Thomas Kilgore Jr.
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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 (commonly known as 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 rig ...
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Biography

Kilgore was born in Woodruff, South Carolina. While a freshman at
Morehouse College Morehouse College is a Private college, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black, Men's colleges in the United States, men's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia, ...
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, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...
It was through this association that he got to know the King family. He first met Martin Luther King when the latter was only years old. When the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was founded in the late 1950s, Kilgore 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. There he 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 anti-racism activists Montgomery bus boycott Morehouse College alumni American nonviolence advocates People from Atlanta Baptists from Georgia (U.S. state) Baptists from South Carolina Clergy from Atlanta