Thomas Kilgore Jr.

{{about|clergyman and human rights activist|the founder of Cross Plains, Tennessee|Thomas Kilgore}}

{{Infobox religious biography

| honorific_prefix = The Reverend

| name = Thomas Kilgore Jr.

| image = Thomas Kilgore, 1979.jpg

| caption = Kilgore in 1979

| alt =

| birth_name = Thomas Kilgore Jr.

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1913|2|20}}

| birth_place = Woodruff, South Carolina, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1998|2|4|1913|2|20}}

| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.

| resting_place =

| profession = Clergyman

| religion = Christianity Protestantism

| denomination = Baptist

| church =

| spouse = {{marriage|Jeannetta Miriam Scott|1936}}

| children =

| education = Morehouse College

| ordination =

| congregations =

| signature =

| website =

}}

Thomas Kilgore Jr. was a prominent clergyman, community leader, and human rights activist. He helped organize the March on Washington.{{cite web |url=https://news.usc.edu/10736/Rev-Thomas-Kilgore-Jr-Civil-Rights-Leader-Adviser-to-Three-USC-Presidents-Dies/ |title=Rev. Thomas Kilgore Jr., Civil Rights Leader, Adviser to Three USC Presidents, Dies |last=Lytle |first=James |date=16 February 1998 |website=USC |publisher=University of Southern California |access-date=15 August 2020 |quote= |archive-date=February 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220220152045/https://news.usc.edu/10736/Rev-Thomas-Kilgore-Jr-Civil-Rights-Leader-Adviser-to-Three-USC-Presidents-Dies/ |url-status=dead }}

Biography

Kilgore was born in Woodruff, South Carolina. While a freshman at Morehouse College in Atlanta, he attended Ebeneezer Baptist Church, which was headed by the Reverend A. D. Williams, the maternal grandfather of Martin Luther King Jr. It was through this association that he got to know the King family. He first met Martin Luther King when the latter was only {{frac|2|1|2}} years old.

When the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was founded in the late 1950s, Kilgore managed their New York office. In 1963, he helped organize the March on Washington. Also in 1963, Kilgore became pastor of Second Baptist Church, the oldest black Baptist church in Los Angeles. There he established the first chapter of SCLC west of the Rockies. He led Second Baptist Church until his retirement in 1985.

Kilgore died in Los Angeles on February 4, 1998. He was 84 years old.