Martin Luther King Jr. Signed & Inscribed "Stride Toward Freedom" – to a Donor of the N.A.A.C.P. Legal Defense Fund

First edition of King's account of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, in its original dust jacket, inscribed to philanthropist Charlotte Rosenbaum:

"To Miss Charlotte Rosenbaum: In appreciation for your genuine humanitarian concern, and your great financial and moral support in the struggle to realize the American dream, Martin Luther King, Jr."

Montgomery's segregated bus system reserved front seats for white riders and back seats for Black riders at all times, with a contested middle section between them. When Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1, 1955 for refusing to give up her seat, local NAACP leadership organized a boycott under the newly formed Montgomery Improvement Association, choosing the young pastor Martin Luther King Jr. to lead it. The 382-day boycott survived firebombings and King's own arrest, ending after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a ruling that Alabama's bus segregation laws were unconstitutional.

Charlotte Rosenbaum funded mental health care and supported organizations including the ACLU and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. The inscription is dated in her hand, "11-22-61," on the dedication page.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. Signed copy of Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story, first edition. New York: Harper and Row, 1958. 224 pp. Octavo, original dust jacket. Ex: The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Inventory #28352.

Condition: lightly toned at gutter; dust jacket with some minor tears and wear at upper and lower margins; minor bumps at corners.