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Prayer Pilgrimage, 1957
In 1957, A. Philip Randolph, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Roy Wilkins cosponsored the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom to demand federal action on school desegregation and demonstrate support for the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Held at the Lincoln Memorial on May 17, the third anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the Pilgrimage attracted a crowd of about 25,000. The turnout was smaller than the organizers had predicted but was still the largest civil rights demonstration to date. The Pilgrimage launched the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and helped establish Martin Luther King, Jr., as a national leader. |