The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Volume I: Called to Serve, January 1929-June 1951

THE PAPERS OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

Sponsored by

The Martin Luther King, Jr.,

Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Inc.,

in association with Stanford University and Emory University

THE PAPERS OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

VOLUME i:

Called to Serve January 1929—June /95/

Senior Editor Clayborne Carson

Volume Editors

Ralph E. Luker Penny A. Russell

Advisory Editor Louis R. Harlan

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS

Berkeley Los Angeles London

University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California

University of California Press, Ltd.

London, England

Writings of Martin Luther King, Jr., ©copyright 1992 by the Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr. Introduction, editorial footnotes, and apparatus ©copyright 1992 by the Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers Project, ©copyright 1992 by the Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address queries as appropriate to:

Reproduction in print or recordings of the works of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: the Estate of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in Atlanta, Georgia.

All other queries: Rights Department, University of California Press, 2120 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California, 94720.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968.

[Papers]

The papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. / senior editor, Clayborne Carson: volume editors, Ralph E. Luker, Penny A. Russell: advisory editor, Louis R. Harlan.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents: v. 1. Called to serve. January 1929-June 1951.

ISBN 0-520-07950-7 (cloth: alk. paper)

1. Afro-Americans—Civil rights. 2. Civil rights movements— United States—History—20th century. 3. King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968—Archives. 4. United States—Race relations. I. Carson, Clayborne, 1944-.II. Luker, Ralph. III. Russell, Penny A.

IV. Title.

Ei 85.97. K5A2 1992

323-092—dc2o 91—42336

CIP

22 21 20 19 18 9876543

Printed in the United States of America

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences— Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI

239-48-1984-®

My call to the ministry … came about in the summer of 1944 when I felt an inescapable urge to serve society. In short, I felt a sense of responsibility which I could not escape.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. February 1948

Publication of this volume was made possible by the financial and material support of the following major contributors:

National Endowment for the Humanities National Historical Publications and Records Commission James Irvine Foundation Ford Foundation Rockefeller Foundation Stanford University Emory University IBM Corporation Intel Corporation The Stanford University Associates of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers Project

ADVISORY BOARD

Coretta Scott King Christine King Farris Lerone Bennett, Jr.

Ira Berlin John W. Blassingame Samuel DuBois Cook John Hope Franklin David J. Garrow Robert L. Green Vincent Harding Louis R. Harlan Robert A. Hill Darlene Clark Hine Bernard Lafayette John Maguire

Otis Moss Joseph Roberts, Jr. Harry H. Wachtel Preston N. Williams Harris Wofford Andrew J. Young

The publishers acknowledge gratefully the many individuals and foundations that have contributed to the publication of the Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Our special thanks to Marilyn Solomon, chair, and Maxine Griggs, co-chair, the Friends of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers Project; and to Franklin Murphy, Joan Palevsky, and Mary Jane Hewitt for their support.

Leadership Grants The Times Mirror Foundation The Ahmanson Foundation AT&T Foundation

Sponsors Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Avant BankAmerica Foundation Earl and June Cheit Fleishhacker Foundation Koret Foundation August and Susan Fruge Joseph and Deborah Goldyne Mr. and Mrs. Richard Heggie Sally Lilienthal Max Palevsky Joan Palevsky

TABLE OF CONTE 1

TABLE OF CONTE 1

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

EDITORIAL PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES

I

CALENDAR OF DOCUMENTS

INDEX

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Like the social movements that made possible King’s historic achievements, the Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers Project has relied on the cooperation and good will of many people and institutions. As director of the King Papers Project, I have had the pleasure of participating in a collective effort with people who still believe in King’s dream. Realizing the enormity of the task of assembling, annotating, and publishing King’s most significant papers, my primary task has been to enlist the support of talented people and to secure the resources they require. Preparation of the initial two volumes of King’s papers has brought together an exceptional group of researchers who have received vital assistance from enlightened and generous financial supporters, document donors, and advisors. As in all collective endeavors, the King Project has experienced conflicts and setbacks, but commitment has ultimately triumphed. The following acknowledgments constitute a kind of narrative of a small-scale social movement.

Institutional Support

After becoming director of the King Project in 1985,1 came to appreciate the uniqueness of its initiator and sponsor, the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Inc. The Project is an outgrowth of the King Center’s long-term effort to preserve King’s legacy by assembling the nation’s largest archive focused on the modern African-American freedom struggle. King Center officials played a crucial role in initiating and facilitating the Project’s activities.

