In the Wake of Passage of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, Martin Luther King, Jr. Turns His Attention to Achieving For Black People a “Rightful Place” in American Society 

“Your codified sentiments about the problems and needs of the Negro bespeak your own tenderness of concern and commitment to the cause of true brotherhood.”

In the early 1950s, segregation was so entrenched that few people could foresee its destruction. The civil rights movement was launched in 1955 by the Montgomery (Alabama) Bus Boycott, during which blacks sought to force integration of the city’s bus lines. The boycott made national news, drew widespread interest, and proved successful when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in transportation was unconstitutional. A 26-year old minister named Martin Luther King, Jr. was the boycott’s spokesman, and was also the lightning rod for the wrath of segregationist opposition. King was subjected to threats, arrest, conviction for conspiracy, a possible jail term, and even a bomb thrown at his home; yet he stood up to all this without flinching. He impressed everyone who saw him, both for his eloquence and his courage. So in 1957, when black leaders formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to build on the boycott’s success by promoting a civil rights movement on an organized and national basis, King was elected president. Its goals were the end of segregation and the securing of the vote for blacks in the South.

Under King’s leadership, sit-ins to integrate facilities like lunch counters began in earnest in 1960, and the freedom riders took the national stage in 1961. That year the Kennedy administration sent 400 Federal marshals to Montgomery to protect the endangered freedom riders, as all could see on television that they were surrounded by a sea of angry and hostile faces. Kennedy extended this protection to King when he was threatened. The movement was gaining attention and adherents, but pushback from Southern segregationists was great. In 1963 came the crisis over integrating the University of Mississippi and the confrontation over integrating downtown Birmingham. By midsummer King was receiving new support from whites when he stood up to George Wallace and Bull Connor, while the nation watched civil rights demonstrators being beaten and hosed in the streets of Alabama, and churches being bombed and black girls attending Sunday school killed. In August 1963 the March on Washington occurred, complete with King’s “I have a dream” speech. White support of the civil rights movement increased even more, and King was now its nationally recognized leader.  In 1964, the civil rights struggle achieved its greatest victory, passage of the Civil Rights Act. This prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, required integration of schools and public facilities, and made employment discrimination illegal. It was followed in August 1965 by the Voting Rights Act, which outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of blacks in the United States.

Now, with his initial goals achieved, the question became for King, “What next for the civil rights movement?” He clearly saw his answer: to teach poor and often illiterate Southern blacks how to effectively and successfully utilize the movement’s successes to gain knowledge, and join the American economy and political system. He instituted a program called the Citizenship Education Project to teach such things as understanding of voting, taking part in community affairs, knowledge of local, state and federal government, and of the rights and privileges of the individual under the law and the Constitution of the United States. He actively supported President Johnson’s War on Poverty programs, and took a firm position that the Federal government must take leadership in this area, and not leave the matter to states and localities. He saw the Federal government as a positive good.

Others were particularly interested in how to improve the lot of poor blacks now that their two greatest legal goals have been achieved, and sent him ideas and messages of support. One woman suggested and ‘operation understanding’ as an educational measure, and an ‘operation full speed ahead’ to achieve and consolidate new advances. Here King responds to her, articulating his new goals, praising the spirit of brotherhood, and insisting that the Federal government lead public efforts to improve the lot of many of its citizens.

Typed letter signed, on his Southern Christian Leadership Conference stationery,  2 pages, Atlanta, Ga., November 22, 1965 to Mrs. Laura Walters. “Let me send my thank you for your well-considered program designed to promote the achievement by the Negro of a rightful place in democratic society. Your codified sentiments about the problems and needs of the Negro bespeak your own tenderness of concern and commitment to the cause of true brotherhood.  You would probably appreciate knowing that the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, of which I am President, is already embarked upon one phase of your proposal. That embarkation has to do with our Citizenship Education Project, which is basically a teaching program designed to teach the South’s poor, semi-literate and functionally illiterate Negroes who are just gaining the ballot, the rights and duties of an intelligent utilization of the franchise privilege and handling the dollar. Citizenship Education, together with our Voter Registration Project, constitutes our chief area of commitment in terms of staff and finance. We are already ‘educating’ and affecting thousands of adult Negroes in the rural South, with ‘reading, writing and arithmetic’ programs tailored to meet their day-to-day needs in living, purchasing, relating to stores, banks, the local government, etc.

“In my opinion, the second emphasis of your proposal, that of preparing the Negro for integration into the mainstream of the American commercial and industrial economy, can most effectively be tackled by our federal government, assisted by state and local governments, through the War on Poverty program. I think that strengthening and expanding that program would go far to meet the needs cited your proposal. That strengthening and expanding, however, might as well require the prodding and support of you and me and thousands of others all across the nation. This impresses me as part of the personal challenge that confronts us as American citizens concerned with enlarging opportunities for all. Just as you suggested, television constitutes a most effective means of bringing across to the American populace the problems and needs which you cited. Thank you again, for your letter and proposal ‘operation understanding’ and ‘operation full speed ahead’. I  gained   much in the  way of inspiration and enlightenment from your thoughts. My prayers and love are extended for you and your students. Sincerely yours, Martin L King Jr.”