In 1961 Hill was offered the senior pastor position at the North Avenue Presbyterian Church in New Rochelle, NY. He continued his work for racial equality and in 1963 he traveled to Washington, D.C. to join the freedom march and witnessed Martin Luther King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
Believing that the church should be actively involved in culture as well, he organized the Festival of Religion and the Arts. Painters throughout the United States were exhibited at the church. Duke Ellington and Ravi Shankar performed and the great Jackie Robinson preached.
His most ambitious and successful project, though, was a fight against the organized crime that had taken over the suburb of New Rochelle. After local gangsters brutally murdered a young man for failing to pay his gambling debts, Hill began his own inquiries into the influence of organized crime. As he came to understand the extent of their power, Hill formulated a plan for reclaiming the community. When his efforts spread he ...
