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Founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
nonsectarian American agency with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, established by the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., and other civil rights activists to coordinate and assist local organizations working for the full equality of African Americans in all aspects of American life. The organization operated primarily in the South and some border states, conducting leadership-training programs, citizen-education projects, and voter-registration drives. -
the Crusade for Citizenship
The objective was to register thousands of disenfranchised voters in time for the 1958 and 1960 elections, with an emphasis on educating prospective voters. The crusade sought to establish voter education clinics throughout the South, raise awareness among African Americans that “their chances for improvement rest on their ability to vote,” and stir the nation’s conscience to change the current conditions. The crusade continued through the early 1960s. -
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Efforts to Help The African American People Secure Their Rights
notable antidiscrimination and voter-registration efforts in Albany, Georgia, and Birmingham and Selma, Alabama, in the early 1960s—campaigns that spurred passage of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. -
Operation Breadbasket
As early as 1962 SCLC began to broaden its focus to include issues of economic inequality. Seeing poverty as the root of social inequality, in 1962 SCLC began Operation Breadbasket in Atlanta to create new jobs in the black community -
Civil Rights March
The SCLC played a major part in the civil rights march on Washington, D.C. -
Letter from a Birmingham Jail
introduced Birmingham Police Commissioner “Bull” Connor and demonstrators being intimidated by dogs and high-pressure fire hoses, which in September included the killing of four girls in the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in September 1963, ultimately led President John F. Kennedy to call for a national civil rights act. -
I Have a Dream
address the issues of segregation and racism as a whole. King speaks about the issues of racism and segregation in America during the 1960s. He encourages the use of non-violent protests and to fight for equality to help America solve the issue -
Helped Pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964
prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Provisions of this civil rights act forbade discrimination on the basis of sex, as well as, race in hiring, promoting, and firing. The Act prohibited discrimination in public accommodations and federally funded programs. It also strengthened the enforcement of voting rights and the desegregation of schools -
Helped Pass the Voter Right Act
outlawed literacy tests and the appointment of Federal examiners (with the power to register qualified citizens to vote) in jurisdictions that were covered according to a formula provided. In addition, Section 5 required covered jurisdictions to obtain preclearance from the District Court for D.C. or the U.S. Attorney General for any new voting practices and procedures. Section 2 applied a nationwide prohibition of the denial or abridgment of the right to vote on account of race or color. -
Participated in the Selma Voting Rights Campaign and March to Montgomery
were organized to protest the blocking of Black Americans' right to vote by the systematic racist structure of the Jim Crow South -
Operation Breadbasket moves to Chicago
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Started the Poor People's Campaign
broadened its focus to include issues of economic inequality bringing thousands of poor people to Washington, D.C., to push for federal legislation that would guarantee employment, income, and housing for economically marginalized people of all ethnicities -
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
his place as president was taken by the Reverend Ralph David Abernathy. The SCLC maintained its philosophy of nonviolent social change, but, having lost its founder, it soon ceased to mount giant demonstrations and confined itself to smaller campaigns, predominantly in the South. -
Weakening of an Organization
The organization was further weakened by several schisms, including the departure in 1971 of the Reverend Jesse L. Jackson and his followers who had staffed Operation Breadbasket in Chicago, which was directed toward economic goals. -
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Where is the Southern Christian Leadership Conference Now
Nonetheless, after King’s death, SCLC continued engaging and winning in voter registration and aiding protests in the South. Although not as influential as it was during the 1960s, it is still active and tackling a broad range of human rights issues. Martin Luther King III headed the organization between 1997 and 2004. In October 2009, Bernice King, daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King was selected to head SCLC. She is the first woman to hold the post.