A Historic Marker Listing Dr. King's Visits to Louisiana
Dr. King visited the very length of Louisiana, from Shreveport to New Orleans!
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Visits Louisiana
by
Dr. Levon A. LeBan
The number of visits to our fair State by Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. demonstrated his attraction to Louisiana, especially the City of New Orleans. According to the late New Orleans Chef and Icon Leah Chase, throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Dr. King and Reverend Dr. Ralph David Abernathy held numerous planning meetings in the upper room at Dooky Chase Restaurant in New Orleans. During the same period, he visited Rev. Theodore Judson Jemison, Pastor of the Mount Zion First Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Dr. King often spoke to students at Southern University and A&M College during his visits to the Capitol City and, he encouraged youth at an assembly in the McKinley High School Auditorium to encourage students to participate in the struggle for civil rights. Dr. King realized the visual importance of youth in non-violent marches and demonstrations, in addition to training the next generation in the struggle for civil rights. The 1953 Baton Rouge Bus Boycott greatly influenced Dr. King and what he learned would change the course of the modern Civil Rights movement. In November 1953, Dr. King delivered a sermon at Mount Zion First Baptist Church in Baton Rouge encouraging parishioners to register to vote. While there, he learned strategies from Reverend Jemison on how he successfully coordinated a non-violent bus boycott.
In Caddo Parish, Dr. King spoke regarding voter registration and mobilization at Galilee Baptist Church in Shreveport (August 14, 1958). He spoke at Old Galilee Baptist Church twice (1958 and 1962), the main hub for the Civil Rights movement in Shreveport, Louisiana. Dr. King met with the SCLC Executive Board (October 11-13, 1960) before the 1960 SCLC Convention in Shreveport. Two colleagues and co-founders of SCLC, Reverend Dr. Harry Blake, and Dr. Cuthbert Ormond Simpkins were often seen at his side. In the fall of 1963, there was an explosion at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, that killed four young girls and injured many others. Exactly one week following the bombing, Rev. Blake held a memorial service at Little Union Baptist Church in Shreveport to honor the girls. Rev. Blake was beaten inside the church by several police officers and was later treated at the church for lacerations to his scalp. According to Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, on July 22, 1955, Dr. King received an invitation from Dillard University’s President Dr. Albert W. Dent, to discuss taking a position as Dean of the new Lawless Memorial Chapel. Later that year (October 16, 1955), only months before the historic Montgomery Bus Boycott, Dr. King delivered “The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life” at Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Professor Huel Perkins, former Dean of Arts and Humanities at Southern University recalled that “before he was famous, Dr. King used to come to Southern University. We had a Vespers Lecture Series and he [Dr. King] would come to talk to us.”
In subsequent visits to the Crescent City, he attended numerous rallies and spoke at the New Orleans Coliseum Arena (February 1, 1957) to hundreds of people in rainy weather. Two weeks later, on Valentine’s Day (February 14, 1957), about 100 religious and community leaders met at New Zion Baptist Church, where local co-founders Reverend Dr. Abraham Lincoln Davis, Jr., Rev. Samson “Skip” Alexander, Reverend Dr. Avery C. Alexander, and Atty. Israel Meyer Augustine (and others) to formalize what would become the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Later that year, Dr. King spoke at the Booker T. Washington Senior High School Auditorium (August 6, 1957) in New Orleans at the National Beauty Culturalist League Convention where New Orleanian Dr. Kathleen “Kattie” Ethel Wickham served as President. Dr. Wickham was the Founder and President of the New Orleans Women’s Voter’s League and was appointed by Dr. King as the National Assistant Secretary of the SCLC.
After church services in Montgomery, Alabama, Dr. King flew to New Orleans (May 31, 1959) and delivered the baccalaureate service keynote address at Dillard University titled: “The Dimensions of a Complete Life (given earlier at Southern University).” He reminded the students and faculty at Dillard University about the importance of voting and encouraging others to vote. Later that year, Dr. King spoke to community and union members at the International Longshoreman’s Association Union Hall (September 21, 1959). In 1961 Dr. King gave a sermon at Union Bethel A.M.E. Church (December 14, 1961). Dr. King spoke at a rally for voting rights at the Louisiana Education Association Meeting at the Rapides Parish Coliseum in Alexandria, Louisiana (November 23, 1966). Dr. King traveled extensively throughout the State of Louisiana.
Because of the early and ongoing movement in Louisiana, Dr. King viewed the State as fertile ground for the continued development of the struggle for civil rights in the South. Organizations like the Universal Negro Improvement Association, the Congress for Racial Equality, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and others encouraged civic groups, faith-based organizations, and youth in sit-ins, interstate bus rides, demonstrations, and boycotting. The SCLC continues to collaborate and build relationships because the struggle continues.