In particular, the Project reflects the vision of the person who selected me as director. As the King Center’s founding president and chief executive officer and as executrix of the King estate Mrs. Coretta Scott King has been an essential starting point for the Project’s effort to assemble and publish this comprehensive edition of her late husband’s writings and public statements. She made available to the project valuable documents that had remained in her personal possession. Meeting with me and other editors on numerous occasions, Mrs. King spent many hours discussing Project matters. Even on those few occasions when we disagreed over some issues, she was always gracious and open to my views. She also inspired student researchers and staff members during her visits to the Project’s offices at Stanford University and Emory University.

Mrs. King also enhanced the Project by selecting an editorial Advisory Board that includes a remarkable group of distinguished scholars and former associates of Dr. King. I quickly discovered that many members of the Board not only contributed to the Project’s prestige but also to its work. Chaired by Mrs. King, the Board has met three times to discuss the Project’s progress, and individual members often talked with me informally on other occasions. In addition to Mrs. King and Mrs. Christine King Farris, members include Louis R. Harlan, who generously agreed to serve as the advisory editor for the initial two volumes. His singular knowledge of documentary editing, the result of his highly regarded edition of Booker T. Washington’s papers, enabled us to learn from his experience and avoid many mistakes. Dr. Harlan consulted with us on numerous occasions and his critical advice has greatly improved this edition. John Hope Franklin contributed the kind of wise advice regarding scholarly and non-scholarly matters that can only result from a long and distinguished career. I have fond memories of our long discussions at his home about difficult and sensitive issues relating to these volumes. Vincent Harding’s friendship and understanding similarly enabled the Project to confront the issues that have emerged during the past six years. David Garrow made an extraordinary contribution to our work by sharing his research finds and by carefully reading early manuscript drafts. We also consulted on several occasions with Robert A. Hill, editor of Marcus Garvey’s papers, and learned valuable lessons from him about the use of computers in the preparation of a documentary edition. On many occasions, other Advisory Board members, including Lerone Bennett, Jr., Ira Berlin, Robert L. Green, Darlene Clark Hine, Bernard Lafayette, John Maguire, Otis Moss, Joseph Roberts, Jr., Harry H. Wachtel, Preston N. Williams, Harris Wofford, and Andrew Young, have unselfishly provided advice, encouragement, and research leads.

King Center vice president and treasurer Christine King Farris was also a valued participant in Advisory Board meetings and worked closely with me and other staff members. As the King Center’s financial administrator, she devoted many hours to the Project’s needs. In addition, she allowed us to photocopy her personal collection of documents about her brother’s early life and family background. I am especially grateful for her permission to publish many photographs from her collection. The Farris collection and Mrs. Farris’s many suggestions for research have been particularly useful in preparing the initial volumes of this documentary edition.

Many other King Center officials have contributed their time to the project. These include the King Center’s interim chief operating officer, Dr. Cleveland Dennard, whose wise words of advice were particularly helpful during the fall of 1990. His predecessor, William H. (Chip) Wheeler, also devoted many hours to the Project’s work. Other King Center personnel who have assisted the Project included Delores Harmon, Mrs. King’s assistant; Barbara Harrison, Mrs. Farris’s assistant; Isaac Clark in the business office; Lloyd Davis of the King holiday commission; and Diane Ware of the King Library and Archives.

After Mrs. King selected me as director of the Project, I successfully sought support from Stanford University in order to establish a King Project office on my campus. Provost James Rosse’s consistent support was crucial as the Stanford office grew from a few researchers gathered around my history department desk to a substantial research center housed in a wing of offices in Cypress Hall. He remained steadfast in his support even during periods when I was doubtful about the Project’s future, and during the recent period of financial retrenchment at Stanford. President Donald Kennedy also became a valued supporter for the project after meeting with Mrs. King in 1985 to formalize the institutional ties. Michael Jackson, then assistant to the president, used his position effectively and tactfully to further the interests of the Project. He listened patiently as I explained needs and complained about problems, and then translated my wishes into proposals that could be acted upon by Stanford administrators. Many other Stanford officials assisted the Project in various ways, including the vice-provost and dean of Graduate Studies, Elizabeth Traugott, whose support and guidance has been most helpful.

Other Stanford officials who have worked closely with the Project include history department administrator Nan Bentley; Associate Dean Cecilia Bur- ciaga; Pat Cook in the Human Resources department; Phyllis Perreault, vice president for Planning and Management; Susan Perry, former chief librarian at Meyer Library; and history department chairs Peter Stansky, Paul Robinson, James Sheehan, and David M. Kennedy. Iris Brest provided useful legal advice. Eileen Walsh and Kathleen O’Toole of the Stanford News Service helped us cope with numerous press inquiries during the fall of 1990. Other Stanford administrators who have helped the Project include Andrew Lisac and Andrea Parra of the Office of Graduate Studies, Alicia Restrepo in the department of facilities management, and Loraine Sinclair, history department graduate secretary.

