Text transcribed from caption: P-30348 NCC DELEGATES PRESS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS LEGISLATION PHILADELPHIA -- Two busloads of delegates and official visitors, a total of about 80 men and women, left the National Council of Churches’ triennial General Assembly at Philadelphia, Pa., on Dec. 6 for a one-day journey to Washington, D.C., to contact legislators and personally urge speedy passage of pending civil rights legislation. The trip followed Assembly approval of a resolution seeking accelerated Christian pressure on Congressmen to force the bill out of committee and onto the floor of the House of Representatives for debate. J. Irwin Miller, outgoing NCC president, (third from right, front row) greets Christian Methodist Episcopal Bishop B. Julian Smith of Chicago and other travelers on their return to Philadelphia. Also welcoming the returning group (second from left) was Dr. Robert W. Spike, executive director of the NCC’s Commission on Religion and Race. Next to Bishop Smith, a vice chairman of the race commission, is Dr. Anna Arnold Hedgeman, special projects coordinator for the commission, and to her right is Dr. R.H. Edwin Espy, NCC general secretary. Credit Must Read: RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO (1-P-12B-63-NBM)
