g Aug REV MARTIN LUTHER KING= 1957 5O3C SOUTH UNION ST MONTGOMERY ALA= CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU AND YOUR NOBLE ASSOCIATES OF THE MONTGOMERY IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION, AND THE SOUTHERN LEADERSHIP MINISTERIAL GROUP UPON THE GREAT EPOCH MAKING FIGHT FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AND HUMAN DIGNITY YOU ARE MAKING. MAY I HOPE FOR YOUR CONFERENCE GREAT SUCCESS AND THAT IT MAY BE AN INSPIRATION TO THE NEGRO MASSES IN THE SOUTH AS WELL AS NORTH, EAST AND WEST. FORWARD IN THE FIGHT FOR FIRST-CLASS CITIZENSHIP AND CIVIL RIGHTS=

A. PHILIP RANDOLPH=

PWSr. MLKP-MBU: Box 68. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project To Conrad J. Lynn

9 August 1957 [Montgomery, Ala.]

In the Rockland County (New York) NAACP branch sent clothing and shoes to Cleveland, Mississippi, where was leading a voter registration campaign.‘ In a 3 I July letter to King, Lynn, counsel to the Rockland branch, reported that the supplies were never collectedj?om the depot and that registered letters to Moore? Farmers and BusinessmenS Association had drawn no response.2 In the

1. Amzie Moore (1g12-1982), born in Grenada County, Mississippi, was a postal employee and small business owner. After serving in World War 11, Moore helped found the Regional Council of Ne- gro Leadership, a Mississippi Delta civil rights organization. In 1955 Moore was elected president of the Cleveland NAACP branch. The following year, he attended the national conference of the NAACP in San Francisco where he promoted his newly formed Delta.Farmers and Businessmen’s Association. An early supporter of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee’s voter registration work, Moore helped organize the Council of Federated Organizations, a coalition of civil rights groups working in the state. 2. Conrad J. Lynn (1908-1995), born in Newport, Rhode Island, received a B.A. (1930) from Syracuse University and in 1932 became the first black graduate of that university’s law school. Lynn participated in the 1947 “Journey of Reconciliation,” organized by the Congress of Racial Equality and FOR to protest segregation on interstate buses. In 1958 Lynn defended two black boys, ages seven and nine, charged with rape for having kissed a white female playmate in Monroe, North Carolina. The “Kissing Case” garnered international attention and drew into a successful campaign for the youths’ release in 1959. In January 1959 American Socialist published Lynn’s sympa- thetic but critical review of King’s first book, Stride Toward Freedom (Lynn, “Negro Leadership,” Ami- canSocialist 6 [January 19591: 21-22). The Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project

following letter King suggests the ‘Fossibility that the ojicials at the post ojice did 9 A% away with the clothes, knowing that they were to aid Negroes who had confi-onted ‘957 reprisals. ” On 28 August Lynn replied, infolming King that the Rockland NAACP was constructing a case against the blocking ofreliefsupplies to the South.3

Mr. Conrad J. Lynn, Atty. Suite 1 i 17-141 Broadway New York 6, New York Dear Mr. Lynn:

This is to acknowledge receipt of your letter of July 3 1, making inquiry con- cerning the need for clothing in this section of the country at this time. I do not know too much about the situation in Cleveland, Mississippi, consequently it will be impossible for me to give any authoritative answer on what happened to the clothes which you sent there. It is a possibility that the officials at the post office did away with the clothes, knowing that they were to aid Negroes who had con- fronted reprisals. I do feel that Mississippi is still in dire need of outside help in terms of cloth- ing and food. People in certain regions of Mississippi have confronted reprisals more than any other state. Here in Montgomery, Alabama we do not have too much need for clothing. Our needs are more financial. But I am sure that many regions in Mississippi will continue to need clothing and food supplies for some time. I would suggest that you write the President of the State Conference of the NAACP of Mississippi. I do not know his name.4 I am sure that you can secure it from the national office. He could possibly give you more definite information at this point. Very sincerely yours, M. L. King, Jr., Minister MLKmlb

TLc. MLKP-MBU: Box 61.

3. On ig February 1958 Lynn invited King to speak before the Rockland County NAACP “to ex- press our belief that the N.A.A.C.P. nationally must move closer to the tactics of your rank-and-file or- ganization, The Montgomery Improvement Association.” King’s secretary, Hilda S. Proctor, declined the invitation on 5 March. 4. Charles R. Darden, a businessman from Meridian, Mississippi, served as president of the Mis- sissippi State Conference of Branches from 1955 to 1960.