Goodwin College
DigitalCommons@Goodwin
Finding Aids
Special Collections
2016
Montgomery Bus Boycott Archive
Goodwin College
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HOFFMAN FAMILY LIBRARY
GOODWIN COLLEGE
Montgomery Bus
Boycott Archive
1 BOX (C. 1.17 LINEAR FEET)
COLLECTION SUMMARY
Collection Number:
MS 2016.001
Collection Title:
Montgomery Bus Boycott Archive
Dates:
1956 - 1960
Size:
1.17 Linear Feet (1 Box)
Creator/Collector:
Maude Ballou
Acquisition Info:
Purchased, 2016
Language(s):
Collection materials predominantly in English
Repository:
Hoffman Family Library, Goodwin College, 211 Riverside Drive
East Hartford, Connecticut 06118.
Processed By:
Cynthia Hunt, 2016
Conservation Notes:
Not applicable.
RIGHTS AND ACCESS:
Physical access restrictions:
Collections are stored off site and a minimum of 2 week
notice is needed to retrieve the items for use. Researchers
interested in consulting any of the collections are advised to
email [email protected]
Technical access restrictions:
None
Publication rights (Copyright):
The copyright interests in this collection remain with the
creator. Please contact staff regarding copyright status of these
materials. Researchers may quote from the collection under fair
use provisions of the copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code).
Preferred Citation:
[item identification], Montgomery Bus Boycott Archive, Hoffman
Family Library, Goodwin College, East Hartford Connecticut.
Separated material: None
Published descriptions: None
BIOGRAPHICAL/HISTORICAL
NOTE:
Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American political activist
and the most famous leader of the American civil rights movement. He was also a Baptist
minister. Considered a peacemaker throughout the world for his promotion of nonviolence
and equal treatment for different races, he received the Nobel Peace Prize before he was
assassinated in 1968. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by
Jimmy Carter in 1977, the Congressional Gold Medal in 2004, and in 1986, Martin Luther
King Day was established in his honor.
Maude Ballou served as Dr. King’s first secretary from 1955 to 1960. Born and raised in
Alabama, she graduated from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Lousiana in 1947, earning
a bachelor of science in business administration. She and her husband Leonard Ballou moved
to Montgomery in 1952. Ballou assisted King and the Montgomery Improvement Association
throughout the Montgomery Bus Boycott. She often would write letters on King’s behalf and
played a critical role in responding to letters.
The Civil Rights portion of this collection contains everything from speeches, to magazines
and other publications, to travel itineraries, carpool schedules, voter registrations materials,
as well as copious correspondence from individuals around the world – mostly in support of
the various groups’ efforts but a few critical of them. Groups represented include the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.
Also included in the collections are music, poems, and a play, sent to the Montgomery
Improvement Association (MIA) in support of the Bus Boycott and Civil Rights Movement.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the wider civil rights movements, garnered international
attention and inspired artists and musicians to fight for change through art, music, and theatre
with the hope that it would rally the people to action.
SCOPE AND CONTENTS NOTE:
INDEX TERMS:
Names
Abernathy, Ralph D., 1926-1990
Ballou, Leonard
Ballou, Maude
King, Martin Luther, Jr, 1929-1968
Parks, Rosa, 1913-2005
Organizations
Montgomery Improvement Association
Institute on Non-Violence and Social Change
Subjects
Boycotts
Boycotts - Alabama
Civil rights movement – United States – History – 20th Century
Civil rights demonstrations – Alabama.
Montgomery Improvement Association – Fund raising.
Montgomery Bus Boycott, Montgomery, Ala., 1955-1956
Nonviolence
Segregation in Transportation
Social Justice
Places
Alabama (Ala.)
Montgomery (Ala.)
SERIES 1: MONTGOMERY IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION
Folder 1
Newsletter. The Montgomery Improvement Association. Vol. 1, No. 4.
September 21, 1956
Folder 2
Newsletter. The Montgomery Improvement Association. Vol. 1, No. 5.
November 26, 1956.
Folder 3
Pamphlet. “The Bus Boycott in Montgomery” The Southern Negro Speaks Up.
Spring 1956. Handwritten note to Maude Ballou from Frank P. Chisolm of Old
Saybrook, Connecticut on the back. Dated April 30, 1957.
Folder 4
Program. Institute on “Non-Violence and Social Change.” December 3-9,
1956.
Folder 5
King’s annual address delivered at the First Annual Institute on On-Violence
and Social Change under the Auspices of the Montgomery Improvement
Association. December 3, 1956.
Folder 6
News Release. “Bus Protesters call Southern Negro Leaders Conferences on
transportation and non-violent integration . . .” January 7, 1957.
