Letter from Birmingham Jail
It says that people have a moral responsibility to break unjust laws and to take direct action rather than waiting potentially forever for justice to come through the courts.The letter, written in response to "A Call for Unity" during the 1963 Birmingham campaign, was widely published, and became an important text for the civil rights movement in the United States.[6] The Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) had met with the Senior Citizens Committee (SCC) following this protest in hopes to find a way to prevent larger forms of retaliation against segregation.[7] The citizens of Birmingham's efforts in desegregation caught King's attention, especially with their previous attempts resulting in failure or broken promises.King met with President John F. Kennedy on October 16, 1961, to address the concerns of discrimination in the south and the lack of action the government was taking; President Kennedy seemed to be in support of desegregation, but was slow to take action, with Birmingham officials refusing to leave office in an effort to prevent a younger generation of officials with less discriminatory beliefs being elected.[10] An ally smuggled in a newspaper from April 12, which contained "A Call for Unity", a statement by eight white Alabama clergymen against King and his methods.[13] King's letter, dated April 16, 1963,[12] responded to several criticisms made by the "A Call for Unity" clergymen, who agreed that social injustices existed but argued that the battle against racial segregation should be fought solely in the courts, not the streets.King wrote: "I was invited" by the SCLC's Birmingham affiliate, "because injustice is here" in what was probably the most racially-divided city in the country, with its brutal police, unjust courts, and many "unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches"."[15] King also warned that if white people successfully rejected his nonviolent activists as rabble-rousing outside agitators, it could encourage millions of African Americans to "seek solace and security in black nationalist ideologies, a development that will lead inevitably to a frightening racial nightmare.'"[18] Along similar lines, King also lamented the "myth concerning time" by which white moderates assumed that progress toward equal rights was inevitable and so assertive activism was unnecessary.Alabama has used "all sorts of devious methods" to deny its black citizens their right to vote and thus preserve its unjust laws and broader system of white supremacy.[28] Instead of the police, King praised the nonviolent demonstrators in Birmingham "for their sublime courage, their willingness to suffer and their amazing discipline in the midst of great provocation.Pastor Wyatt Tee Walker and his secretary Willie Pearl Mackey then began compiling and editing the literary jigsaw puzzle.
publ. American Friends Service Committee
Martin Luther King Jr.National Civil Rights Museumopen letterdirect actionjusticeA Call for UnityBirmingham campaigncivil rights movementpolitical prisonercivil disobedienceBirmingham, AlabamaMiles CollegeAlabama Christian Movement for Human RightsPresident John F. KennedyProject Cracismracial segregationnonviolentSouthern Christian Leadership ConferenceRalph AbernathyFred ShuttlesworthGood FridaytrustyWalter ReutherUnited Auto Workersblack nationalistjustice too long delayed is justice deniedSt. Augustinean unjust law is no law at allThomas AquinasMartin BuberPaul TillichDwight D. EisenhowerKu Klux KlanAmerican Friends Service CommitteeWyatt Tee WalkerLiberationThe Christian CenturyThe New LeaderThe ProgressiveThe Atlantic MonthlyWhy We Can't Waitanthologizedcollegecomposition coursesDoug JonesSenateSherrod BrownSmith, Robert C.Facts On FileCardozo Studies in Law and LiteratureTaylor & FrancisHenretta, James A.Bedford/St. Martin'sRoutledgeFox, MargalitKing, Martin Luther Jr.Carpenter, C. C. J.Durick, Joseph AloysiusGrafman, Milton L.Hardin, PaulHarmon, Nolan BaileyMurray, George M.Ramage, Edward V.Stallings, EarlWayback MachineYouTubeC-SPANSpeechesGive Us the BallotI Have a DreamHow Long, Not LongI've Been to the MountaintopStride Toward FreedomWhat Is Man?Second Emancipation ProclamationStrength to LoveConscience for ChangeMovementsand protestsMontgomery bus boycottPrayer Pilgrimage for FreedomAlbany MovementMarch on Washington for Jobs and FreedomSt. Augustine movementSelma to Montgomery marchesChicago Freedom MovementMississippi March Against FearAnti-VietnamMemphis sanitation strikePoor People's CampaignMontgomery Improvement AssociationSouthern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)Coretta Scott KingYolanda KingMartin Luther King IIIDexter KingBernice KingMartin Luther King Sr.Alberta Williams KingChristine King FarrisA. D. KingJames Albert KingAlveda KingElla BakerJames BevelDorothy CottonJesse JacksonBernard LafayetteJames LawsonJohn LewisJoseph LoweryBenjamin MaysDiane NashJames OrangeBayard RustinC. T. VivianWyatt WalkerHosea WilliamsAndrew YoungAssassinationLorraine MotelFuneralJames Earl RayJack KershawU.S. House Select Committee on AssassinationsMartin Luther King Jr. Records Collection Act