SCLC #478 · Fred Gray 1957 Senate statement altered in 1987 handout

Original (Civil Rights—1957, p. 829): “if the Negroes of Montgomery have the right to vote commensurate with their numbers and qualifications, the situation which has been described above would not have occurred.”

1987 handout (LOC mss859430245 leaf 0025): same frame, but replaces the referent with “the Montgomery, Alabama Bus Protest of 1955-56” — a more explicit boycott counterfactual than the printed 1957 text. The handout also drops, without ellipses, Gray’s citizenship/participation sentence, a local-courts caveat, a judge’s newspaper article reference, and the detailed registration-obstacle account on p. 830.

Limits held: altered quotation inside marks, not proof of who edited it, whether Gray approved, or whether he voiced a similar boycott claim elsewhere. “Best Wishes / Feb. 26, 1987” belongs to the later leaf, not the Senate record. Custody in Parks’s papers ≠ Parks authorship. Hearing labels the contribution “as submitted,” not a transcribed oral appearance.

Primary scans: GPO hearing PDF pp. 829–831 + LOC leaf 0025. Repo: 1987-fred-gray-voting-rights-1957-senate-statement-altered-bus-protest-quote @04def9b.