Thomas Kilgore Jr. was a prominent clergyman, community leader, and human rights activist. He helped organize the

March on Washington The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, also known as simply the March on Washington or The Great March on Washington, was held in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963. The purpose of the march was to advocate for the civil and economic righ ...

Biography

Kilgore was born in Woodruff, South Carolina. While a freshman at

Morehouse College , mottoeng = And there was light (literal translation of Latin itself translated from Hebrew: "And light was made") , type = Private historically black men's liberal arts college , academic_affiliations ...

in Atlanta, he attended Ebeneezer Baptist Church, which was headed by the Reverend A. D. Williams, the maternal grandfather of

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

It was through this association that he got to know the King family. He first met Martin Luther King when he was only years old. When the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was founded in the late 1950s, he managed their New York office. In 1963, he helped organize the March on Washington. Also in 1963, Kilgore became pastor of Second Baptist Church, the oldest black Baptist church in Los Angeles and established the first chapter of SCLC west of the Rockies. He led Second Baptist Church until his retirement in 1985. Kilgore died in Los Angeles on February 4, 1998. He was 84 years old.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kilgore, Thomas Jr. 1913 births 1998 deaths African-American activists 20th-century Baptist ministers from the United States Activists for African-American civil rights Activists from Georgia (U.S. state) Activists from South Carolina African-American Baptist ministers African-American theologians American human rights activists American humanitarians American anti-racism activists Montgomery bus boycott Morehouse College alumni Nonviolence advocates People from Atlanta Baptists from Georgia (U.S. state) Baptists from South Carolina Clergy from Atlanta