Southern Christian Leadership Conference
- Founder
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Martin Luther King, Jr., Fred Shuttlesworth, Ralph Abernathy
- Time Period
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2/15/1957
- Description
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The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) began as a response to Rosa Parks' protest during the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955-1956. In January 1957 Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist pastor in Montgomery and prominent leader during the Montgomery bus boycott, invited approximately 60 people to Atlanta to form an organization to encourage similar activism. The goal was to continue working toward racial equality through nonviolent protests across the country. Inspired by both the pacifism of Mahatma Gandhi and their own Christian faith, SCLC members organized protests in Albany (1962), Birmingham (1963), St. Augustine (1964), and Selma (1965). With Martin Luther King Jr. as the organization’s president, they sought black churches to help mobilize their social activism. King’s death in 1968 dampened some of the organization’s momentum, but today the SCLC continues the fight against racism and inequality.
- Interactive Timeline(s)
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Prominent Religious Events and People in American History
Race/Ethnicity and Religion
Baptist Religious Events and People in American History
- Browse Related Timeline Entries
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Prominent Religious Events and People in American History
Race/Ethnicity and Religion in American History
Baptist Religious Events and People in American History
- Religious Groups
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Baptist Family: Other ARDA Links
- Biographies
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King, Martin Luther
Abernathy, Ralph
Shuttlesworth, Fred
- Movements
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Civil Rights Movement
- Photographs
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SCLC marchers 1963- Library of Congress, LC-DIG-ppmsca-37242
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Martin Luther King, Jr speaking at Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom, 1957- National Archives and Records Administration
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Martin Luther King, Jr- Library of Congress, LC-USZ62-126559
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Selma to Birmingham march 1965- Library of Congress, LC-DIG-ppmsca-08102
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Signing the Voting Rights Act, Lyndon Johnson and Martin Luther King, Jr- LBJ photo by Yoichi Okamoto
- Book/Journal Source(s)
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Reid, Daniel, Robert Linder, Bruce Shelley, and Harry Stout, 1990. Dictionary of Christianity in America. Downers Grove, IL.
- Web Page Contributor
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Benjamin T. Gurrentz
Affliated with: Pennsylvania State University, Ph.D. in Sociology
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