200,000 demonstrators took part in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in the nation’s capital. During this event, Martin Luther King delivered his memorable ‘‘I Have a Dream’’ speech. Click on the links below for more information on King's speech and the March on Washington event.
I Have a Dream
March on Washington

During the summer after his sophomore year at Morehouse, King wrote this letter to the editor of Atlanta's largest newspaper. Although King does not make clear his reasons for writing, it was likely in response to recent racially motivated murders. In the letter, King is critical of those who attempt to "obscure the real question of rights and opportunities." Years later, King, Sr., observed that he and his wife had "no intimation of [King, Jr.'s] developing greatness . . . until as a teenager he wrote a letter to the editor of a local paper which received widespread and favorable comment."

King encourages the Lincoln Unversity class of 1961 to fulfill the whole American Dream by engaging in non-violent direct action, and calls on the graduates to not be "detached spectators, but involved participants, in this great drama that is taking place in our nation and around the world." For full text of the speech, click here.

John Seigenthaler, aide to Robert F. Kennedy during the 1960 Presidential campaign and Administrative Assistant to the Attorney General, Department of Justice (1961), joined the Freedom Riders in Brimingham; and was attacked and hospitalized along with fellows SNCC riders in Montgomery, Alabama. Fifty years later, Seigenthaler recalls his experience and passes down the legacy of the Freedom Rides to his young grandchild. "Race still matters," he concludes. Click here to watch the PBS clip

As the Freedom Riders caught the nation's attention, SCLC, CORE, SNCC, and other civil rights organizations came together to form the Freedom Ride Coordinating Committee to provide planning for and enhanced execution of the Freedom Ride movement.
Click here to see the report of the meeting

George Houser, staff member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) and founding member of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), talks about his involvement in the 1947 Journey for Reconciliation and how it served as a model for the later Freedom Ride movement.

Former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour thanked Freedom Riders for their courage and sacrifices in welcoming the Freedom Riders back to the state. As they did fifty years ago, the Riders than traveled by bus to Jackson, Mississippi, this time for the dedication of a Mississippi Freedom Trail sign outside the house of Medgar Evers.

On the heels of attacks on Freedom Riders at the city's bus station and the beseiging of First Baptist Church in Montgomery, Edward King, executive secretary of SNCC, wires President Kennedy urging he publically denounce the actions of the anti-integrationists. Click here to see the telegram.

In an op-ed piece written for the New York Times, Bernard LaFayette, Jr. describes the events that took place fifty years ago on the Freedom Ride from Birmingham to Montgomery.

In an interview that took place in 1966, John Seigenthaler of the Department of Justice, recounts his experience in Alabama during the Freedom Rides.

Ten members of SNCC continued the Freedom Rides, leaving Nashville for Birmingham on May 17, 1961.

Just days after the violence of Anniston and Birmingham, Dr. King speaks to an overflowing crowd in North Carolina, calling continued direct mass action in Alabama and Mississippi.

Charles Anthony Person, a student from Morehouse College and veteran of the Atlanta sit-ins, volunteered to join the Freedom Rides after receiving a letter from CORE in April 1961. The following document is his statement given to FBI agents after the Freedom Riders were attacked and beaten in Birmingham, Ala.

As we commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Freedom Rides in the month of May, and leading up to the major events of the Rides, each day this week we will profile a different Freedom Rider.
Original, partial list of Freedom Riders, sent to President Kennedy by James Farmer, 26 April 1961
James Farmer
Genevieve Hughes Houghton
Benjamin Elton Cox
Mae Francis Moultrie
Jim Zwerg
James Peck

As we commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Freedom Rides in the month of May, and leading up to the major events of the Rides, each day this week we will profile a different Freedom Rider.
Original, partial list of Freedom Riders, sent to President Kennedy by James Farmer, 26 April 1961
James Farmer
Genevieve Hughes Houghton
Benjamin Elton Cox
Mae Francis Moultrie
Jim Zwerg

As we commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Freedom Rides in the month of May, and leading up to the major events of the Rides, each day this week we will profile a different Freedom Rider.
Original, partial list of Freedom Riders, sent to President Kennedy by James Farmer, 26 April 1961
James Farmer
Genevieve Hughes Houghton
Benjamin Elton Cox
Mae Francis Moultrie

As we commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Freedom Rides in the month of May, and leading up to the major events of the Rides, each day this week we will profile a different Freedom Rider.
Original, partial list of Freedom Riders, sent to President Kennedy by James Farmer, 26 April 1961
James Farmer
Genevieve Hughes Houghton
Benjamin Elton Cox

As we commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Freedom Rides in the month of May, and leading up to the major events of the Rides, each day this week we will profile a different Freedom Rider.
Original, partial list of Freedom Riders, sent to President Kennedy by James Farmer, 26 April 1961
James Farmer
Genevieve Hughes Houghton

As we commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Freedom Rides in the month of May, and leading up to the major events of the Rides, each day this week we will profile a different Freedom Rider.
Original, partial list of Freedom Riders, sent to President Kennedy by James Farmer, 26 April 1961
James Farmer

On 4 May 1961, a group of freedom riders, under the direction of CORE national director James Farmer, left Washington, D. C. enroute to New Orleans, Louisiana. Click here for pictures

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Rides of 1961. Following the Supreme Court ruling in Boynton v. Virginia (1960), declaring segregation in interstate travel facilities unconstitutional, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) began recruiting volunteers to participate in the Freedom Rides. The group of thirteen freedom riders, seven black and six white, would board a Greyhouse bus on 4 May in Washington, D.C. headed toward New Orleans, where they hoped to arrive on 17 May to celebrate the seventh anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. Read more

On 3 April 1968, Martin Luther King spoke before a group of striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, saying: “We’ve got to give ourselves to this struggle until the end. Nothing would be more tragic than to stop at this point in Memphis. We’ve got to see it through.” The stike, brought on by the deaths of two sanitation workers in February, was marked by uncooperative city officials, violent confrontations between police and demonstrators, and finally the presence of the National Guard.

