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Program for a speaking engagement by Martin Luther King, Jr., held in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on March 13, 1966, 11.5 x 5.75, featuring a collage of images of King and the Nobel Peace Prize on the cover, signed on the back cover in ballpoint, “Martin Luther King.” Double-matted and framed with a Southern Christian Leadership Conference donation envelope, a promotional card, and an engraved plate to an overall size of 17 x 21.5. In fine condition, with trivial soiling. Accompanied by a full letter of authenticity from PSA.
The night before this appearance, on March 12, 1966, King addressed the Chicago Freedom Festival at the International Amphitheatre, a benefit concert featuring Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, and Mahalia Jackson that raised over $100,000 in support of what would become the Chicago Freedom Movement, King's campaign against slum housing and segregation in the urban North. The rally drew an interracial crowd of about 12,000 and served as an early public push for the movement, months ahead of its better-known Soldier Field rally and march on Chicago City Hall that July.
King spoke in Bridgeport the following evening, March 13th, at Klein Memorial Auditorium, a venue he had already visited in 1962 and 1964. He spoke for 45 minutes, criticizing both the Democratic and Republican parties for their failure to advocate for civil rights, and used the appearance to build support for the civil rights movement. The engagement fell within SCLC's ongoing fundraising and speaking circuit outside the South, distinct from the Chicago campaign he had rallied support for one day earlier.
