It's etched in my mind forever," he says. Jesus and other great reformers were extremists: "So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Have students read and analyze Martin Luther King Jr. on Just and Unjust Laws - excerpts from a letter written in the Birmingham City Jail (available in this PDF). On the day of his arrest, a group of clergymen wrote an open letter in which they called for the community to renounce protest tactics that caused unrest in the community, to do so in court and not in the streets. It was that letter that prompted King to draft, on this day, April 16, the famous document known as Letter From a Birmingham Jail. The eight clergy men called his present activity He implored people of all races, particularly the racial majority, to take a stand against race-biased laws and to act on behalf of justice. hide caption. Video transcript. In the letter, written following public criticism by fellow clergymen, King argues that the protests are indeed necessary to bring about change. Another part of the letter that I want to highlight is this statement - Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue. He is explaining why his non-violent actions were needed to break the inertia of inaction and produce negotiations. It was his response to a public statement of concern and caution issued by eight white religious leaders of the South. I accept this award today with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind, said King in his acceptance speech. [8] On April 12, King was arrested with SCLC activist Ralph Abernathy, ACMHR and SCLC official Fred Shuttlesworth, and other marchers, while thousands of African Americans dressed for Good Friday looked on. Their desire to be active in fighting against racism is what made King certain that this is where he should begin his work. Make it clear to students . King writes in Why We Can't Wait: "Begun on the margins of the newspaper in which the statement appeared while I was in jail, the letter was continued on scraps of writing paper supplied by a friendly Black trusty, and concluded on a pad my attorneys were eventually permitted to leave me. [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. "Birmingham grabbed the imagination. And it still is," Baggett says. Write to Lily Rothman at lily.rothman@time.com. The Letter from Birmingham Jail, was "ostensibly addressed," to the clergymen of Alabama (Westbrook, par. King was in jail for about a week before being released on bond, and it was clear that TIMEs editors werent the only group that thought he had made a misstep in Birmingham. Alabama segregationist Bull Connor ordered police to use dogs and fire hoses on black demonstrators in May 1963. King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail". In response, King said that recent decisions by the SCLC to delay its efforts for tactical reasons showed that it was behaving responsibly. The man who had won the election, Albert Boutwell, was also a segregationist, and he was one of many who accused outsidershe clearly meant Kingof stirring up trouble in Birmingham. Fifty years have passed since Dr Martin Luther King, Jr wrote his "Letter from the Birmingham Jail". You couldn't sit down. [9], King was met with unusually harsh conditions in the Birmingham jail. Dr. Kings remedy: nonviolent direct action, the only spiritually valid way to bring gross injustice to the surface, where it could be seen and dealt with. C. Herbert Oliver, an activist, in 1963, and was recently donated to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. After Durick retired, he returned to Alabama to live in a house in Bessemer until his death in 1994. While imprisoned, King penned an open letter now known as his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, a full-throated defense of the Birmingham protest campaign that is now regarded as one of the greatest texts of the civil rights movement. Thanks to Dr. Kings letter, Birmingham had become a clarion call for action by the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, especially in the 1980s, when the international outcry to free Nelson Mandela reached its zenith. The speech was recorded by the Rev. "I was invited" by our Birmingham affiliate "because injustice is here" in what is probably the most racially-divided city in the country, with its brutal police, unjust courts, and many "unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches". Though TIME dismissed the protests when they first occurred, that letter was included was included in the issue the following January in which King was named the Man of the Year for 1963. "Suddenly he's rising up out of the valley, up the mountain on a tide of indignation, and so this letter, we have to understand from the beginning, is born in a moment of black anger," Rieder says. Martin Luther King Jr. was behind bars in Alabama as a result of his continuing crusade for civil rights. [14] Referring to his belief that all communities and states were interrelated, King wrote, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. They were arrested and held in solitary confinement in the Birmingham jail where King wrote his famous "Letter From Birmingham Jail." Many historians have pointed to the victory at Vimy Ridge during World War I as a moment of greatness for read more, During the American Civil War, Major General Nathan Bedford Forrests Confederate raiders attack the isolated Union garrison at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, overlooking the Mississippi River. Birmingham was the perfect place to take a stand. Last week Connor and Police Chief Jamie Moore got an injunction against all demonstrations from a state court, TIME reported. They attack King and call the protests "unwise and untimely." Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote in longhand the letter which follows. (1) King's purpose is to inform them of his reason for being there and why he believes that although . The letter was distributed to the media, published in newspapers and magazines in the months after the Birmingham demonstrations, and it appeared in his book, Why We Cant Wait, in 1964. King referred to his responsibility as the leader of the SCLC, which had numerous affiliated organizations throughout the South. 