“Heed Their Rising Voices,” New York Times, March 29, 1960

On March 29, 1960, the New York Times carried an advertisement titled "Heed Their Rising Voices" which solicited funds to defend Martin Luther King, Jr. against an Alabama perjury indictment. The advertisement described actions against civil rights protesters.  This resulted in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan in which the then Montgomery Public Safety commissioner, L. B. Sullivan sued four black ministers mentioned in the ad including my grandfather Rev. S.S. Seay, Sr. The case established the actual malice standard which has to be met before press reports about public officials or public figures can be considered to be defamation and libel.