[African-Americana] [King, Martin Luther, Jr.] Group of 18 Items Related to the Civil Rights Movement in Montgomery, Alabama, and Alfonso and Lucy Campbell, ca. 1950s-60s

A Collection Related to Montgomery, Alabama Civil Rights Activists, Alfonso and Lucy B. Campbell

Montgomery, Alabama, etc., 1956-90. A remarkable collection of 18 printed and mimeographed items related to Alfonso and Lucy B. Campbell and their life in Montgomery, Alabama during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s-60s, and beyond. Size and condition vary, generally well-preserved.

Alfonso Campbell and Lucy Barnes met in Montgomery during a period of increased activism in the African American community that set the stage for the Bus Boycott in 1955-56 and the greater Civil Rights Movement in the United States. In the 1940s they were both employed at Alabama State College (now Alabama State University), where Alfonso worked as Supervisor of Transportation and Lucy as a staff librarian. When they began their courtship Alfonso had just returned from Europe a decorated war hero, and Lucy was newly relocated from Portsmouth, Virginia after receiving her Masters in Library Science at North Carolina Central University. They were active members of the Baptist community--Alfonso and his brother, Elisha B. Campbell, served as Deacons at St. James Baptist Church in Waugh, Alabama--and married on May 4, 1946. In 1954 they were raising two young children when 25-year-old Martin Luther King, Jr., became the 20th Pastor of the prominent Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. Although Dexter was not the Campbell's church, they were drawn to the new, young, and energetic Pastor who had recently arrived from Boston. They first met King at his first sermon at Dexter, and during his six-year tenure as Pastor there the Campbell's frequently attended his sermons, while Lucy and her children regularly attended its Sunday School, where King often participated.

When the Montgomery Bus Boycott began in the winter of 1955, both Alfonso and Lucy, like many of their friends and neighbors, became some of its early organizers and supporters. They participated in the preliminary one-day boycott held on December 5 that was called in response of the arrest of their friend, Rosa Parks, for her refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man. They also attended the first mass community meeting held that same night at Holt Street Baptist Church that overwhelmingly voted in favor of extending the boycott. That same evening the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) was created to plan, coordinate, and direct the boycott with Dr. King unanimously elected its president. The Campbells, along with thousands of others who crammed into pews and overflowed onto the Church's lawn, listened to King's riveting speech that same night when he called for justice and urged the community to affirm the belief "that democracy transformed from thin paper to thick action is the greatest form of government on earth". Although Parks's courageous action was the spark that ignited the 381-day long protest, Montgomery's Black residents had long prepared the ground for the historic boycott, especially through the work of the Women's Political Council headed by Jo Ann Robinson; E.D. Nixon of the NAACP; and their white allies like librarian Juliette Hampton Morgan.

Shortly following the MIA's creation Alfonso was selected, alongside his close friend Rufus Lewis, to co-chair the MIA's Transportation Committee. The Committee played a critical role in the boycott's ultimate success by creating a vast carpool and taxi network in Montgomery (called "rolling churches") to sustain the protest by circumventing the city's bus system. Alfonso, Lewis, and their numerous volunteers, devised a network of over 40 pick-up and drop-off stations that shuttled virtually all 50,000 of the city's Black residents (more than one-third of the city's entire population) to and from their jobs, churches, schools, and everyday affairs, during the 13-month-long protest. With over a decade of experience as Supervisor of Transportation at Alabama State, Alfonso was instrumental in helping maintain the efficient operation of this complex transportation system, and helped map routes and secure automobiles, fuel, and maintenance, all in the face of harassment and violence from the city's police force (in one instance he was given six tickets in a two-hour period for transporting protesters) and local white population, and at great personal risk to his job at Alabama State. Concurrent with this role, Alfonso served as chair of the MIA's Purchasing Committee, and through his connections as a part-time car salesman he successfully purchased over a dozen automobiles used in the MIA's carpool system, a noteworthy feat when dealerships routinely refused to do business with boycott supporters. As Jo Ann Robinson wrote in her memoir regarding Alfonso and the Transportation Committee's work, The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It: The Memoir of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson (The University of Tennessee Press, 1987), "the members of the Transportation Committee...did a superb job mapping out the routes for Negroes in every section of the city, and all got free service." (p. 93), and described their work as "so effectively planned that many writers described it as comparable in precision to a military operation." (p. 55). During the long months when the boycott's success was uncertain, the MIA held weekly mass meetings and sermons--often led by Dr. King and First Baptist Church pastor, and Campbell family friend, Ralph Abernathy--to keep the African American community mobilized and which Alfonso and Lucy often attended. During this time Lucy began to chronicle the events and record the experiences of the boycott's participants in an album that is now held in the archives of the Ollie L. Brown Afro-American Heritage Special Collection at The Levi Watkins Learning Center at Alabama State University.

