Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Created in the wake of the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1957 by Martin Luther
King Jr. and his followers, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) coordinated and assisted local organizations working for the full equality of
African Americans during the
civil rights movement. Initial organizers included Ella Baker, Ralph Abernathy, Fred Shuttlesworth, Joseph Lowery, C.K. Steele, T.J. Jemison, and Bayard Rustin. Animated by King's philosophy of nonviolent direct action and his vision of a mass movement rooted in Christian love and multiracial democracy, the organization conducted leadership training programs, citizen‐education projects, and voter registration drives. Along with the
Student Non‐Violent Coordinating Committee, SCLC played an integral role in various southern desegregation and voting‐rights campaigns, most notably in Albany, Georgia, and Birmingham and Selma, Alabama. These campaigns spurred the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In addition, SCLC helped organize the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom where King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
Following these initial successes, SCLC experienced a series of setbacks. In 1965 and 1966, as Black Power began to eclipse nonviolent direct action among many activists and organizations, King and SCLC embarked on an unsuccessful campaign in
Chicago. In 1968, SCLC planned a Poor People's Campaign to be held in
Washington, D.C., with the hope of uniting poor people from all races, ethnicities, and religions. This effort was cut short by King's assassination in Memphis. Following his death, SCLC maintained its philosophy of nonviolent direct action, but focused on smaller, local efforts. The organization was further weakened by internal schisms, most significantly the 1972 departure of the Reverend Jesse Jackson (1941– ) of Chicago and his followers who had staffed Operation Breadbasket, an SCLC effort directed at economic justice for African Americans. Despite these difficulties, SCLC remained active in the struggle for racial, social, and economic justice as the twentieth century ended.
See also
African American Religion;
Civil Rights Legislation;
Racism.
Bibliography
David Garrow , Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 1986.
Adam Fairclough , To Redeem the Soul of America, 1987.
Patrick D. Jones
