Southern Christian Leadership Conference Term Analysis

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference is a civil rights organization, of which Martin Luther King, Jr. was the first president. The organization was formed in 1957 with the original plan of desegregating bus systems throughout the South through nonviolent civil disobedience; later, the group expanded its focus to ending all forms of segregation. It was his leadership of the SCLC that brought King to Birmingham to protest the segregation of local shops. In response to critics referring to him as an “outsider,” King notes that he was invited to Birmingham as the president of the SCLC: “the affiliate here in Birmingham asked us to be on call to engage in a nonviolent direct-action program,” and he felt it necessary to answer that call. One of the core beliefs of the SCLC was that the Christian church should be an agent for social change and should, therefore, support the nonviolent protest of racial injustice. King makes this clear in his letter, condemning religious leaders who refuse to take a stand against racism and segregation.