D.C. & King: The Story Behind the Films
Explore the original artifacts that informed the stories in our D.C. & King short videos, featuring the people, places, and issues that connected Dr. King to D.C.
Short videos in the library's permanent exhibit explore the people and groups that connected Dr. King to D.C.’s civil rights movement, as well as how King, in turn, amplified the work of local leaders. Learn about the local leaders who led the fight for racial and economic justice decades before the March on Washington.
An Educator, Orator, and Organizer for Women's Rights
Nannie Helen Burroughs is not a household name. And yet she had an extraordinary impact—on the Civil Rights movement and on King himself. This video explores the parallels and intersections of Burroughs and King—as leaders who organized to fight injustice locally and nationally.
Excerpt from D.C. & King: Nannie Helen Burroughs
This excerpt from the on view at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library details moments of Burroughs' encouragement and support for Dr. King over many years.
Telegram from Dr. King, A. Philip Randolph, and Roy Wilkins to Nannie Helen Burroughs (March 27. 1957) by A. Philip Randolph Papers, Courtesy of the Library of CongressDC Public Library
Telegram to Nannie Helen Burroughs, 1957
In 1957, Dr. King’s newly-formed organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), enlisted D.C. civil rights leaders in planning its first national rally, the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom.
Telegram to Nannie Helen Burroughs, 1957
This document from the Library of Congress shows how leaders of the SCLC reached out to their nationwide network to demand civil rights legislation.
Telegram to Nannie Helen Burroughs, 1957
It also shows why they felt her support of their first nonviolent demonstration in D.C. was of "utmost importance."
Fighting for D.C.'s Right to Vote
This short vignette shows how Martin Luther King, Jr. played a role in the most important civil rights struggle in D.C.’s history—the fight for self-government, also known as home rule.
D.C. & King: Home Rule (excerpt)
This excerpt from the video on view at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library illustrates several of the stops on King's tour in support of self-government for the District.
Learn more in the Library's new exhibit and in the fall issue of Washington History journal.
In August 1965, during a planned tour to hear civil rights concerns in Northern cities, King spent three days in D.C. Learn more about King's visit, and the rallies he led in support of economic rights, racial justice, and D.C. Home Rule.
Dr. King leads D.C. Home Rule march (August 5, 1965) by Washington Star Collection © Washington PostDC Public Library
Home Rule march, August 5, 1965
This photograph from the Washington Star Collection in The People's Archive inspired a short video on King's support for D.C. Home Rule, on view in the Library's permanent exhibit.
Left to right: Bishop Paul Moore Jr., Dorothy Simms Fauntroy, Rev. Walter Fauntroy, and Dr. King.
Itinerary prepared for Dr. King by the D.C. Coalition of Conscience (July 1965) by Courtesy of Special Collections Research Center, George Washington UniversityDC Public Library
Draft Itinerary for Dr. King's D.C. tour, 1965
This document, from the Walter E. Fauntroy Papers, Special Collections Research Center, George Washington University, details the local stops on King's tour.
D.C. Coalition of Conscience
Chaired by Rev. Walter Fauntroy, New Bethel Baptist Church, and Suffragan Bishop Paul Moore, Washington Cathedral, the group that invited King was biracial confederation of religious, civic, and civil rights groups worked to improve conditions for the poor in D.C.
Draft Itinerary for August 4, 1965 (detail)
Newspaper accounts reveal that hundreds attended a breakfast to raise awareness of welfare recipients' inadequate meal allowance in D.C. However, King himself missed the event due to a bomb threat to the plane he was taking from Philadelphia to D.C. that morning.
Draft Itinerary for August 4, 1965 (detail)
Before meeting with local clergy at Adas Israel Synagogue in Cleveland Park, King addressed the press. He suggested the possibility of “massive demonstrations, massive action, massive nonviolent direct action in order to call this [home rule] issue."
Draft Itinerary for August 4, 1965 (detail)
King “toured several dormitories and led a flock of children as he walked about the grounds” at Junior Village, an overcrowded city children’s shelter located next to a dump and a sewage treatment plant in Southwest.
Draft Itinerary for August 4, 1965 (detail)
King addressed some 1,500 people in a Deanwood rally organized by future Councilmember Willie J. Hardy and Sargent Memorial Presbyterian Church. While he spoke from a platform, a member of the American Nazi Party splattered King’s legs with red paint.
Dig Deeper: Back issues of local newspapers, including the Star and the Post, aided in the research of this film. Issues may be accessed in the local newspaper databases with a DC Public Library card.
Content for this online exhibit was created by the DC Public Library Exhibits Team
Excerpts from video by Bluecadet
Learn more about the the local activists and the issues that Dr. King cared about in the Library's new permanent exhibit, Up from the People: Protest and Change in D.C., on view at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, D.C.
You can also learn more in these online exhibits:
A Revolution of Values
A Library Named for Dr. King
D.C. Wins Home Rule
Everybody's Got a Right to Live: The Poor People's Campaign
Marion Barry: Mayor for Life
This exhibition was made possible by the generous support of the DC Public Library Foundation, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this exhibit do not represent the views of any funding organizations.
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