--- title: Black History Month: Rare Photos From 1957 Prayer Pilgrimage description: When thousands of people traveled to D.C. on the third anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, LIFE photographer Paul Schutzer was there canonical: https://time.com/4661317/prayer-pilgrimage-1957/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-23T14:00:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:50:23.023Z og:title: Black History Month: Rare Photos From 1957 Prayer Pilgrimage og:description: "We must work passionately and unrelentingly for the goal of freedom," Martin Luther King Jr. told the crowd og:url: https://time.com/4661317/prayer-pilgrimage-1957/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6df8e088987b76c0/6988b8f0428a9ead80cd5c37/170206-prayer-pilgrimage-18.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom 1957 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Black History Month: Rare Photos From 1957 Prayer Pilgrimage twitter:description: "We must work passionately and unrelentingly for the goal of freedom," Martin Luther King Jr. told the crowd twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6df8e088987b76c0/6988b8f0428a9ead80cd5c37/170206-prayer-pilgrimage-18.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Portraits of of Protest From the 1957 Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/) and [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) Feb 23, 2017 2:00 PM UTC  Civil Rights leader Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King (2R) with others at prayer pilgrimage, 1957. Civil Rights leader Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King (2R) with others at prayer pilgrimage, 1957. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/) and [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) Feb 23, 2017 2:00 PM UTC On May 17, 1957, on the third anniversary of the Supreme Court’s [epoch-making decision](http://time.com/103002/brown-v-board-of-education-60th-anniversary/) in the _Brown_ _v. Board of Education_ desegregation case, thousands of people traveled to Washington, D.C. — not for a visit, but for a pilgrimage. The reason for the gathering, in short, was that the milestone court decision had not yet translated to real integration. “The camera of Paul Schutzer caught these faces in a crowd of 15,000 people who assembled in Washington from 30 different states on a mass ‘prayer pilgrimage for freedom,'” LIFE Magazine [noted](https://books.google.com/books?id=Nj8EAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA14#v=twopage&q&f=false) in its June 3, 1957, issue. “The pilgrimage, on the third anniversary of the Supreme Court’s segregation decision, was planned to urge the President, Congress and both political parties to make the court’s decision a reality.” (The actual number of participants may have been significantly [higher](http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc%5Fprayer%5Fpilgrimage%5Ffor%5Ffreedom%5F1957/).) This Black History Month, LIFE revisits Schutzer’s striking images, seen here — many of which were not published as part of the magazine’s coverage of the event. The most important of the day’s speeches, the brief write-up continued, was by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who asked those in attendance to work unrelentingly but for the goal of voting rights and true equality. In an oration that would come to be known as the “Give Us the Ballot” speech, he [affirmed](http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/documentsentry/doc%5Fgive%5Fus%5Fthe%5Fballot%5Faddress%5Fat%5Fthe%5Fprayer%5Fpilgrimage%5Ffor%5Ffreedom/) the ways in which voting rights were essential to the goal of integration and freedom, and how important he believed it was to face without bitterness the work to be done: --- > “” --- The portraits captured by Schutzer that day were more than an attendance list, the magazine pointed out: they were a visual reflection of the spirit of King’s plea “in the expressions of the pilgrims listening, with prayerful intensity, to the exhortations.”  Rallying point for Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom, 1957. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. addressing the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial during the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom in Washington, D.C. in 1957. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Chicago gospel singer Mahalia Jackson sings "Keep-A-Trustin" during three-hour meeting. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Two women among 15,000 people at the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom, 1957. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Intent listener, an elderly woman, sat almost immobile as speakers voiced hope and warning. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Representative Adam Clayton Powell Jr. addressing Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom, 1957. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Patriarchal Pilgram sat through meeting in quiet dignity, once broke into a pleased smile. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Pretty pilgrim follows close attention the speech by Dr. King at meeting's climax. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Fierce concentration shows on face of Judge Edward R. Dudley of New York during speech. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Harry Belafonte and wife Julie at Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom, 1957. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. With quiet force, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King calls for action to implement court decision. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  At the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom, women wearing their Sunday best and waving their arms in approval, 1957. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Actor Sidney Poitier during prayer pilgrimage, 1957. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Civil Rights heroine Rosa Parks, who touched off Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott at the Prayer Pilgrimage, 1957. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Participant addressing the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial during the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom in Washington, D.C. in 1957. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A child with a group of pilgrims at the Lincoln Memorial during the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom in Washington, D.C. in 1957. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A women's chorus singing in front of Lincoln Memorial during Prayer Pilgrimage, 1957. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Civil Rights leader Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King (2R) with others at prayer pilgrimage, 1957. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Prayerful pastor, Rev. I. G. Glover from Brooklyn, broods during one of rally's speeches. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Faces in the crowd at the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom, 1957. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Faces in the crowd at the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom, 1957. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Faces in the crowd at the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom, 1957. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. speaking at the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom at Lincoln Memorial, 1957. 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