The development of the Project’s state-of-the-art document and bibliographic databases benefited greatly from the advice and assistance of various computer professionals at Stanford, particularly Malcolm Brown, Sandy Laws, Jeff Mapes, Randy Melen, Becky Morton, Tony Navarette, Lynn Sinclair, and Jeffrey Rensch. Robert Street provided funds to help set up the Project’s computer database. The financial assistance of David Weber and the technical expertise of LaVonne Gallow of the Research Libraries Group allowed us to install a vital national computer database. On numerous occasions, the Project received help from staff members of the Stanford University Libraries, including Kathy Fehrn, Jim Knox, Sonia Moss, and Michael Ryan.

I am also thankful for the advice and support of members of our Stanford Faculty Advisory Committee. Since the early days of the King Project, I have depended upon the wise and supportive counsel of William Gould of the Law School. Professors Barton Bernstein of the history department, Sandra Drake of the English department, and David Tyack of the School of Education remain strong and knowledgeable advisors and advocates of the project. Their critical readings of manuscripts were particularly useful.

In 1987 the University of California Press became another vital element in the King Projects institutional foundation. Mrs. King and I agreed that the Press was the best of the large number of publishers who bid for the right to publish the King Papers. I have never regretted that decision. The Press has aided our work in numerous ways that extend beyond the normal obligations of a publisher. We admire their patience and appreciate their solid backing of the Project. Director James Clark and assistant director Lynne Withey have been involved in all of the many discussions regarding complex contractual and editorial issues. Jeanne Sugiyama’s editorial advice has been offered with sensitive regard for our sometimes fragile egos. We have been fortunate to have worked with other members of the Press’s talented staff, including Ann Canright, Chet Grycz, Jane-Ellen Long, Mary Renaud, and Steve Renick.

Establishment of the Emory University office of the King Papers resulted from discussions initiated by Coretta Scott King with president James T. Laney. Provost Billy E. Frye, former associate provost Sheila Bennett, and Marcy Alexander of the provost’s office played key roles in the office’s creation. Dean George Jones of the Graduate School is in large measure responsible for its continued support and Thomas Stitt of the Graduate School office provided valuable administrative assistance. The support of the Emory Faculty Advisory Committee, including Delores Aldridge, Dan Carter, Robert Franklin, Richard Joseph, Robin Kelley, Richard Long, and Thee Smith, has also been crucial.

Financial Supporters

The King Project has been fortunate to have received long-term financial support from several institutions. The Project’s first grant came from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), an agency that still funds the Project. Roger Bruns gave special attention to the Project’s needs during his term as NHPRC director, making clear to me that his concern extended beyond his professional responsibilities. Similarly, the former NHPRC acting director, Mary Giunta, has also been a constant source of support, encouragement, and advice during the entire life of the Project. Roger’s and Mary’s wise counsel was particularly vital during the Project’s difficult first year. We are also grateful for the research assistance of the NHPRC’s Sara Dunlap Jackson.

The National Endowment for the Humanities has been a vitally important source of funding since 1986. Our initial program officer, David Nichols, and his replacement, Douglas M. Arnold, have devoted considerable attention to the Project. Margot Backas and Kathy Fuller have also offered supportive, unobtrusive advice.

A grant from the Irvine Foundation enabled the Stanford office to involve gifted and dedicated student interns from Stanford and other universities in the King Project’s research. Irvine Foundation President Dennis Collins has understood the special value of the Project as a training ground for students of color interested in pursuing scholarly careers as a result of their work in the Project.

Private donors are another valuable source of funding for the Project. Among the contributors during the first five years of the Project were Diane and James Geocaris, Penny Brooke Jameson, and James and Janice Rosse. Other individuals have assisted the King Project’s fund-raising efforts. A group of Stanford alumni and alumnae formed the Associates of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers Project in order to assist the Project in many ways, including the raising of funds. Ira D. Hall, Jr., chaired this informal group, which includes Michon Fulgham, Diane F. Geocaris, Ronald E. Goldsberry, L. Tyrone Holt, Lydia Kennard, and Beverly P. Ryder. Henry Organ, then of Stanford’s Office of Development, gave helpful fund-raising advice during the early days of the project and has remained a consistent supporter. Evelyn Kelsey and Carolyn Barnes of Stanford’s Office of Development worked for several years on the project’s behalf. Other supporters include Ron McPherson , Ben Bowser, Ellious Dunson, and Betty Dunson of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Association of Santa Clara Valley.