7). 100%. At least thats what TIME thought: in the April 19 issue of that year, under the headline Poorly Timed Protest, the magazine cast King as an outsider who did not consult the citys local activists and leaders before making demands that set back Birminghams progress and drew Bull Connors ire. Because King addressed his letter to them by name, they were put in the position of looking to posterity as if they opposed Kings goals rather than the timing of the demonstration, Rabbi Grafman said. The Clergy of Birmingham believed that Martin Luther King's use of non-violent protests was a bad idea because it considered unwise and was done at the completely wrong time. "Project C" is also referred to as the Birmingham campaign. Letter From Birmingham Jail 1 A U G U S T 1 9 6 3 Letter from Birmingham Jail . The resulting letter was addressed to Fellow Clergymen who had criticized the protest campaign. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, Washington, D.C. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, San Jose, John F. Kennedy's speech to the nation on Civil Rights, Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States, Chicago Freedom Movement/Chicago open housing movement, Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, Council for United Civil Rights Leadership, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), "Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind Stayed On Freedom)", List of lynching victims in the United States, Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Letter_from_Birmingham_Jail&oldid=1141774811, Christianity and politics in the United States, Pages using Sister project links with hidden wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 26 February 2023, at 18:53. He wrote, I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. Our purpose when practicing civil disobedience is to call attention to the injustice or to an unjust law which we seek to change, he wroteand going to jail, and eloquently explaining why, would do just that. Lesson Transcript. His letter describes the shameful humiliation and inexpressible cruelties of American slavery, and just as Dr. King was forced to reduce his sacred thoughts to the profane words of the newspaper in order to triumph over injustice, African Americans would win their freedom someday because the sacred heritage of our nations and eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands.. However, in his devotion to his cause, King referred to himself as an extremist. This article was written by Douglas Brinkley and originally published in August 2003 issue of American History Magazine. They were in basic agreement with King that segregation should end. All Rights Reserved. George Wallace delivered his inaugural address with these fighting words: "I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever.". The following year, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which guaranteed voting rights to minorities and outlawed segregation and racial discrimination in all places of public accommodation. Dr. King, who was born in 1929, did his undergraduate work at On 14-15 April [2013] an ecumenical symposium was held to renew commitment to racial justice and reconciliation by leaders of Christian denominations in the United States of America. [7] The citizens of Birmingham's efforts in desegregation caught King's attention, especially with their previous attempts resulting in failure or broken promises. Why was the letter from Birmingham written? He wrote this letter from his jail cell after him and several of his associates were arrested as they nonviolently protested segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. Furthermore, he wrote: "I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law."[20]. "[23] King's discussion of extremism implicitly responded to numerous "moderate" objections to the ongoing movement, such as US President Dwight D. Eisenhower's claim that he could not meet with civil rights leaders because doing so would require him to meet with the Ku Klux Klan. Ralph Abernathy (center) and the Rev. The time for justice is always now. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" is the answer to the clergymen's criticism of King and his actions. Police mugshot of Martin Luther King Jr following, his arrest for protests in Birmingham, Alabama, 1963. "We will see all the facets of King that we know, but now we have the badass King and the sarcastic King, and we have the King who is not afraid to tell white people, 'This is how angry I am at you,' " Rieder says. ", 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. They flavor us over time creating tribes and silos. He makes a clear distinction between both of them. From the Birmingham jail, King wrote a letter of great eloquence in which he spelled out his philosophy of nonviolence: You may well ask: Why direct action? "Letter From a Birmingham Jail," written by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963, describes a protest against his arrest for non-violent resistance to racism. The clergy members told him that civil disobedience was only useful until it became dangerous and then it was time for people to return to peace and quiet. But the time for waiting was over. