Free
The Montgomery bus boycott made King famous, and he became very busy. He helped form a new organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), dedicated to working for civil rights, and he became its leader.
He wrote a book about the boycott. While he was signing copies of it in a New York City bookstore, a mentally ill woman stabbed him in the chest with a letter opener. His doctor told him that if he had sneezed, he could have died. The assault confirmed King’s awareness that he faced enemies and possible death.
