Monte Wasch Oral History

As described by Monte Wasch in this oral history, the New York arm of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference actually began in 1960 as the awkwardly-named Committee to Defend Martin Luther King and the Struggle for Freedom in the South. In February 1960, after an Alabama grand jury issued a warrant for Dr. King's arrest on two counts of felony perjury for signing fraudulent tax returns, a group of King supporters - including entertainer Harry Belafonte - met in New York City and formed the Committee in order to raise funds for King's legal defense as well as other civil rights initiatives. The Committee placed a full-page advertisement in the New York Times in March 1960 and launched a fundraising campaign aimed at raising $200,000. Eighty-four supporters signed the ad, including former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and legendary baseball player Jackie Robinson. Alabama officials were so upset by statements in the advertisement that a Montgomery city commissioner sued the New York Times (and four Alabama ministers named in the ad) for libel. An Alabama jury agreed, and the ruling against the defendants was affirmed by the Supreme Court of Alabama. Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the decision in a landmark 1964 ruling that confirmed the freedom of the press, New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator