The Second Annual King, and Kilgore Tribute sponsored by the Hoover Intergenerational Institute is at at the California African American Museum Monday in Expo Park, January 30, Monday. 

The late Thomas Kilgore Jr., a pastor and member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, served as a special adviser on community affairs to USC from 1972 until his death in 1998.

He not only helped organize the March on Washington in 1963, but he also laid the foundation for what would become USC’s massive outreach and partnership with the communities around the University Park and Health Sciences campuses.

Kilgore got the job after he was invited by then-USC president John Hubbard to speak at the university’s baccalaureate. At the event, Kilgore challenged USC to be more responsive to its neighbors’ concerns. The university listened and asked him to help improve community relations.

Kilgore’s papers were also donated to and preserved by USC. The collection includes Kilgore’s personal correspondence, sermons and the planning of the 1963 March on Washington with King.

Kilgore graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta in 1935. He was the pastor of Friendship Baptist Church in Harlem, N.Y., from 1947 until 1963 when he became the pastor of Second Baptist Church in Los Angeles near USC. He registered voters, organized tobacco workers, and worked to end segregation in schools and in housing.

The First First Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rev. Dr. Thomas Kilgore Intergenerational Tribute was in 2011 at USC.

Monday, January 30, 8 TO 10:30 A.M.

CALIFORNIA AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM
600 State Drive, Exposition Park