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The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) opens its twenty-sixth annual convention in Washington, D.C.
1983 (Aug 24)
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) opened its twenty-sixth annual convention in Washington, D.C. In one of the opening addresses, the Reverend Joseph E. Lowery, president of the SCLC, asserted: "We are being told still that America cannot afford freedom and justice for all of our citizens.... Two decades of hard-fought progress are in danger of erosion through budget cuts.... Federal agencies have callously abdicated their mandated responsibility to enforce anti-discrimination laws. ... Those rights we fought for dearly are being eroded." The SCLC was founded in 1957 by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and other southern civil rights leaders. The focus of the 1983 convention was “Jobs, Peace, and Freedom.”
References:
- • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.