Martin Luther King, Jr. Autograph Letter Signed. by King, Jr., Martin Luther - 1961

Atlanta, Georgia, 1961. Autograph letter signed by Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Dated October 5, 1961 and addressed to Mr. K. H. Browne, the letter reads in part, "Dear Mr. Browne: This is to acknowledge receipt of your very kind letters of recent date. Encouraging words such as yours are of inestimable value for the continuance of my humble efforts. Our struggle is often difficult and the moments are often frustrating, but we gain new courage to carry on when we realize that persons of good will, such as you, are supporting us in the background. Although the days are now dark, I am convinced that we stand on the threshold of our nation's bright tomorrow. I've never been to Mesa, Arizona, and appreciate your invitation to visit there sometime...It is my hope that I will have the pleasure of meeting you sometime in the near future. Sincerely yours, Martin Luther King, Jr." In fine condition. Double matted and framed with the original mailing envelope and a portrait of King. The entire piece measures 23 inches by 20 inches. Rare and desirable. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the civil rights movement from 1954 through 1968. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using the tactics of nonviolence and civil disobedience based on his Christian beliefs and inspired by the nonviolent activism of Mahatma Gandhi. King led the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott and in 1957 became the first president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). With the SCLC, he led an unsuccessful 1962 struggle against segregation in Albany, Georgia, and helped organize the nonviolent 1963 protests in Birmingham, Alabama. He also helped organize the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. On October 14, 1964, King received the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolent resistance. In 1965, he helped to organize the Selma to Montgomery marches, and the following year he and the SCLC took the movement north to Chicago to work on segregated housing. In his final years he expanded his focus to include opposition towards poverty and the Vietnam War, alienating many of his liberal allies with a 1967 speech titled "Beyond Vietnam". In 1968, King was planning a national occupation of Washington, D.C., to be called the Poor People's Campaign, when he was assassinated on April 4 in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established as a holiday in numerous cities and states beginning in 1971, and as a U.S. federal holiday in 1986. The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was dedicated in 2011.