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Martin Luther King, Jr

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:10,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD
Martin Luther King, Jr

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Auction Date:2016 May 11 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Spectacular TLS signed “Martin L. King, Jr.,” one page, 8 x 10.75, Southern Christian Leadership Conference letterhead, September 8, 1965. Letter to prominent anti-apartheid activist Ronald Segal. In part: “I am in receipt of your very kind letter of recent date inviting me to serve as a sponsor of your International Conference on Economic Sanctions against South Africa…As you know, I am deeply concerned about the whole South African situation and I seek to support every creative effort to bring pressure against the governments of South Africa and South West Africa to end the long night of man’s inhumanity to man. For this reason I will be happy to serve as a sponsor of your conference.” Handsomely matted and framed with a portrait of King. In fine condition, with scattered light creasing, primarily to the right edge.

Ronald Segal, founder of the Penguin African Library, was a white native of South Africa who became a leading anti-apartheid activist and organizer during the 1960s. After the Sharpeville Massacre of March 21, 1960, and subsequent imprisonment of activists under state of emergency measures, Segal fled to England to live in exile while continuing his advocacy work. This letter reveals a major turning point in history—the beginning of international condemnation of the apartheid regime. It also marks the period in King’s career where he began to speak out against global problems after previously focusing on combating racism exclusively in the United States. When asked about South Africa while en route to Stockholm to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, King said, ‘More and more I have come to realize that racism is a world problem.’ King’s leadership, both domestically and on the international stage, served as inspiration for the nonviolent resistance against apartheid. With excellent content directly related to his worldwide legacy—and an ideal connection to a fellow civil rights leader—this is an exemplary, boldly signed letter of great significance. Oversized.