Following the boycott's success in December 1956 the Campbells remained active in their community, and remained committed to the MIA as it shifted its attention toward voting rights, the fight for the integration of schools and public facilities, while holding annual conferences on non-violence. In 1960, when Dr. King resigned from Dexter to become co-Pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, and more closely manage the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Campbells attended his farewell ceremony and contributed money to the King family to help with their move. From a distance they remained friends with the Kings and received Christmas cards from them every year. In 1964 the Campbells moved from Montgomery to Virginia when Alfonso became Assistant Dean of Men and Lucy a staff librarian at Hampton Institute (now Hampton University).

1. Printed Program for the Citizens' Committee
(Montgomery, Alabama): Alabama State College, November 3, 1955. Souvenir Program for the Citizens' Committee event featuring Congressman Adam Clayton Powell of New York. Unpaginated (12 pp.) Original printed stiff staple-bound self-wrappers; creased from contemporary fold; scattered minor soiling. Featuring an order of events, as well as printed compliments from Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church; Ralph Abernathy and the First Baptist Church; E.D. Nixon and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, as well as Nixon's printed letter as president of the Montgomery Progressive Democratic Association encouraging people to vote; Jo Anne Robinson, president of the Women's Political Council printed ad welcoming Powell; as well as a list of the Citizens' Committee members and patrons.

2. (King, Martin Luther, Jr.)
The Death of Evil Upon the Seashore
New York, Thursday, May 17, 1956. Printed "Sermon Preached by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Service of Prayer and Thanksgiving in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine." 8vo. Unpaginated (4 pp.) Original staple-bound limp printed wrappers, lightly worn.

3. Printed Alabama State College Program
Montgomery, Alabama: Alabama State University, May 27, 1956. Printed program for the "Ten Times One is Ten Club" event featuring Dr. Ralph J. Bunche, Undersecretary of the United Nations, held at Alabama State College Gymnasium. Unpaginated (4 pp.).

4. The Eightieth Anniversary of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church
(Montgomery, Alabama, ca. December, 1957). Official printed booklet for the 80th anniversary celebration of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church featuring a history of the Church, a biography of its Pastor, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a program of events, printed photographs of the church's various members and groups, including Dr. King, the Deacons and Trustees, the Missionary Society, Scholarship Committee, the Choir, Social Political Actions Committee, and others, as well as dozens of printed ads of congratulations and compliments from Montgomery's businesses and individuals. 4to. 31 pp. Original staple-bound stiff printed blue wrappers; all edges trimmed; text and photographs printed in blue ink.

5. Printed Dexter Avenue Baptist Church Program
(Montgomery, Alabama), Sunday, October 25, 1959. One printed sheet, 11 x 8 1/2 in. (279 x 216 mm). Official Dexter Avenue Baptist Church program for "The First in a Series of Youth Programs...", with Program Committee printed at bottom including Mrs. Coretta King, Co-Chairman; signature of Martin Luther King, Jr. rubber-stamped at top ("M.L. King Jr); "Dexter Avenue Baptist Church School/J.T. Alexander, Superintendent" rubber-stamped at bottom in purple ink and signed in pen by Enrollment Secretary, Eileen Jones. Creasing from contemporary folds.

6. Group of 19 Newsletters from the Inter-Citizens Committee
Montgomery, Alabama, ca. 1958-61. Comprising 19, 14 x 8 1/2 in. (356 x 216 mm) mimeographed typed sheets on "Human Rights in Alabama." Each report contains individual testimonies of human rights abuses from African Americans in Alabama. Creasing from contemporary folds.

7. Printed Program for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Farewell Ceremony at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church
Montgomery, Alabama, Sunday, January 31, 1960. Printed program for the farewell celebration for Dr. King at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, featuring the banquet menu, program of events and tributes, and the various committees and their members. 8vo. Unpaginated (4 pp.). Original limp printed wrappers; creasing from contemporary folds.

