Just as Chicago Defender publisher Robert S. Abbott exhorted Blacks in the South to come North for jobs and opportunity, the call went out to a young southern man to come North to help make that opportunity a reality.
Rev. Martin Luther King was a frequent visitor to Chicago, actually residing here in 1966 as part of his effort to bring the organizing strategies of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to the North. King rolled up his sleeves and joined the battle to desegregate Chicago’s public schools, and to work with the Coordinating Council of Community Organizations to rid the city of slums and end employment discrimination. King described his treatment in Chicago as more virulent than any he received in the South.
Copyright Chicago Defender