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. In the spring of 1963, in Birmingham, Ala., it seemed like progress was finally being made on civil rights. It's etched in my mind forever," says Charles Avery Jr. Magazines, Digital While rapidly intensifying hurricanes, record warm months or years, or deluges in New York City make headlines, these extreme events are not breaking news to climate scientists. And all others in Birmingham and all over America will be able to sing with new meaning: My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.". Kathy Lohr/NPR Its ugly record of brutality is widely known. In his "letter from Birmingham jail" Martin Luther King jr. writes about something he calls 'just' and 'unjust' laws. That night King told the congregation he had no faith in the city's newly elected leader, Albert Boutwell, either. The decision for King and the movement to. Citing previous failed negotiations, King wrote that the Black community was left with "no alternative". Its ugly record of brutality is widely known. The nonviolent campaign was coordinated by the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) and King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). That eventful year was climaxed by the award to King of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo in December. I had hoped, King wrote at one point, that the white moderate would understand that the present tension in the South is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace, in which the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to a substantive and positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. 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. "Alone in jail, King plunges down into a kind of depression and panic combined," says Jonathan Rieder, a sociology professor at Barnard College who has written a new book on the letter called Gospel of Freedom. King wasn't getting enough participation from the black community. 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 is taking. Dr. King and many civil rights leaders were in Birmingham as a part of a coordinated campaign of sit-ins and marches against racial segregation. He was a senior in high school. They protest because it causes tension, and tension causes change. As Harrison Salisbury wrote in The New York Times, the streets, the water supply, and the sewer system were the only public facilities shared by both races. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. He was responding to those that called him an outside agitator, but this statement hits home for me as a climate scientist. The other, all now deceased, members of the eight clergy addressed by King in his letter were Rabbi Milton Grafman of Temple Emanu-El; Catholic Bishop Joseph A. Durick; Methodist Bishop Nolan Harmon, Episcopal Bishop Charles C.J. Martin Luther King Jr., with the Rev. The force of the water was so strong it peeled off clothing, shredded skin and tossed children down the streets. [38] King included a version of the full text in his 1964 book Why We Can't Wait. King then states that he rarely responds to criticisms of his work and ideas. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. "I was 18. That same day, King was arrested and put in the Birmingham Jail. He led students to march. The worst of Connors brutalities came after the letter was written, but the Birmingham campaign succeeded in drawing national attention to the horrors of segregation. In 1963 a group of clergymen published an open letter to Martin Luther King Jr., calling nonviolent demonstrations against segregation "unwise and untimely.". Negroes have experienced grossly unjust treatment in the courts. You couldn't stand sideways. But by fall it and the city of Birmingham became rallying cries in the civil rights campaign. Ed Ramage of First Presbyterian Church. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. They were widely hailed for being among the most progressive religious leaders in the South, Bass said. Compared to other movements at the time, King found himself as a moderate. From the Birmingham jail where he was imprisoned for his participation in demonstrations, King wrote a letter in reply. King reaches out to clergy that do not support his ideas and methods for equality. 9 Moving Reactions to Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1968 Assassination, How We Can Learn to Live with COVID-19 After Vaccinations. Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? The letter was not published immediately. "[12] Walter Reuther, president of the United Auto Workers, arranged $160,000 to bail out King and the other jailed protestors.[13]. Written as a response to a letter published by eight white clergymen who denounced King's work as "unwise and untimely," King delivered, under trying circumstances, a work of exceptional lucidity and moral force (King). (Photo by NASA/Newsmakers). Dr. King believed that the clergymen had made a mistake in criticizing the protestors without equally examining the racist causes of the injustice that the protest was against. Altogether, King's letter was a powerful defense of the motivations, tactics, and goals of the Birmingham campaign and the Civil Rights Movement more generally. King cited Martin Buber and Paul Tillich with further examples from the past and present of what makes laws just or unjust: "A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law. Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement, Riding Freedom: 10 Milestones in U.S. Civil Rights History. "[21] In terms of obedience to the law, King says citizens have "not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws" and also "to disobey unjust laws". 777794), Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, justice too long delayed is justice denied, "Semiotics and Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail", "A Case Study Analysis of the "Letter from Birmingham Jail": Conceptualizing the Conscience of King through the Lens of Paulo Freire", "The Great Society: A New History with Amity Shlaes", "Harvey Shapiro, Poet and Editor, Dies at 88", "TUESDAY, APRIL 9: Senator Doug Jones to Lead Bipartisan Commemorative Reading of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 1963 Letter from Birmingham Jail", "VIDEO: Senator Doug Jones Leads Second Annual Bipartisan Reading of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail on the Senate Floor", "Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nonviolent Resistance", Full text in HTML at the University of Pennsylvania, A Reading of the Letter from Birmingham Jail, Panel discussion on "Letter from Birmingham Jail" with Julian Bond, Stephen L. Carter, Gary Hall, Walter Isaacson, Eric L. Motley, and Natasha Trethewey, February 24, 2014. And so, with America again seemingly just as divided as it