Letter from the office of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., President of the Montgomery Improvement Association| Secretary Maude L. Ballou

 

Letter from the office of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., President of the Montgomery Improvement Association| Secretary Maude L. Ballou

Offering a framed letter dated March 20, 1957 addressed to Ken Browne, a veteran who served in the military in Italy during WWII, received from the office of The President of The Montgomery Improvement Association Inc., The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., signed on his behalf by his personal secretary Maude L. Ballou.

The Montgomery Improvement Association formed December 5, 1955 by black ministers and community leaders; elected Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. President of the MIA, and around the same time, Mrs. Maude L. Ballou became the first personal secretary to MLK. The organization’s vision and mission was to improve race relations and focus national attention on racial segregation and was instrumental in raising awareness on social injustice after Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1, 1955 for failing to vacate her seat on a bus for a white passenger. Mrs. Ballou, an activist in her own right was a key figure in facilitating car pools during the one-day boycott of Montgomery city buses directly protesting Rosa Park’s arrest.

The paper the letter is printed on and the envelope is oxidized and has typical worn aging for its time.

Email: jtfrancis.com@gmail.com

Item: mlk-23-00