My Association With The Southern Christian Leadership

The Anniversary Of The Montgomery Boycott Was Being Celebrated, And The Handbill That Was Out, And All Whatever Literature That Was Circulated, Didn't Say Practically Anything About Movement Or What The Movement Stood For, What It Had Done, Or Anything, But Was Simply Adulation Of The Leader, You Know, [martin Luther] King.

I Have Always Felt It Was A Handicap For Oppressed Peoples To Depend So Largely Upon A Leader, Because Unfortunately In Our Culture, The Charismatic Leader Usually Becomes A Leader Because He Has Found A Spot In The Public Limelight.

In '32 We Organized The Young Negroes' Cooperative League And Had Some Degree Of Success In Terms Of Establishing Stores And Certainly Buying Clubs In Various Sections Of The Country. I Was Designated As - I Don't Know What Exactly - I Believe It Was Director. I'm Not Sure What It Was, But It Had To Do With Getting Out The Necessary Mail And All Of That - Organization.

I Think, To Be Honest, Sort Of Emanated From The Initial Work Of Somebody Else Instead Of Sclc. If You Take Albany; I Don't Know Whether You Recall How Albany Got Started. There Were Two Little Guys Who Went Up There First. One Was Cordell Hull Who Was Then In His Teens - Not Cordell Hull - Cordell Reagan, Who Came Out Of The Nashville Movement, And Charles Sherrod, Who Came Out Of The Richmond, Virginia, Movement.

I'm Sure, Out Of The Context Here Of Stanley Levison's Relationship With The Jewish Liberal Forces, That Had Made Contributions. I Remember One Such Contribution Before They Moved From Montgomery. An Associate In The Real Estate Business With Stanley Had Lost A Son In The War, And She Wanted To Do Something In Memory Of Him. So, She Made Available Certain Monies To Be Used By The Emerging Leadership There In Montgomery. I'm Sure Other Individuals Did.