Thursday, March 5th, 1964 was cold and wet in Frankfort, Kentucky, the kind of day better spent indoors. However, 10,000 Americans defied the weather conditions and participated in a march on Kentucky’s capitol. The occasion was to show support for House Bill 197 which would ban any segregation of public accommodations such as restaurants and hotels.

     Among the 10,000 led by the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., was one man who knew firsthand how hotel and restaurant segregation plagued the nation - baseball’s Jackie Robinson. Robinson had been a victim of racial segregation since his days in the Negro Leagues when he was forced to use “colored” amenities and accommodations. This indignity continued even after he broke baseball’s color line, and he and the other black Dodgers were forced to eat and spend the night in hotels separate from the rest of the team.

     By 1964 these Jim Crow laws were quickly crumbling, and the organizers of the March on Frankfort hoped it would be another small victory in the ongoing Civil Rights struggle. The march ended at the Kentucky State House where a delegation led by Martin Luther King, Jr. and Jackie Robinson presented a petition to Governor Edward T. Breathitt. Pictures were taken and the Governor told the delegation “I’ll do what I can”, but in the end Bill 197 failed. It was subsequently passed in 1966, making Kentucky the first southern state to pass a Civil Rights law.

     This 8-page souvenir program was produced for the 1964 march and in addition to listing the events of the day, it outlines the march’s objectives plus provides a guideline for what individuals can do in the aftermath of the march. The program shows wear from age as well as some slight water damage along the right edges. There is some scuffing on the front cover and staining on the back. None of this distracts from the visual appeal of historical significance of this piece. This is a rare piece that demonstrates how Robinson’s work for Civil Rights didn’t end with his breaking of baseball’s color line, but continued well past his retirement.

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