Yours for the cause of Peace and Brotherhood, Natural Law, Natural Rights, and American Constitutionalism. [15] "We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. [38] King included a version of the full text in his 1964 book Why We Can't Wait. This is difference made legal. One may well ask: How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others? The answer is found in the fact that there are two types of laws: There are just laws and there are unjust laws. I had hoped that each of you would understand. - [Narrator] What we're going to read together in this video is what has become known as Martin Luther King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail, which he wrote from a jail cell in 1963 after he and several of his associates were arrested in Birmingham, Alabama as they nonviolently protested segregation there. [6], The Birmingham campaign began on April 3, 1963, with coordinated marches and sit-ins against racism and racial segregation in Birmingham. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and willingly accepts the penalty by staying in jail to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the very highest respect for law. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people. 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, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Letter_from_Birmingham_Jail&oldid=1151546186, This page was last edited on 24 April 2023, at 18:34. 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. Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you. Was not Amos an extremist for justiceLet justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. Was not Paul an extremist for the gospel of Jesus ChristI bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Was not Martin Luther an extremistHere I stand; I can do none other so help me God. Was not John Bunyan an extremistI will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience. Was not Abraham Lincoln an extremistThis nation cannot survive half slave and half free. Was not Thomas Jefferson an extremistWe hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. So the question is not whether we will be extremist but what kind of extremist will we be. "[12] Walter Reuther, president of the United Auto Workers, arranged $160,000 to bail out King and the other jailed protestors.[13]. One has not only a legal but moral responsibility to obey just laws. King methodically outlines the four steps taken by the civil rights activists during a campaign: collecting information, negotiations, self-purification, and direct action. Dr. Consciously and unconsciously, he has been swept in by what the Germans call the Zeitgeist, and with his black brothers of Africa, and his brown and yellow brothers of Asia, South America, and the Caribbean, he is moving with a sense of cosmic urgency toward the promised land of racial justice. M artin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham City Jail" responds to criticism against him and outlines the ideology of nonviolent protest. Stallings, for your Christian stand on this past Sunday, in welcoming Negroes to your worship service on a non-segregated basis. I would agree with Saint Augustine that An unjust law is no law at all.. Im grateful to God that, through the Negro church, the dimension of nonviolence entered our struggle. You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. If you are looking for additional help, try the . Use this to prep for your next quiz! Event April 16, 1963 As the events of the Birmingham Campaign intensified on the city's streets, Martin Luther King, Jr., composed a letter from his prison cell in Birmingham in response to local religious leaders' criticisms of the campaign: "Never before have I written so long a letter. I had also hoped that the white moderate would reject the myth of time. [31] Extensive excerpts from the letter were published, without King's consent, on May 19, 1963, in the New York Post Sunday Magazine. Pastor Wyatt Tee Walker and his secretary Willie Pearl Mackey then began compiling and editing the literary jigsaw puzzle. Isnt segregation an existential expression of mans tragic separation, an expression of his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness? Birmingham City Jail April 16, 1963 My dear Fellow Clergymen, While confined here in the Birmingham City Jail, I came across your recent statement calling our present activities "unwise and untimely." Seldom, if ever, do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.] 16 April 1963 My Dear Fellow Clergymen: While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities "unwise and untimely." Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. They will be old, oppressed, battered Negro women, symbolized in a seventy-two year old woman of Montgomery, Alabama, who rose up with a sense of dignity and with her people decided not to ride the segregated buses, and responded to one who inquired about her tiredness with ungrammatical profundity: My feets is tired, but my soul is rested. They will be the young high school and college students, young ministers of the gospel and a host of their elders courageously and nonviolently sitting-in at lunch counters and willingly going to jail for conscience sake. That eventful year was climaxed by the award to King of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo in December. On the other hand a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow that it is willing to follow itself. I do not say that as one of those negative critics who can always find something wrong with the Church. [30] He was eventually able to finish the letter on a pad of paper his lawyers were allowed to leave with him. A U G U S T 1 9 6 3. LoveAllPeople.org. Compete with other teams in real-time to see who answers the most questions correctly! I hope you can see the distinction I am trying to point out. Dr. He has to get them out. Martin Luther King's 'Letter From Birmingham Jail' still resonates 60 years later. [19] King called it a "tragic misconception of time" to assume that its mere passage "will inevitably cure all ills". 