Earl Stallings

Earl Stallings (March 20, 1916 – February 23, 2006) was an American Baptist minister and activist in the Civil Rights Movement. In 1963, Rev. Earl Stallings was one of eight signers of the open letter "A Call For Unity," which precipitated a critical response from Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in his "Letter from Birmingham Jail." Despite this, Stallings was the only clergy whom King praised by name in his letter, given that Stallings had opened the doors of his church to black worshipers. This same action angered members of his white congregation. One of the blacks allowed in was the civil rights leader Andrew Young. As a result of his moderate stance, Stallings became a target of both segregationists and integrationists. Tension over the issue so divided the church that it eventually split over the issue in 1970, five years after Stallings' departure.