To learn more about Dr. King's final speech and Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike use the following links.
Memphis Sanitation Workers' Strike
I've Been to the Mountain Top
Speech, I've Been to the Mountain Top

In his sermon delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church on Easter Sunday, King frames Christ's obedient sacrifice on the cross as the ultimate symbol of hope. King argues: "We’ve been buried in numerous graves—the grave of economic insecurity, the grave of exploitation, the grave of oppression. We’ve watched justice trampled over and truth crucified. But I’m here to tell you this morning, Easter reminds us that it won’t be like that all the way. It reminds us that God has a light that can shine amid all of the darkness.” Although King's sermon was tailored to the tribulations of the Freedom Struggle in 1959, the lesson still bears repeating.

While February seems to be identified by the romantic love of Valentine's Day, we take a moment this month to present you with Dr. King's reminder that there are more types of love than simply romantic love. For King, the highest form of love, and the level of love we should all strive to reach is agape, an all-inclusive love stemming from God's love that transcends physical characteristics. So this Valentine's Day, keep fresh in your mind Dr. King's prayer that you "love every man, not for your sake but for his sake. And you love every man because God loves him."

"Levels of Love," King's Sermon at Ebenzer Baptist Church
Agape Encyclopedia entry
King explains the use of agape to change the hearts of those who oppose you

On 1 February 1960, four black students in Greensboro, N.C. sat down at a segregated lunch counter. Their actions demonstrated the vitality of student direct protest, a key ingredient in later civil rights campaigns. To learn more about the sit-ins and their impact, make sure to view these resources below!
Encyclopedia entry
King's February speech to the students
Volume Introduction covering the sit-ins

Gandhi and his philosophy were of special interest to the progressive African American community, including Howard Thurman, Benjamin E. Mays, William Stuart Nelson, Mordecai Johnson and King.

List of Events and Opportunities to celebrate the Martin Luther King, Jr., Holiday 2011.

On 10 December 1964 Dr. King became the second African-American to win the Nobel Peace Prize when it was awarded to him for his leadership in the civil rights struggle in the United States. Deflecting the spotlight away from himself personally, King states in his acceptance speech that he receives the award "on behalf of all men who love peace and brotherhood," and as recognition of the countless others engaged in freedom struggles around the world. Click on the links below for more information about King's Nobel Peace Prize.

Acceptance Speech at Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony
Nobel Peace Prize Encyclopedia Entry
Congratulatory Telegram from Edward Kennedy
Video of King receiving the award, courtesy of the King Center in Atlanta

October marks the time of year where cultures around the world honor their dead. In keeping with this tradition, this month's In the Movement document features King's eulogy of three children—Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, and Cynthia Diane Wesley—killed in the bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, September 1963. In this moving acclamation King proclaims, "These children—unoffending, innocent, and beautiful—were the victims of one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetrated against humanity."

Click on the link to listen or read more.

Fifty-two years ago this month Dr. King published his first book, Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story, his memoir of the struggle in Montgomery, Alabama. While aiming to clearly explain the motives behind the boycott and his leadership, King also outlines the ideological influences which led him to his philosophy of nonviolence. Click on the links below for more information and to read an excerpt of his book.

Stride Toward Freedom Encyclopedia Entry
An excerpt from chapter six, "My Pilgrimage to Nonviolence"
More on the writing of Stride Toward Freedom

Twenty-eight August marks the forty-seventh anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington, when more than 200,000 demonstrators marched to the Lincoln Memorial and heard Dr. King deliver his now historic “I Have a Dream” speech. Check out the links below for more information and to hear Dr. King deliver a portion of the speech.

March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom Announcement
"I Have A Dream," Speech Encyclopedia Entry
"I Have A Dream," Speech Audio

On 18 June 1953, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Coretta Scott were married, after meeting each other in early 1952. For more on the courtship, make sure to check out the resources below!

Coretta Scott King Encyclopedia Entry
Letter to Coretta Scott, 18 July 1952
Background on the courtship (pp. 12-14, 16, 19)

On 17 May 1957, around 25,000 demonstrators convened at Washington D.C. for The Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom, urging the federal government to act on the then-three year old Brown decision. King, who gave the last speech of the event, delivered a performance that cemented his new national stature. For more, click on the links below and the following sidebars!

Prayer Pilgrimage Encyclopedia Entry
"Give Us The Ballot," King's speech
More background on the Prayer Pilgrimage

This month marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), a student organization which played a vital role in the civil rights struggle. To learn more about SNCC, click on the links below and the documents in their sidebars!
SNCC Encyclopedia Entry
King's press conference held on 15 April 1960
More background on King and SNCC's founding

In March 1957, King was one of several African American delegates to visit the independence celebrations of the new nation of Ghana. His visit was symbolic of both his growing stature and the worldwide aspects of the growing civil rights movement. For more on King's Ghana trip, see these resources below!

Ghana Trip Encyclopedia Entry
Birth of a New Nation, King's sermon on the event
More Background on the Trip