Martin [luther King] Wasn't One To Buck

From The Cooperative League, I Suppose, With The Depression Lingering As Long As It Did, The Next Step In Terms Of, As You Call It, Professional Relationship, Was To Go To The National Association For The Advancement Of Colored People [naacp]. I Went There As An Assistant Field Secretary, And So Forth. So, I Suppose That Was The First Organized Step.

Both My Parents Came From North Carolina, In Warren County. My Mother Had A Feeling That There Was Greater Culture In North Carolina Than Obtained In Norfolk, Virginia, Plus The Fact She Just Didn't Like The Lowland-lying Climate There.

After The '57 Initial Meeting - I Was Up This Way Working, Not As A Staff Person - There Became The Need For A Much More Definite Organized Office. What You'd Had Prior To That Time Were These Big Meetings In Different Places, And There Was Nobody To Pull Anything Together. Everything Was Left To [martin Luther] King And The Group That Was Around Him.

One Of The Particular Things That Impressed Me Was One Visitor [of Naacp] - I Think It Was - It Wasn't The Prime Minister Of England. We Were Located Then On 14th Street And Fifth Avenue, Up Several Flights Of Rickety Stairs, And He Came All The Way Up Those Stairs To See Walter [white], Largely Because Of Certain Kinds Of Impact, I Think, That The Association Seemingly Was Having.

I Believe, The [gunnar] Myrdal Study Had Been Made, And If We Hadn't Had Anything Else To Raise Questions, This In Itself Would Have Been Something To Provoke Thought In The Direction Of The Value Of Accommodating Leadership.