Original vintage program from “Pittsburgh’s Second Annual Freedom Jubilee,” held at Forbes Field on July 9, 1961, 8.5 x 11, featuring King, Sammy Davis, Jr., Mahalia Jackson, and Floyd Patterson, signed in blue ballpoint on the first page, which bears a welcome message from the Jubilee’s founder Cornell Talley, by King, Count Basie, and two others. Central vertical crease, light wrinkling and creasing to inside pages (heavier to covers, and a bit of scattered light soiling), otherwise fine condition.
Twelve-thousand people came to Forbes Field on this given Sunday to listen to Dr. King rally in support of civil rights. That same summer, "Freedom Riders" campaigned against segregated public transportation in southern states, while other activists defied laws that banned interracial marriage. The winds of change were blowing—some maintained too hard and too fast. At Forbes Field, King answered those critics, stating that "the clock of destiny (was) ticking" for the United States. "If America is to remain a first-class nation, she can no longer have second-class citizens. Gradualism is no more than 'do-nothing' ism, which ends up in 'stand-still' ism." Though the nation has still not achieved the complete equality hoped for that summer day in Pittsburgh, leaders like Dr. King gave their lives to take us one step closer.
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