Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom
The Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom was a large nonviolent demonstration in Washington, DC on May 17, 1957, an early event of the African-American Civil Rights Movement, and the occasion for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Give Us the Ballot speech.
Background
The demonstration was planned at the occasion of the third anniversary of the Brown vs Board of Education, a landmark Supreme Court decision against segregation in public schools. The event organizers urged the government to abide by that decision, as the process of desegregation was being obstructed at local and state levels.
The march was organized by A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin, and was supported by the NAACP and the recently founded Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr. had asked the planners not to embarrass the Eisenhower administration, thus the event was organized as a prayer commemoration. A call for the demonstration was issued on April 5, 1957, by Randolph, Martin Luther King, and Roy Wilkins.