“Our Struggle.” By Martin Luther King.
The Negro History Bulletin. April 1957
Typed letter of support in German. 1957.
Letter from David P. Gaines Waterbury, CT. May 13, 1957.
Telegram to King from John M. Currie, Pastor and Chaplain.
Folder 7
Appeal for Voter Registration to Mr. Ballou from Rufus A. Lewis, Chairman
of Registering and Voting Committee. May 30, 1957.
Folder 8
Telegram to Maude Ballou from Ebony Magazine, David Jackson. May 14,
1957
Postcard. The Brotherhood Flag.
Letter to Maude Ballou from the World Peace Association
Letter to King and Maude Ballou. July 31, 1957.
Newspaper. “Minneapolis Spokesman” October 4, 1957.
Folder 9
Letter to King in pencil. 1957.
Letter to Maude Ballou from Frank L. Stanley.
Folder 10
Second Anniversary announcement. October 29, 1957.
Folder 11
Program. Second Annual Institute on Non-Violence and Social Change.
December 5 – 8, 1957.
Folder 12
MIA Membership Drive Dinner. 1957
Folder 13
Letter. December 15, 1957.
Folder 14
News clipping. “Fields Reports Sunday Topic.”
News clipping. “Fields’ Sermon Topic Announced.” February 9, 1957.
News clipping. “Bell Street Church Plans Entrance Day Event Sunday.”
News clipping. “Dexter Church Lists Program”
News clipping. Book review. “The Montgomery Story: The Unhappy Effects
of The Montgomery Bus Boycott.”
Folder 15
Letter to King from Sidney Plotnick of Los Angeles, CA. August 3, 1960.
Letter to Mr. Ballou from Harbans S. Takulia. February 21, 1960
Letter to Sarah Ball of Hartford, CT from King. November 16, 1959
Letter to King from Sarah Ball. October 7, 1959.
Letter to Mrs. Ballou with attached report: “Report from Cuba, Churchmen
Have Prominent Roles in New Government.” August 4, 1959.
Letter to Mrs. Ballou. New Year’s Greeting. January 10, 1959.
Letter to King from Andrew J. Mountrey. May 25, 1957.
Letter to Mrs. Ballou. Acceptance of membership into the Montgomery
Chapter of the B&P Women’s Club. December 23, 1958.
SERIES II: BUS BOYCOT AND CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT SUPPORT
Folder 16
Signed copy by Mrs. Gertrude Cannon. Black Labor Chant and other poems.
1938
Sheet music. “A Prayer FromThe Rockies” by Sallie Ridings-Payne and
published by Sarah E. Payne.
Correspondence between King and Sally D. Goodwin about her song. January
15, 1957.
Letter with enclosed record. “God Keeps His Finger On Me” by Clarence L.
Young Sr. February 26, 1957.
Benjamin Francisco A. Jaime. Sheet Music: "A Musical Setting to Psalm
24." New York: B.F.H. Jaime, 1955. With lyrics in English and Spanish.
Poetry by Frederick E. Kern. May 13, 1957
Typescript for the Play "The Housekeeper." Written by playwright Burt
Marnik, pseudonym of Stanley Weinstein. Forty-five pages, bound in a blue
folder. The first of three plays in a trilogy, the cast features a married white
man and woman and their black housekeeper who is involved in the
Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Letter to King from Joe Glazer. July 11, 1958
Correspondence between Maude Ballou and Beatrice Thomas Howard.
Sheet Music: "We Are Americans Too." New York: Handy Brothers Music
Co. Inc., 1941. 8vo, 12 pages. Written and arranged by Charles Cooke, Andy
Razaf, and Eubie Blake. "Arrangements also, for glee clubs by well-known
composers and arrangers." With sheet music and lyrics to the song "Aintcha
Got Music" by W. C. Handy.
Letter to King with written poems from Francis Pomer. October 11, 1957.
Folder 17
Transportation Route No. 1
Advertisement.
Letter to King from Rev. M. B. Gordon
Liberation. Montgomery Anniversary. December 1956.
Montgomery Improvement Association Meeting. May 3, 1956.
Letter to King from Jean Berger of Middlebury College. October 30, 1956
Folder 18
Letter to Mrs. Ballou from James Jones. July 14, 1957.
Poems and Quotations by Beatrice Thomas Howard.
Folder 19
“Montgomery Marchers’ Song.”
“Colored Boy Driving A Bus” by Joe Elber
“God’s Colors” by Eddie Weir and Bob Mason
“My Feet Are Tired” by Fran Thomas
Letter to Ralph D. Abernathy from Lester A. Walton. March 1, 1956.
Correspondence between Maude Ballou and Margaret Chandler