With the desegregation of the Montgomery bus system on December 20, 1956, the boycott was carried out by the newly established Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA). Martin Luther King, Jr. served as President and Ralph David Abernathy served as Program Director. It was one of history’s most dramatic and massive nonviolent protests, stunning the nation and the world. The boycott was also a signal to Black America to begin a new phase of the long struggle, a phase that came to be known as the modern civil rights movement.
As bus boycotts spread across the South, leaders of the MIA and other protest groups met in Atlanta on January 10 – 11, 1957, to form a regional organization and coordinate protest activities across the South. Ralph David Abernathy – during the Atlanta meeting, along with 60 persons from 10 states – assembled announcing the founding of the Southern Leadership Conference on Transportation and Nonviolent Integration. They issued a document declaring that civil rights are Essential to democracy, that segregation must end and that all Black people should reject segregation absolutely and nonviolently
In 1964 The Southern Christian Leadership Conference West got its beginnings in Los Angeles, California. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Dr Thomas Kilgore, Jr. and Douglas Dollarhide, the first Black Mayor of Compton, opened the Los Angeles office, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Los Angeles was formed.
Youth Excel Summer Leadership Academy 2016
Tuesday, July 5 – Friday, July, 15, 2016
9:30am to 3pm
Southern California Library 6120 S. Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90044
Email:YesAcademy@sclc-sc.org for more information.
We feel the issue of economic disparity is an issue that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would be fighting against today, as he did with the creation of, Operation Breadbasket and other similar programs. SCLC-SC of Greater Los Angeles will continue in the tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., by developing and partnering with programs that will close the economic gap, enhance the education of our youth, address employment & stimulate economic development within the African American community.
Pastor William D Smart Jr,
SCLC-SC President/CEO
To promote spiritual principles within our membership and local communities.
To educate youth and adults in the area of personal responsibility, leadership potential and community service.