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. I felt that the white ministers, priests, and rabbis of the South would be some of our strongest allies. In Birmingham, Alabama, in the spring of 1963, Kings campaign to end segregation at lunch counters and in hiring practices drew nationwide attention when police turned dogs and fire hoses on the demonstrators. Throughout the state of Alabama all types of conniving methods are used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters and there are some counties without a single Negro registered to vote despite the fact that the Negro constitutes a majority of the population. The letter from the Birmingham jail of Martin Luther King, Jr.. It is expressed in the various black nationalist groups that are springing up over the nation, the largest and best known being Elijah Muhammads Muslim movement. I am here because I have basic organizational ties here. King was jailed along with large numbers of his supporters, including hundreds of schoolchildren. Whenever necessary and possible, we share staff, progress or evolve through a process of natural growth, declaration of an intention to inflict harm on another, emptying something by allowing liquid to run out of it, I commend you, Reverend Stallings, for your Christian stand this past Sunday in welcoming Negroes to your, altered to accommodate to certain requirements, choose by a vote for an office or membership, Who can say that the legislature of Alabama which set up the, a continent in the western hemisphere connected to North America by the Isthmus of Panama, one the first colonists or settlers in a new territory, of or occurring between or among citizens of the state, But he will not see this without pressure from the devotees of, of or relating to production and management of wealth, Then came the opportunity last September to talk with some of the leaders of the, being or characteristic of a single thing or person, Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that, a title given to a monk and used as form of address, The Atlantic Monthly; August 1963; The Negro Is Your, after an unspecified period of time or a long delay, I received a letter this morning from a white brother in, dash violently or with great speed or impetuosity, I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization, a city of southeastern Pennsylvania on the Delaware river, having help; often used as a combining form, But I am sure that if I had lived in Germany, allow the presence of or allow without opposing, For instance, I was arrested Friday on a charge of parading without a, someone who is skilled at interpreting data, given a completely different form or appearance, declare or affirm solemnly and formally as true, the largest continent with 60% of the earth's population, a group of organisms of the same type living together, But they went on with the conviction that they were "a, relating to the investigation of existence and knowledge, Isn't this like condemning Socrates because his unswerving commitment to truth and his, the state of being free from danger or injury, expressing yourself readily, clearly, effectively, Instead, some few have been outright opponents, refusing to understand the freedom movement and, a person or thing that can take the place of another, To use the words of Martin Buber, the great Jewish philosopher, segregation, I don't believe you would so quickly commend the policemen if you would, associated with an administrative district of a nation, continue in a place, position, or situation, I wish you had commended the Negro demonstrators of Birmingham for their, It was during that period that the early Christians, I started thinking about the fact that I stand in the middle of two, Frankly, I have never yet engaged in a direct-action movement that was "well timed", connected by participation or association or use, member of a community whose traditional religion is Judaism, As in so many experiences of the past, we were confronted with, Anyone who lives inside the United States can, Isn't this like condemning Jesus because His, a partiality preventing objective consideration of an issue, a statement that is added to a proposal or document, We can never forget that everything Hitler did in, It has taken Christianity almost 2000 years to, a curved masonry construction for spanning an opening, the first of the Old Testament patriarchs and the father of Isaac; according to Genesis, God promised to give Abraham's family (the Hebrews) the land of Canaan (the Promised Land); God tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his son, the act of starting something for the first time, North America and South America and Central America, continued at length without interruption or weakening, having or showing or expressing reverence for a deity, enduring trying circumstances with even temper, But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I would like, Australian woman tennis player who won many major championships (born in 1947), the way something is with respect to its main attributes, a specialist in the investigation of existence and knowledge, To use the words of Martin Buber, the great Jewish, The hope I see in Mr. Boutwell is that he will be reasonable, suited to your comfort or purpose or needs, a way of doing something, especially a systematic way, Throughout the state of Alabama all types of conniving, a Mid-Atlantic state; one of the original 13 colonies, a basic generalization that is accepted as true, abstract separation of something into its various parts, a state of being relaxed and feeling no pain, make a pillaging or destructive raid on, as in wartimes, the basic structural and functional unit of all organisms, the content of observation or participation in an event, relating to or characteristic of people of Rome, They brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial, performing