GREENSBORO, N.C. - Billy Graham, America's Pastor, was a close friend to the Civil Rights Movement.
He worked with civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to end segregation and encourage equality.
The two pastors met at a Crusade in New York City in 1957.
Dr. King gave the opening prayer at the service.
Graham later invited King to a retreat to better understand the racial situation in America.
According to Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Billy Graham's first public acts against racial segregation started in the South at his crusades during the early 1950's.
During that time, ropes were used to separate whites from blacks.
Black people would sit in the back and white people would sit in the front.
When Graham saw the segregated sections, he was appalled and decided to do something about it.
Graham asked the head usher to remove the ropes.
When the usher refused, Graham took the ropes down himself.
It was a controversial moment and the head usher resigned.
That incident opened up his friendship with Dr. King, known for nonviolent resistance.
Dr. King would open up to Graham, and in return, Graham would offer King advice and tell him to continue preaching the gospel.
Reverend Graham was known for preaching a message of inclusion.
"Now, Jesus was a man. He was human. He was not a white man. He was not a black man. He came from that part of the world that touches Africa and Asia and Europe, and he probably had a brown skin. Christianity is not a white man's religion, and don't let anybody ever tell you that it's white or black. Christ belongs to all people. He belongs to the whole world," - Billy Graham, Johannesburg, March 25, 1973.
Graham and King's friendship grew so much that King asked Graham to call him by his nickname, Mike, after his father.
King once said, "had it not been for the ministry of Billy Graham, his work in the Civil Rights Movement would not have been as successful."
The toughest part of any friendship, however, is saying goodbye.
According to Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Graham was in Australia when Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis in 1968.
When learning about the death of his beloved friend, Graham said, "I was almost in a state of shock. Not only was I losing a friend through a vicious and senseless killing, but America was losing a social leader and a prophet, and I felt his death would be one of the greatest tragedies in our history."
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