8. Partially-Printed Check, signed
February 1, 1960. Original partially-printed First National Bank of Montgomery check, signed by A(lfonso). L. Campbell, for $10.00, and made out to Dr. M(artin).L(uther). King, Jr; endorsed by King in a secretarial hand on verso; bank ink stamps on same; bank's perforated stamp at center.

9. Printed National Broadcasting Company Pamphlet
Washington, D.C., Sunday, April, 17, 1960. Printed National Broadcasting Company (NBC) interview between Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Lawrence E. Spivak on Meet the Press; Vol. 4, Number 16. 8vo.11 (1) pp. Original staple-bound limp printed self-wrappers; contemporary vertical crease; foxing on front wrapper.

10. Mimeographed Montgomery Council Newsletter
(Montgomery, Alabama): Montgomery Council on Human Relations, November 1960. Mimeographed Montgomery Council on Human Relations newsletter, being a "Reprint of the text of the New York Times and Washington Post stories on race relations in Birmingham, Alabama". 14 x 8 1/2 in. (356 x 216 mm). Comprising 19 leaves, stapled at top left corner; scattered edge-wear; final leaf loose but present.

11. Southern Christian Leadership Conference Membership Card
No date. Printed card, with a portrait of Dr. King on right; not filled in. 2 1/4 x 3 7/8 in. (57 x 98 mm).

12. Group of 3 Christmas Cards from the King Family to the Campbell Family
Atlanta, Georgia, ca. 1961-67. Two printed Christmas cards, one signed "'The Martin Luther Kings' Coretta, Martin, Yoki, Marty & Scotty", presumably in Coretta's hand; and one printed Christmas letter, dated December 1967, signed in print by the family; each with original postmarked envelope.

13. Obsequies: Martin Luther King Jr.
Atlanta, Georgia, April 9, 1968. First printing. 8vo. Unpaginated (16 pp.). Original stiff staple-bound pictorial self wrappers; original yellow tassel at top left corner. Scarce original printed program for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s funeral service at Ebenezer Baptist Church, and Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, on Tuesday, April 9, 1968. Only a limited number of copies were printed for attendees.

14. Printed Hampton Institute Program
(Hampton, Virginia): Hampton Institute, September 26, 1968. 8vo. Unpaginated (8 pp.). Printed Hampton Institute program for "The Twenty-sixth Annual Fall Convocation and the Dedication of Martin Luther King Hall". Signed on front wrapper by Benjamin E. Mays, President Emeritus of Dr. King's alma mater, Morehouse College. Original printed stiff self-wrappers.

15. King, Coretta Scott
Typed Letter, signed
Atlanta, Georgia, July 1, 1985. One sheet, 11 x 8 1/2 in. (279 x 216 mm). Typed letter, on The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Inc. stationery, signed by Coretta Scott King, to Alfonso Campbell, thanking him for his $100 donation to The King Center; with original mailing envelope.

16. Printed Card
(Atlanta, Georgia), June, 1990. Printed card from the Ralph Abernathy family, thanking Alfonso and Lucy Campbell for their support following Abernathy's death; with original envelope.

Alfonso Leon Campbell, Sr. (1904-2002) was born in Mitchell Station, Alabama, completed his early education in Mt. Meigs, Alabama, and attended and graduated from the State Normal High School in Montgomery. He graduated from Alabama State Teachers College (Alabama State University) in 1934, where he was a star football and baseball player (he was inducted into the ASU Athletic Hall of Fame in 1983). Following graduation he briefly taught at the State Normal High School before becoming Supervisor of Transportation at his alma mater, ASU. He served in the Army during World War II where he participated in the D-Day invasion of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge, rose to the rank of Master Sergeant, and was decorated with four Bronze Stars. Following the war he resumed his work at ASU where he met his wife, Lucy Barnes, who he married in May, 1946. Like Dr. King, he was a proud life-long member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, and in1963 he became Assistant Dean of Men at Hampton Institute (now Hampton University).

Lucy Barnes Campbell (1920-2013) was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, and graduated from Portsmouth's I.C. Norcom High School. She was a member of the first graduating class of North Carolina Central University's School of Library Science and, following graduation briefly served as a librarian at Darden High School in Wilson, North Carolina. She remained at Darden before accepting a position as a staff librarian at Alabama State where she met Alfonso in the 1940s. She returned to the Portsmouth area with her family in 1963 when she accepted a position as circulation librarian at Hampton Institute, and where she published works on the history of the Library School there. Lucy was a life-long member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.

Provenance

Alfonso L. Campbell and Lucy B. Campbell, thence by descent in the family