Martin Luther King Jr.

===Chicago open housing movement, 1966===
{{Main|Chicago Freedom Movement}}
[[File:Lyndon Johnson signing Civil Rights Act, July 2, 1964.jpg|thumb|King standing behind President Johnson as he signs the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]]]]

In 1966, after several successes in the south, King, Bevel, and others in the civil rights organizations took the movement to the North. King and Ralph Abernathy, both from the middle class, moved into a building at 1550 S. Hamlin Avenue, in the slums of [[North Lawndale]]<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/901.html|title=North Lawndale|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia|publisher=Chicago History|access-date=September 8, 2008|archive-date=January 30, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130130063532/http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/901.html|url-status=live }}</ref> on Chicago's West Side, as an educational experience and to demonstrate their support and empathy for the poor.{{sfn|Cohen|Taylor|2000|pp=360–62}}

The SCLC formed a coalition with Coordinating Council of Community Organizations (CCCO), an organization founded by [[Albert Raby]], and the combined organizations' efforts were fostered under the aegis of the [[Chicago Freedom Movement]].<ref name=Ralph>{{cite book| last=Ralph| first=James| isbn=0-674-62687-7| publisher=Harvard University Press| year=1993| title=Northern Protest: Martin Luther King Jr., Chicago, and the Civil Rights Movement| page=[https://archive.org/details/northernprotestm00ralp/page/1 1]| url=https://archive.org/details/northernprotestm00ralp/page/1}}</ref>
During that spring, several white couple/black couple tests of real estate offices uncovered [[racial steering]], discriminatory processing of housing requests by couples who were exact matches in income and background.{{sfn|Cohen|Taylor|2000|p=347}} Several larger marches were planned and executed: in Bogan, [[Belmont Cragin, Chicago|Belmont Cragin]], [[Jefferson Park, Chicago|Jefferson Park]], [[Evergreen Park, Illinois|Evergreen Park]], [[Gage Park, Chicago|Gage Park]], [[Marquette Park (Chicago)|Marquette Park]], and others.<ref name=Ralph />{{sfn|Cohen|Taylor|2000|p=416}}<ref>{{cite book | last= Fairclough|first= Adam|page=[https://archive.org/details/toredeemsoulofam00fair/page/299 299]| title= To Redeem the Soul of America: The Southern Christian Leadership Conference & Martin Luther King Jr.| year= 1987| publisher=University of Georgia Press | isbn=0-8203-2346-2| url=https://archive.org/details/toredeemsoulofam00fair/page/299}}</ref>

[[File:Martin Luther King, Jr. and Lyndon Johnson 2.jpg|thumb|President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] meeting with King in the [[Cabinet Room (White House)|White House Cabinet Room]] in 1966]]

King later stated and Abernathy wrote that the movement received a worse reception in Chicago than in the South. Marches, especially the one through Marquette Park on August 5, 1966, were met by thrown bottles and screaming throngs. Rioting seemed very possible.<ref>{{cite book| title=Chicago: City Guide| last=Baty| first=Chris| page=[https://archive.org/details/chicago00baty/page/52 52]| publisher=Lonely Planet| isbn=1-74104-032-9| year=2004| url=https://archive.org/details/chicago00baty/page/52}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| title=Jesse Jackson| last=Stone| first=Eddie| pages=[https://archive.org/details/jessejackson0000ston/page/59 59–60]| isbn=0-87067-840-X| publisher=Holloway House Publishing| year=1988| url=https://archive.org/details/jessejackson0000ston/page/59}}</ref> King's beliefs militated against his staging a violent event, and he negotiated an agreement with Mayor [[Richard J. Daley]] to cancel a march in order to avoid the violence that he feared would result.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lentz|first=Richard|title=Symbols, the News Magazines, and Martin Luther King|page=230|publisher=LSU Press|year=1990|isbn=0-8071-2524-5}}</ref> King was hit by a brick during one march, but continued to lead marches in the face of personal danger.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Isserman|first1=Maurice|title=America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s|first2=Michael|last2=Kazin|page=[https://archive.org/details/americadividedci0000isse/page/200 200]|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2000|isbn=0-19-509190-6|url=https://archive.org/details/americadividedci0000isse/page/200}} See also: {{cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/voiceofdeliveran00mill/page/139 139]|last=Miller|first=Keith D.|title=Voice of Deliverance: The Language of Martin Luther King Jr. and Its Sources|isbn=0-8203-2013-7|publisher=University of Georgia Press|year=1998|url=https://archive.org/details/voiceofdeliveran00mill/page/139}}</ref>

When King and his allies returned to the South, they left [[Jesse Jackson]], a seminary student who had previously joined the movement in the South, in charge of their organization.<ref>{{cite book|title=Meet Martin Luther King, Jr|page=[https://archive.org/details/meetmartinluther0000mism/page/20 20]|last=Mis|isbn=978-1-4042-4209-8|publisher=Rosen Publishing Group|year=2008|first=Melody S.|url=https://archive.org/details/meetmartinluther0000mism/page/20}}</ref> Jackson continued their struggle for civil rights by organizing the [[Operation Breadbasket]] movement that targeted chain stores that did not deal fairly with blacks.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Betrayal of the Urban Poor|last=Slessarev|first=Helene|page=[https://archive.org/details/betrayalofurbanp0000sles/page/140 140]|publisher=Temple University Press|year=1997|isbn=1-56639-543-7|url=https://archive.org/details/betrayalofurbanp0000sles/page/140}}</ref>

A 1967 [[CIA]] document declassified in 2017 downplayed King's role in the "black militant situation" in Chicago, with a source stating that King "sought at least constructive, positive projects."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/docid-32397511.pdf |title=Views on Black Militant Situation in Chicago |author=CIA |date=October 5, 1967 |access-date=February 13, 2018 |archive-date=September 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917225428/https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/docid-32397511.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>