Which organization mobilized black churches in favor of Civil Rights?

• A. Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
• B. Congress on Racial Equality (CORE)
• C. NAACP
• D. League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)

Answer: (A)

Church-based organizing for civil rights relies on using Black churches as hubs for leadership, recruitment, and nonviolent protest. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, founded in 1957 by Martin Luther King Jr. and other Black ministers, built its mission around mobilizing congregations to take collective action. By training local church leaders and coordinating campaigns from the pulpit to the street, it gave a moral framework and organizational structure that could sustain nationwide protests, most famously the Montgomery Bus Boycott and later campaigns. While other groups played crucial roles—CORE organized direct actions like sit-ins and Freedom Rides, the NAACP focused on legal challenges, and LULAC pursued Latino civil rights—the move to mobilize Black churches specifically is most closely associated with the SCLC.