Staff Members

During her tenure as director of the King Library and Archives, D. Louise Cook played a crucial role in initiating the King Project. During 1984, Ms. Cook wrote the Project’s initial funding proposals, outlining its objectives and overall plan. From 1985 until the fall of 1987, when she left to take a position at the Carter Library, Ms. Cook served as the Project’s managing editor, drafting grant applications and administering the Project’s activities at the King Center. She also contributed her unparalleled knowledge of the King Archive’s vast collection of civil rights materials, a collection that she helped build.

The contributions of volume editors Ralph Luker and Penny Russell permeate this entire volume. Ralph played a particularly important role in preparing the section of the introductory essay concerning A. D. Williams and Martin Luther King, Sr. His own research and that of students working with him have greatly increased our understanding of the religious roots of King, Jr. Moreover, he and his staff at Emory University conducted extensive research in the Atlanta area and wrote initial drafts of many of the document annotations and headnotes.

Penny Russell focused her attention on the document section of the first two volumes, guiding the transcription of documents and the writing of head- notes and footnotes. As the initial staff member in 1985, she acquired an unsurpassed understanding of the entire universe of documents acquired by the King Project. She was the axle around which the project revolved. She benefited from the help of Peter Holloran, who joined the project in 1985 as a Stanford sophomore and became so essential that we hired him after his graduation. Since Penny left the Project in June 1990, he has, as contributing editor, ably guided the first two volumes through the publication process.

Associate editor Stewart Burns made numerous contributions to the Project’s work on the first two volumes, although Volume III has been the primary focus of his work.

The Stanford office could not have survived without the dedication and talent of the many individuals who have worked in it. Even before the office had a budget capable of paying for her services, Rachel Bagby volunteered to help. She served capably as the King Project’s associate director for four years, handling personnel and financial matters. Her varied skills, which extend from lawyering to medicinal singing to financial management, proved essential as the Project grew.

Susan Carson volunteered to assist the King Project when it became obvious that we needed help in organizing the vast number of documents. Becoming the Project’s librarian and archivist in 1988, she designed our computerized database and has trained and supervised the student researchers who have entered thousands of records. From 1989 to 1991, she was assisted on a full-time basis by Megan Maxwell, another of the multi-talented former Stanford students who have stayed with the project after graduation as paid staff members.

Margaret Jacobs was the Project’s first office worker at a time when staff responsibilities were delimited vaguely. She was followed by Madeline Larsen and Karl B. Knapper, both of whom helped to establish bureaucratic order where little had existed before. Norma Pugh, an executive on loan from IBM Corporation, assisted in the Project’s financial administration during the 1990—91 academic year. Others who have served ably include research coordinators Joy Asfeld, David Howard-Pitney, Faye McNair-Knox, and Joyce McNair.

In addition to the editors listed on the title pages, several scholars contributed to the Project during their abbreviated terms. From 1988 to 1990, Dr. A. B. Assensoh served the King Project in several capacities, first as assistant editor assigned to the Stanford office and then as both associate editor and director of research at the King Center. Dr. Lillian Ashcraft-Eason served as the project’s assistant editor at the King Center from 1986 to 1987, and Dr. Charles T. Banner-Haley served in the same capacity from 1988 to 1989.

Student Researchers: Stanford Office

The Project depends on the skills and resources of the many undergraduate and graduate students whose hard work and enthusiasm are vital to our ongoing research. Working under the direction of the editors and other staff members, students have made important contributions to the King Project’s work. Stanford graduate students who have been active in the King Project include: Vincent Gilliam, Konrad Hamilton, Leslie Harris, Tom Jackson, Lorna Meyer, Karen Parker, James Tracy, and Katherine Weinert.

