After a quiet week of rest in Atlanta, King returned to Albany on Monday, August 27. That same day, two groups of white northern ministers from New York and Chicago arrived in Albany. Encouraged by Dr. Anderson and other local leaders, the visitors hoped to serve as mediators and reach out to the white community. However, Albany’s white ministers announced they would not speak with the outsiders. On Tuesday afternoon, seventy-five visiting preachers were arrested after conducting a prayer vigil at City Hall, and eleven of them chose to stay in jail.
