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Bus boycotts took place in many other Southern cities during the Montgomery movement, and a few campaigns against bus segregation actually had already occurred. But it was the Montgomery boycott, which rallied Negro leaders throughout the South. Many agreed that a strong regional organization would be necessary to combat the racial segregation.
The first meeting of this new regional organization, which later came to be known as Southern Christian Leadership Conference, was held in January 1957, Atlanta, Georgia. Individuals who were determined to go through with their revolution held the conference together. These persons included Bayard Rustin, Mrs. King, and Rev. Shuttlesworth. .
To many Americans, The Southern Christian Leadership Conference is more of a memory than a viable contemporary movement (Peake, 1987). SCLC had numerous ties across the South and in a number of northern areas. Southern Christian Leadership Conference's main formation came from church led protest movements in 1957. SCLC"S policies are based on nonviolent action against social, political and economic injustice. All members engaged in door-to-door canvassing of voters, boycotts, sit-ins at lunch counters, training adults in citizenship schools, developing youth leadership, and teaching nonviolence and reconciling hatred.
Three features have distinguished the historical role of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (1987,Peake). First, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's relationship is unique to the conference. He supervised the organization until his death in 1968.
The second distinctive of SCLC is its strong bonds to local churches and its precise orientation to Christianity. Religious faith has been vital to virtually all black organization and movements (1987,Peake). Many of the SCLC leaders were ministers. The centrality of faith and ministerial leadership is apparent in the development of the organization.