was in the 60s, here are five things that we should all take away from King's letter that I hope will bring us closer. Although in the tumble of events then and since, it never got the notice it deserved, the magazine noted, it may yet live as a classic expression of the Negro revolution of 1963., Read excerpts from the letter, which was included in Martin Luther King Jrs Man of the Year cover story, here in the TIME Vault: Letter from a Birmingham Jail. In 1963, the Rev. He wrote, "Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension . The old city jail looks abandoned. hide caption. In Birmingham, Alabama, in the spring of 1963, King's campaign to end segregation at lunch counters and in hiring practices drew nationwide attention when police turned dogs and fire hoses on the demonstrators. But the eight clergy came off looking bad for posterity, their names attached to the top of Kings elegant document when it was reprinted in history and literary textbooks. One day the South will recognize its real heroes."[29]. Even after the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in September 1963, the group of white clergy was still looked to for leadership on racial issues. Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. v. CBS, Inc. Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), African American founding fathers of the United States, Statue of Martin Luther King Jr. (Pueblo, Colorado), Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, San Francisco. With racial tension high, King began nonviolent protests before Easter, but the campaign was struggling. King penned his letter in response to clergy who criticized him for his non-violent activism. Answered over 90d ago. In 1967, King ended up spending another five days in. Anticipating the claim that one cannot determine such things, he again cited Christian theologian Thomas Aquinas by saying any law not rooted in "eternal law and natural law" is not just, while any law that "uplifts human personality" is just. '"[18] Declaring that African Americans had waited for the God-given and constitutional rights long enough, King quoted "one of our distinguished jurists" that "justice too long delayed is justice denied. The letter was written in response to his "fellow clergymen," stating that Dr. King's present activities was "unwise and untimely." The peaceful protest in Birmingham was perceived as being extreme. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote the Letter from Birmingham Jail because he needed to keep fighting for the cause, was hugely saddened by the inaction and response of white religious leaders, and to put all the misunderstandings to rest. King wrote the letter as a reply to eight very prominent Alabama clergymen. After being arrested in downtown Birmingham on a Good Friday, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his famous letter, "A Letter From Birmingham Jail" responding to the criticism demonstrated by eight prominent white clergy . [31] Extensive excerpts from the letter were published, without King's consent, on May 19, 1963, in the New York Post Sunday Magazine. As we approach another Dr. Martin Luther King Holiday, I have been reflecting on one of his most important writings, the Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Dr. King wrote this epic letter on April 16th, 1963 as a political prisoner. It's been five decades since Martin Luther King Jr., began writing his famous "Letter From Birmingham Jail," a response to eight white Alabama clergymen who criticized King and worried the civil rights campaign would cause violence. I'll never forget the time or the date. Increasingly, public surveys signal that we have moved beyond misguided questions like Is climate change real? or Is it a hoax? It reminds me of the same skepticism some people exhibited at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic but now look at where we are (over 5.5 million deaths globally at the time of writing). Perhaps you have heard of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famous "Letter from a Birminghal Jail.". Beauregard open fire on Union-held Fort Sumter in South Carolinas Charleston Harbor on April 12, 1861. Need more proof that the original letter was convincing? On April 10, Circuit Judge W. A. Jenkins Jr. issued a blanket injunction against "parading, demonstrating, boycotting, trespassing and picketing". In his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," King speaks to a specific audience: the HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Who did Martin Luther King, Jr., influence and in what ways? Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? King wrote the letter in response to a set of messages received from religious leaders in Birmingham, Alabama, after he had been arrested for protesting racial segregation laws. "They were all moderates or liberals. It documents how frustrated he was by white moderates who kept telling blacks that this was not the right time: "And that's all we've heard: 'Wait, wait for a more convenient season.' I'm afraid it is much too long to take your precious time. From the speech: "Now is the time to change our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity. We have a commonality too - Earth. Reprinted in "Reporting Civil Rights, Part One", (pp. He also referred to the broader scope of history, when "'Wait' has almost always meant 'Never. King was jailed along with large numbers of his supporters, including hundreds of schoolchildren. [11] The letter provoked King, and he began to write a response to the newspaper itself. In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested and sent to jail for protesting the treatment of African Americans in Birmingham, Alabama. The Rev. When King spent his nine days in the Birmingham jail, it was one of the most rigidly segregated cities in the South, although African Americans made up 40 percent of the population. I also hope that circumstances will soon make it possible for me to meet each of you, not as an integrationist or a civil-rights leader but as a fellow clergyman. For me, this is a statement of unity.