TLS signed “Martin L. King, Jr,” one page, 8.5 x 11, Southern Christian Leadership Conference letterhead, September 10, 1965. Letter to H. C. Whitley, a minister at St. Giles in Edinburgh, England. In full: “I am in receipt of your letter of recent date inviting me to come to St. Giles to give the St. Giles lecture during Holy Week of 1966.
First, let me say, as I said to you in a previous letter, that I am deeply honored to be invited to participate in such a significant lecture series. I can think of nothing that would please me more than to be able to accept your invitation. Unfortunately, however, some road blocks stand in the way of my coming. Because of the temper of events in the struggle for racial justice in the United States, I have had to make the decision to spend much more time in communities all across our nation to point out the problems of discrimination which continue to exist and conduct non-violent workshops. Since the job is so enormous, it will be impossible for me to accept many outside speaking engagements at this time. I am sure that I will have to stay as close to the conditions as possible for the next two years. In the light of this, I must regretfully say that it will not be possible for me to be with you in 1966. I do hope that things will soon ease up so that I can accept more of the invitations that come across my desk. Please do not hesitate to call on me in the future.”
In fine condition, with light vertical crease down left edge, faint toning along right edge, and some scattered light wrinkling. Accompanied by a photocopied letter of provenance from reverend David Ogton which reads, in part: “From 1969 to 1973 I was an Assistant Minister…in St. Giles Cathedral…Dr. Harry Whitley was the minister of this charge, a man renowned for boldness in thought and imaginative drive. It was Dr. Whitely’s custom to attract national and international figures to the pulpit…When Dr. Whitley retired in 1973…his old desk came into my possession…this letter was among the papers, and I have kept it for the last 30 years…Harry Whitley had the kind of mind that saw the immense interest that Dr. Martin Luther King would have generated had he been able to cross the Atlantic to deliver the Holy Week address in St. Giles.”
A firm believer in a nonviolent civil rights movement, “the temper of events in the struggle for racial justice in the United States” prompted King to embark on a “people-to-people” tour in 1965. Like many other supporters of the movement, King understood the frustration experienced by nonviolent protesters who became the target of violence. On March 7, a “Bloody Sunday” march to Selma, Alabama left 50 people hospitalized after people attacked them with clubs, whips, and tear gas. Although Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, making it easier for Southern blacks to register to vote, the frustration had reached critical mass, with more militant blacks in Los Angeles and New York City leading to race riots. “I am sure that I will have to stay as close to the conditions as possible for the next two years,” King writes here, and indeed, the next two years were filled with continued crisis, culminating with King’s 1968 assassination. Great content from a year filled with turmoil. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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