TLS signed “Martin L. King, Jr.,” one page, 7.25 x 10.5, personal letterhead, January 24, 1961. Letter to George Blau in Tennessee, in part: "It is unfortunate that in our great nation the citadels of higher learning are still the targets of defamation and segregationists. Education, the very cornerstone of our great nation, is sometimes halted by this kind of action and feeling. Thank you very much for offering to assist with clearing away entry requirements for interested students. It is this kind of sincere assistance that serves an important need. I will feel free to call on you when the occasion demands." In fine condition. The recipient of this letter, George Blau, was a fierce supporter of MLK's cause; he participated in many sit-ins in diners while at Vanderbilt and printed the underground newspaper, The Great Speckled Bird, in his basement in Atlanta.
In the wake of the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954, which ruled racial segregation in public schools as unconstitutional, civil rights activists turned their efforts toward the desegregation of colleges and universities. A major victory came on January 6, 1961—mere weeks before this letter by MLK Jr.—when U.S. District Court judge William Bootle ordered the admission of Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter to the University of Georgia, bringing 160 years of segregation at UGA to an end. James Meredith would soon follow suit in Mississippi, finally enrolling—after riots and a legal case rising to the United States Supreme Court—in October 1962. A significant letter on a historic issue from a momentous period within the Civil Rights Movement.
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