Undergraduates included Doug Abrams, Dan Aladjem, Arian Ardie, Chip Bartlett, Holly Bartling, Meltin Bell, Diane Bisgeier, Hal Black, Lesley Bonnet, Sheila Cain, Rudy Carrasco, Antoinette Carter, Darlene Carter, Noam Christopher, Greg Crossfield, Alexandra d’Arbeloff, Andrew Efron, Demetrius Eudell, Lyn Fairchild, Jeff Follett, Carolyn Frazier, Jennifer Freuden- berg, Kathryne Gambrell, Claudine Gay, Jay Gilbert, Alan Glenn, Jamie Green, Christina Halvorson, Jeff Harkavy, Andrea Harper, Venessa Herlon, Elizabeth Hunter, Canetta Ivy, Louis Jackson, Mark L. Jeter, Bradley Joon- deph, Anthony Katz, David Kazanjian, Amanda Kemp, Katherine Kohner, Michelle Latvala, Janet Lewis, Sheryl Loving, Janet Mercer, Sharon Metzger, Tanya Murphy, Alex Niles, Stephen Ostrander, Andrew Patzman, Brian Per- rone, Julie Plaut, Tonya Rhodes, Michelle Robinson, Nathaniel Sheidley, Jason Snipes, Jon Sterns, Cheryl Taylor, David Troutt, Christopher Walcott, Lorna Weissinger, and Andrew Wilcox.

The Project has also benefited from the participation of a number of students from other universities and colleges who worked at our Stanford offices under a program funded by the Irvine Foundation. These graduate and undergraduate students include Yvette M. Alex (Ohio State University), Alicia L. Alexander (Howard University), Britt Anderson (University of Pennsylvania), Elizabeth Baez (Williams College), David M. Carson (Howard University), Margo Crawford (Swarthmore College), Allison Dorsey (University of California, Irvine), Loree D. L. Jones (Spelman College), Tony Miles (University of California, Los Angeles), Michele Mitchell (Northwestern University), Mikal Muharrar (Yale University), Pamela Nadasen (Columbia University), Dean

Robinson (Yale University), Jaymes Terry (University of Oregon), and Michael Warren (Yale University).

Student Researchers: King Center and Emory Offices

The work of the editors in Atlanta also depended on the valued assistance of students from Emory, other Atlanta-area students, and King Center interns. Emory graduate students Gilbert Bond, Jonathan Byrd, and Edward Munn were particularly vital members of the Project’s staff. Dorothy Carr and Vanita Maynard served as research assistants at the Project’s King Center office. Among the other students who contributed were Douglass P. Aucoin, Jessie Audette, David Berry, Josephine Bradley, Bruce A. Calhoun, Margaret Calhoun, Mary K. Clements, Michele Combs, Kenneth J. Cribbs, Masharn Doans, Alisa Anne Duffey, Linda Friedrich, Carmen Gillespie, Jeffrey Goodis, David Harmon, Phyllis Lea Heaton, Danny Horne, Luther Ivory, Jacqueline Jones, Richard Lee, Michael McMullen, Glenda Minter, Barry J. Morris, David E. Neuwirth, Rob Page, Shuva Paul, Christopher Pine, Leonard Scriven, Andrea Simpson, Bruce Stephenson, Scott Switalla, Franklin Thomas, Audia Wells, Debra Jean Williams, Kim A. Williams, and Brian Woods.

Other Acquisition and Research Assistance

The institutions and individuals that provided documents relating to King deserve the greatest thanks, for without their care and assistance a documentary edition of King’s papers would not be possible. The King collection at the King Center is the core of our collection. The King collection at Boston University, which is the largest holding of pre-1962 materials, has been critically important to the initial volumes of the King Papers. We are grateful for the generous assistance of Howard Gotlieb, director of Special Collections, and the members of his staff, particularly Margaret Goostray, assistant director of Special Collections.

To supplement the documents obtained from the King Center and from Boston University, we contacted scores of archives, resulting in the identification of more than one hundred and fifty manuscript collections with King- related material. Archives that assisted us in locating documents for our initial volumes include the Afro-American History and Cultural Museum, Philadelphia; American Baptist Historical Society; Atlanta Public Schools; Atlanta Historical Society; Atlanta-Fulton County Public Library; Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center; Birmingham Public Library; School of Theology, Boston University; Archives and Manuscripts, Catholic University of America; Colgate-Rochester Divinity School; Special Collections, Emory University; Special Collections, Fisk University; Fulton County (Georgia) Probate Court; William Russell Pullen Library, Georgia State University; Georgia Department of Archives and History; Georgia Department of Human Resources; Greene County (Georgia) Historical Society; Andover-Harvard Theological Library, Harvard Divinity School; Henry County (Georgia) Probate Court; Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University; Manuscripts Divi sion, Library of Congress; Special Collections, Mercer University; Morehouse College Archives; Albin O. Kuhn Library and Gallery, University of Maryland, Baltimore County; U.S. National Archives and Records Service; Rare Books and Manuscripts, New York Public Library; Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library; Morris Library, Southern Illinois University; the State Historical Society of Wisconsin; and the Swarth- more College Peace Collection. The many librarians and archivists at these institutions have been of invaluable assistance to the Project. Their efforts on our behalf were boundless and their expertise indispensable in our search for documents. The tireless effort and dedication of several individuals require special mention. Esme Bhan and Karen L. Jefferson of the Moorland- Spingarn Research Center and Linda Matthews of Emory’s Special Collections helped the Project in countless ways.

