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SCLC Then
They impacted their communities with 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. -
The Mongomery Bus Boycott
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man resulting in her getting arrested and inspiring the Mongomery Bus Boycott. -
Mongomery Improvement Association (MIA)
The Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) was formed on December 5, 1955, by black ministers and community leaders in Montgomery, Alabama. Under the leadership of Ralph Abernathy, Martin Luther King Jr. and Edgar Nixon, the MIA was instrumental in guiding the Montgomery bus boycott, a successful campaign that focused national attention on racial segregation in the South. -
The Founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
This was an organization founded in Atlanta, Georgia and was an offshoot of the Mongomery Improvement Association (MIA) after the Mongomery Bus Boycott. This organization was founded by ministers, and they elected Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as their founding president. -
Operation Breadbasket
Operation Breadbasket, program begun in 1962 by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) that aimed at improving the economic status of African Americans through a boycott of white-owned and white-operated businesses that refused to employ African Americans or to buy products sold by African American-owned businesses -
Civil Rights March
The SCLC played a major part in the civil rights march on Washington, D.C. -
"I Have A Dream" Speech
"I Have a Dream" is a public speech that was delivered by SCLC President Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. In the speech, Dr. King called for civil and economic rights and an end to racism in the United States. Delivered to over 250,000 civil rights supporters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. -
Civil Rights Act 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, is considered one of the crowning legislative achievements of the civil rights movement. The SCLC was instrumental in this being passed. -
Selma Voting Rights / March to Mongomery
The SCLC was organized to protest the blocking of African Americans' right to vote by the systematic racist structure of the Jim Crow South. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights movement on August 6, 1965. Designed to enforce the voting rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, the Act sought to secure the right to vote for racial minorities throughout the country, especially in the South. -
Operation Breadbasket Moves
The organization now moved to Chicago, Illinois. -
Poor People's Campaign
The Poor People’s Campaign (PPC) was created on December 4, 1967, by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to address the issues of unemployment, housing shortages for the poor, and the impact of poverty on the lives of millions of Americans. -
The Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Dr. King's place as president was succeeded 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. -
The SCLC Weakens
The organization was further weakened by several schisms, including the departure in of the Reverend Jesse L. Jackson and his followers in 1971. They had staffed Operation Breadbasket in Chicago, which was directed toward economic goals. -
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SCLC Now
After Dr. 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 from 1997 to 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.