The Second Assembly of the World Council of Churches drew 1,600 delegates and thousands of other Protestants to Evanston in 1954, six years after the first assembly in Amsterdam. Joseph H. Jackson, pastor of Olivet Baptist Church and president of the National Baptist Convention, was among the delegates from Protestant denominations around the world who gathered at Northwestern University's newly built McGaw Hall. A week before Jackson presided over the morning service, President Dwight D. Eisenhower had addressed the convocation. More than 125,000 people attended the opening ceremonies in Soldier Field, less than a month before 260,000 set an attendance record at the stadium's Roman Catholic Marian Year celebration.

Creator: World Council of Churches
Source: Chicago Historical Society (ICHi-37964)