Dr. King’s acquaintances and colleagues are among the most important sources of documents. We attempted to contact many of those who had known King during his early life, including his colleagues at Morehouse College, Crozer Theological Seminary, and Boston University. Although many had not yet donated their valuable papers to an archive, they graciously allowed us to make photocopies of documents in their possession. Among those individuals who donated documents or photocopies of documents pertaining to the initial two volumes are Thelma B. Archer, Lillian Barbour, J. T. Blas- ingame, Percy A. Carter, Timothy Y. H. Chow, Everett L. Dargan, Griffith Davis, John David Erb, Hardy Franklin, Jr., Julian O. Grayson, W. T. Handy, Lydia Pelzer Kirkland, Nathaniel Leach, Samuel P. Long, Jr., Elaine Pace- Holmes, Mark A. Rouch, S. Paul Schilling, Kenneth L. Smith, Francis E. Stewart, Willard Williams, Marcus G. Wood, and Ira Zepp, Jr. George D. Kelsey and W. Thomas McGann not only provided photocopies of documents, but also granted permission to publish their writings in this volume. The following individuals and institutions also permitted us to publish their documents: Gladys Bean, Mrs. Brailsford R. Brazeal, Theodore Enslin, Hazel Yates Gray, Phoebe Burney Hart, Karen Jefferson of the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Isabella M. Tobin, Joan Blanton Tucker, and David F. Wright of the University of Edinburgh. Mrs. Woodie Brown, Reverend M. L. King, Sr.’s sister, graciously talked with us about her family.

The Project has also gained access to several collections of papers belonging to institutions that played a major part in Dr. King’s life. The papers of Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church and Ebenezer Baptist Church have been made available to us, providing important documents from King’s life as pastor of the two churches. Reverend Murray Branch of Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church and David Fiskum of Ebenezer Baptist Church facilitated the Projects examination of the papers. Nathaniel Leach of Second Baptist Church in Detroit and Dean Lawrence E. Carter of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Chapel at Morehouse College also provided important documents and assistance.

Many other people have contributed their time and energy to participate in the Project. Some are community people who have wanted to share in our work, others are scholars who have provided information and discussion of our findings, and others have special skills that enabled us to expand the ho rizons of our work. Among the many who deserve mention are Margo Davis, Tina DiFiliciantonio, William Geoghegan, Kathryn Kershner, Linda Jolivet, Gregory Palmer, Joan Peters, Barbara Plum, Cherel Sampson, William Tucker, Jane Wagner, and Ed Williams.

Several scholars without official ties to the Project also provided vital assistance. These include Taylor Branch, James Cone of Union Theological Seminary, and George Fredrickson and Paul Robinson of Stanford. Candace Falk and the staff of the Emma Goldman Papers Project have given much appreciated advice and support. There are doubtless other individuals and organizations who participated in and contributed to the success of the King Papers Project. Failure to mention them simply reflects the limits of my memory rather than of my gratitude.

CLAYBORNE CARSON

12 SEPTEMBER 1991

INTRODUCTION

In the quiet recesses of my heart, I am fundamentally a clergyman, a Baptist preacher. This is my being and my heritage for I am also the son of a Baptist preacher, the grandson of a Baptist preacher and the great-grandson of a Baptist preacher.

Martin Luther King, Jr., August 1965

Martin Luther King, Jr., was born in Atlanta about noon on Tuesday,

13 January 1929. The difficult delivery occurred in the second-floor master bedroom of the Auburn Avenue home his parents shared with his maternal grandparents. From the moment of his birth, King’s extended family connected him to African-American religious traditions. His grandparents A. D. Williams and Jennie Celeste Williams had transformed nearby Ebenezer Baptist Church from a struggling congregation in the 1890s into one of black Atlanta’s most prominent institutions. Martin Luther King, Sr., would succeed his father-in-law as Ebenezer’s pastor, and Alberta Williams King would follow her mother as a powerful presence in Ebenezer’s affairs. Immersed in religion at home and in church, King, Jr., acquired skills and contacts that would serve him well once he accepted his calling as a minister. He saw his father and grandfather as appealing role models who combined pastoring with social activism. Although King’s theological curiosity and public ministry would take him far from his Auburn Avenue origins, his basic identity remained rooted in Baptist church traditions that were intertwined with his family’s history.

