Southern Christian
Leadership Conference:
This nonviolent, direct-
action organization was
founded by Martin Luther
King in 1957.
Young, Andrew(1932– ):
SCLC executive director
who played a major role
in the Birmingham and
Selma demonstrations
in Alabama.
Shuttlesworth, Fred
(1922– ): Co-founder of
ACMHR and SCLC and
a principal organizer of
Project Confrontation in
Birmingham.
Williams, Hosea(1926–
2000): Fiery SCLC organ-
izer of demonstrations in
Savannah, Georgia; St
Augustine, Florida; and
Selma.
Bevel, James(1936– ):
Nashville sit-in demon-
strator and SCLC organizer
of the Birmingham and
Selma demonstrations.
Rustin, Bayard(1910–
87): A leading activist who
organized the March on
Washington.
Building on the success in Montgomery, King and other black ministers
formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conferencein January 1957
to harness the untapped power of the church against racial discrimination.
King surrounded himself with talented allies and lieutenants – some with
elephantine egos – including Ralph Abernathy, an earthy Baptist preacher
and King’s closest companion; Andrew Young, an articulate young Congre-
gational minister from New Orleans; Wyatt T. Walker, a tall Baptist preacher
with an aristocratic air from Petersburg, Virginia; Fred Shuttlesworth, a wiry,
sharp-tongued Baptist preacher from Birmingham, Alabama; C.T. Vivian,
an intense, outspoken Baptist preacher from Illinois; Hosea Williams, a
firebrand from Savannah, Georgia, who would be jailed a record 135 times;
James Bevel, a mystical preacher from the Mississippi delta with a skullcap
that adorned his shaved head; Bayard Rustin, an urbane, chain-smoking
Quaker from FOR and CORE; Ella Baker, a passionate, no-nonsense former
NAACP field secretary; Glenn Smiley, a white Methodist minister and FOR’s
national field secretary; and Stanley Levison, a wealthy New York lawyer,
speechwriter, and fundraiser for a philanthropic group called In Friendship.
‘To redeem the soul of America,’ SCLC (sometimes pronounced ‘slick’)
encouraged the black masses to overthrow Jim Crow themselves. By foment-
ing crises, blacks could persuade whites that segregation was so evil that
it should be dethroned, opening the way to ‘reconciliation’ within a truly
integrated ‘beloved community.’ The increased demands on his time com-
pelled King to leave Montgomery for Atlanta, where he headed SCLC and
co-pastored his father’s church.
SCLC’s first action was to pressure the federal government to remove
hindrances to black voting. In May 1957, Martin Luther King led a Prayer
Pilgrimage to Washington, which attracted an enthusiastic crowd of 30,000.
‘Give us the ballot,’ King implored in endless refrains. To avoid direct federal
government involvement in racial disputes, Eisenhower had formulated a
multifaceted civil rights measure, which was then stuck in Congress. The
administration hoped to divide the Democratic party into northern and
southern wings, stymie Texas Democrat Lyndon Johnson’s presidential
ambitions, and showcase the Republicans as the party of Lincoln. In
Eisenhower’s reelection, the Republicans polled 39 per cent of black voters,
the highest total since the Depression began. King promised that the bill
would put many new blacks on the southern rolls, and they would likely
vote Republican.
The administration’s bill was a political minefield for presidential aspir-
ants. Lyndon Johnson, the Senate majority leader, cautiously lobbied for
the bill after two drastic changes were accepted. The attorney general could
not seek injunctions against Jim Crow and local juries would hear criminal
contempt cases concerning voting rights. Since jurors were selected from52 THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
Baker, Ella(1903–86):
NAACP activist and SCLC’s
first executive director
who urged the founding
of SNCC.