Ministry Will Assist King's Selma Drive

The United Ministry at Harvard, in its first corporate action, will send volunteers to Montgomery, Ala on Thursday to join the end of Martin Luther King's 50-mile march.

The volunteers will be part of a group of about 400 people from the Boston area who are answering a call from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the National Council of Churches.

Among those from Harvard who plan to join members of the United Ministry in the march are John M. Bullitt '43, professor of English: Henry C. Hatfield '33, professor of German; and George H. Williams, Hollis Professor of Divinity. The United Ministry plans to give all prospective marchers training in non-violent techniques at the Blue Hill Christian Center in Cambridge.

The Reverend Richard E. Mumma, speaking for the United Ministry, said the action had come as "part of the deep sense of moral conscience and offence at what went on in Selma." He noted that until the SCLC asked for help, the United Ministry had been discouraging individuals from going to Selma because of the need for disciplined, organized action there.

Mumma said the response had been "overwhelming," and that there was a possibility that all those who wished to go might not be accommodated. He said that the United Ministry was asking everyone in the University to take a stand on the civil rights issue, especially by working for the civil rights movement in the North.

Last week, the Ministry sent letters to President Johnson and several Massachusetts congressman, calling for the strongest possible voting bill, protection for demonstrators in Alabama, and vigorous enforcement of Title VI of the 1940 Civil Rights Act, which denies Federal funds to enterprises practicing racial discrimination. The Ministry has already received assurances of support from Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass). Rep. Joseph W. Martin (R-Mass) and Rep. Williams H. Bates (R-Mass).