King, Jr.’s family ties to the Baptist church extended back to the slave era. His great-grandfather Willis Williams, an old slavery time preacher and an exhorter, entered the Baptist church during the period of religious and moral fervor that swept the nation in the decades before the Civil War.¹ In 1846, when Willis joined Shiloh Baptist Church in the Penfield district of Greene County, Georgia (seventy miles east of Atlanta), its congregation num-

16 March 1924, CKFC.

bered fifty white and twenty-eight black members.1 His owner, a wealthy planter named William N. Williams, joined later.2

Although subordinate to whites in church governance, blacks actively participated in church affairs and served on church committees. In August 1848, members of such a committee investigated charges of theft against Willis. After listening to the committee’s report the church expelled him, but two months later the church minutes reported that Willis, servant to Bro. W. N. Williams, came forward and made himself confession of his guilt and said that the Lord had forgiven him for his error. He was therefore unanimously received into fellowship with us.3

Extant records provide no documentation of Willis’s ministry, but he probably helped recruit some of the slaves who joined the church during a major revival in 1855. Between April and December of that year, nearly a hundred blacks, more than one-tenth of the slaves in the Penfield district, joined the congregation. Among them was a fifteen-year-old named Lucrecia (or Creecy) Daniel. Shiloh’s minutes report that she related an experience and was received into church membership in April 1855.4 She and Willis were married in the late 1850s or early 1860s, and she bore him five children—including

Adam Daniel (A. D.), who celebrated 2 January 1863, the day after the effective date of the Emancipation Proclamation, as his birthday.⁶

The family left Shiloh Baptist Church when it, like other southern congregations, divided along racial lines at the end of the Civil War. At war’s end, Shiloh’s 144 black members outnumbered the 77 white members, but in the following years all the black members left. Willis Williams and his family may have joined other black members of Shiloh in organizing a large black- controlled Baptist church in Penfield.⁷

A. D.’s desire to follow his father’s calling was evident even as a child, when it was his greatest pleasure to preach the funeral of snakes, cats, dogs, horses or any thing that died. The children of the community would call him to preach the funeral and they would have a big shout.⁸ Although he was unable to attend school because of the demands of sharecropping, the seven- year-old A. D. reportedly attracted the people for miles around with his ability to count.⁹

A. D. Williams probably spent his childhood on the Williams plantation. After the death of his father in 1874, A. D. and his family moved from the Williams plantation to nearby Scull Shoals, a rural community on the Oconee River.¹⁰ Several years later, in the early 1880s, A. D. and his family joined Bethabara Baptist Church in northern Greene County. With the help of his pastor, the Reverend Parker Poullain, A. D. worked through a blueback speller and the first, second, and third readers. Williams underwent a conversion experience that confirmed his religious commitment. Poullain baptized A. D. in August 1884, and tutored him in preparation for a preaching career. Finally, in April 1888, Williams earned his license to preach.¹¹

The number of black Baptist churches, many of which were affiliated with Georgia’s Missionary Baptist Convention, increased rapidly during the 1870s and 1880s, but general economic conditions in Greene County’s Oconee

6. Adam Daniel’s and his twin sister Eve’s actual birthdate was probably earlier in the 1860s. The census of 1870 lists Adam Daniel Williams as nine years old, suggesting that he was born in 1861; his twin sister, Eve, is listed as seven. The census of 1880 lists both him and Eve as eighteen, implying a birthdate of 1862 (Census entry for Willis Williams, 22 June 1870, Greene Co., Ga.; census entry for A. D. Williams, 1880, Greene Co., Ga.). For A. D. Williams’s claim of 2 January 1863 as his birthdate, see Rev. A. D. Williams, Atlanta Independent, 4 April 1904; Ellington, Short Sketch; and Adam Daniel Williams, in Caldwell, ed., History of the American Negro, p. 212.

7. The fragmentary church records show no sign of the Williams family at Shiloh Baptist after Emancipation. See Bartow Davis Ragsdale, Story of Georgia Baptists (Atlanta: Foote and Davies,

3 ‘65, 3:312; Raper, Preface to Peasantry, p. 356; and Clarence M. Wagner, Profiles of Black Georgia Baptists (Atlanta: Bennett Bros., 1980), p. 65.

8. Ellington, Short Sketch. See also Adam Daniel Williams, in Caldwell, ed., History of the American Negro, p. 212.

9. Ellington, Short Sketch. Ellington noted that A. D. Williams had only three weeks of schooling during his youth.

10. See Ellington, Short Sketch; Census entry for A. D. Williams, 15 June 1880, Greene Co., Ga.; and Calhoun, Family Background.

