Bayard Rustin & James Baldwin
©1963 (image credit: Associated Press)

James Baldwin, right, author, and Bayard Rustin, Deputy Director of the March on Washington, comment upon Alabama incidents during a press conference in New York City on September 18, 1963. The two civil rights leaders called upon President John F. Kennedy to use troops to “break the hold” of Governor Wallace of Alabama, otherwise “there will be rioting in Alabama” which will affect the entire nation. They display arm bands to be worn at a rally scheduled in New York September 22 “to protest the brutal murder of Negro children in Birmingham.” (AP Photo)