11. Ellington, Short Sketch; and Adam Daniel Williams, in Caldwell, ed., History of the American Negro, p. 212. Williams also later studied with the Reverend Henry M. Smith of Crawford, clerk of the Jeruel Baptist Association which was composed of rural black congregations.

River Valley declined during the latter decade. Surrounding farmlands were much less profitable than in the past, and many blacks migrated from the area.5 During the late 1880s and early 1890s, A. D. Williams tried to make a living as an itinerant preacher, while supplementing his income with other work.6 An injury in a sawmill accident left him with only the nub of a thumb on his right hand. Seeking better opportunities elsewhere, A. D. Williams joined the black exodus from Greene County. In January 1893 he left for Atlanta.7

Arriving in Atlanta with one dime and a five dollar gold piece during the unusually cold winter of 1893, Williams used the gold piece to secure treatment for a sore throat.8 At the end of the summer after working in a machine shop, he accepted invitations to preach at Springfield Baptist Church in Atlanta and a Baptist church in nearby Kennesaw, Georgia.9 Finally, on 14 March 1894, Williams was called to the pastorate of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church. One of many small Baptist congregations in the city, Ebenezer had recently lost its founding pastor, the Reverend John Andrew Parker, who had organized the church eight years earlier.10 Williams took over a church with thirteen members and no church house at all—a challenging situation in which he quickly demonstrated his leadership abilities, adding some sixty-five members to the church his first year. His attempt in 1896 to leave for another pastorate was frustrated by the providence of God; yet at Ebenezer he was an overwhelming success. Ebenezer, his biographer recounted, continued to grow in strength and popularity and so did he.11

Williams supplemented his income by serving as minister of other congregations in the Atlanta area before deciding to focus his energies on building Ebenezer.12 Recognizing that his long-term success as an urban minister required that he overcome academic shortcomings, Williams also enrolled at Atlanta Baptist College, taking both the elementary English and the ministers’ courses of study. In May 1898 Williams received his certificate from the ministerial program.13

During the 1890s Williams also met his future wife, Jennie Celeste Parks. Born in Atlanta in April 1873, Jennie Parks was one of thirteen children. Her father, William Parks, supported his family through work as a carpenter. At age fifteen, Jennie Parks began taking classes at Spelman Seminary, becoming, according to one account, uone of Spelman’s lovely girls; her graces included culture, unfeigned modesty, and [a] devotion to home life."14 Parks left Spelman in 1892, however, without graduating. Married to A. D. Williams on 29 October 1899, she was a deeply pious woman who always kept a Bible nearby and was a model wife for a minister. On 13 September 1903, she gave birth at home to their only surviving child, Alberta Christine Williams, the mother of Martin Luther King, Jr.15 During the early years of the century, the family lived in several houses in the Auburn Avenue area, which was then home to both whites and blacks.16

Like many other contemporary black ministers from similar backgrounds, Williams built his congregation by means of forceful preaching that addressed the everyday concerns of poor and working-class residents. Despite his deficiencies from a technical educational point of view, a biographer insisted

that Williams’s experience and profound thought and his intensive practical ways in expounding the gospel, places him easily with the leading preachers of his day and generation.17 In 1900 the Ebenezer congregation purchased a building at Bell and Gilmore streets that formerly housed the white Fifth Baptist Church, and there they remained for thirteen years. Thanks to Williams’s efforts, the congregation experienced steady growth, attracting ninety- one new members in 1903 for a total membership of four hundred at year’s end. Nevertheless, Ebenezer was still overshadowed by the much larger Big Bethel AME and Wheat Street Baptist churches on Auburn Avenue.18

In addition to building his own congregation, Williams participated in the establishment of new regional and national Baptist institutions. In September 1895, he joined two thousand other delegates and visitors at Friendship Baptist Church to organize the National Baptist Convention, the largest black organization in the United States. By 1904 Williams was president of the Atlanta Baptist Ministers Union, chairman of both the executive board and the finance committee of the General State Baptist Convention, and a member of the Convention’s educational board and its Baptist Young Peoples Union and Sunday School board.19

Black-white relations in Atlanta were undergoing major changes during the early years of the twentieth century. Booker T. Washington’s historic address delivered at Atlanta’s Cotton States and International Exposition of 1895 had signaled the beginning of a period of rapid economic growth and intensified racial restrictions. Black migrants sought to participate in the city’s economic growth, and by 1900 black Atlantans constituted nearly 40