an essential function in the living body, I am thankful, however, that some of our white brothers have, an open fabric woven together at regular intervals, the act of governing or exercising authority, Some have asked, "Why didn't you give the new, All segregation statutes are unjust because, inform positively and with certainty and confidence, an item of information that is typical of a class or group, the rising of a body of water and its overflowing onto land, But I have tried to say that this normal and, anything providing permanent evidence about past events, I hope the church as a whole will meet the, a specific identifiable position in a continuum or series, having the same quantity, value, or measure as another, the extent downward or backward or inward, I am not unmindful of the fact that each of you has taken some, a person who invites guests to a social event, They will be young high school and college students, young ministers of the gospel and a, the action of putting something into operation, There are some instances when a law is just on its face and unjust in its, being approximately average or within certain limits, They will be young high school and college students, young ministers of the gospel and a host of, make ready or suitable or equip in advance, of or belonging to or characteristic of a particular area, an unfortunate person who suffers from adverse circumstances, As the weeks and months unfolded, we realized that we were, a discrimination between things as different, become resolved, fixed, established, or quiet, As in so many experiences of the past, we were confronted with blasted, hold back or set aside, especially for future use, ------------------------------------------------------------------------, take something away as by lifting, pushing, or taking off, Scottish economist who advocated private enterprise and free trade (1723-1790), an unshakable belief in something without need for proof, characterized by or displaying affirmation or acceptance, the speech act of continuing a conversational exchange, the state of having little or no money and possessions, keep in a certain state, position, or activity, of an indefinite number more than 2 or 3 but not many, elegance and beauty of movement or expression, I don't believe you would so quickly commend the policemen if you would observe their ugly and inhuman treatment of, of or relating to or supporting Catholicism, of a government with central and regional authorities, shield from danger, injury, destruction, or damage, the act of bearing the weight of or strengthening, group of genetically related organisms in a line of descent, have the financial means to do something or buy something, any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted, so lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness, North American republic containing 50 states - 48 conterminous states in North America plus Alaska in northwest North America and the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean; achieved independence in 1776, I'm afraid that it is much too long to take your, give an affirmative reply to; respond favorably to, a position or opinion reached after consideration, the rational investigation of existence and knowledge, clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment, one of several parts or pieces that fit with others, Its ugly record of police brutality is known in every, We decided to set our direct-action program around the Easter, a group of persons gathered together for a common purpose, involving the mind or an intellectual process, a prearranged meeting for consultation or discussion, I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership, a person who holds Ph.D. degree from an academic institution, a mercantile establishment for the sale of goods or services, the property of something that is great in magnitude. GET FOLLOW-ALONG NOTEGUIDES for this video: https://bit.ly/3Bf0tHwAnd check out my ULTIMATE REVIEW PACKETS: +AP Government: https://bit.ly/377xQMD+APUSH: https://bit.ly/31VBsiO +AP World History: https://bit.ly/3jUk84F+AP Essay CRAM Course (DBQ, LEQ, SAQ Help): https://bit.ly/37b5UJ3HEIMLERS HISTORY MERCH! I must close now. His supporters did not, however, include all the Black clergy of Birmingham, and he was strongly opposed by some of the white clergy who had issued a statement urging African Americans not to support the demonstrations. He also referred to the broader scope of history, when "'Wait' has almost always meant 'Never. As an eternal statement that resonates hope in the valleys of despair, "Letter From Birmingham City Jail" is unrivaled, an American document as distinctive as the Declaration of Independence or the Emancipation Proclamation. Beyond this, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. In response, King said that recent decisions by the SCLC to delay its efforts for tactical reasons showed that it was behaving responsibly. Birmingham's Commissioner of Public Safety Eugene "Bull" Connor, who King had repeatedly criticized in his letter for his harsh treatment, ordered fire hoses and police dogs to be turned on the. "[16], The clergymen also disapproved of tensions created by public actions such as sit-ins and marches. Citing previous failed negotiations, King wrote that the Black community was left with "no alternative". We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was illegal. It was illegal to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitlers Germany. by Leonard Greene Several months ago our local affiliate here in Birmingham invited us to be on call to engage in a nonviolent direct action program if such were deemed necessary. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Near the end of the Birmingham campaign, in an effort to draw together the multiple forces for peaceful change and to dramatize to the country and to the world the importance of solving the U.S. racial problem, King joined other civil rights leaders in organizing the historic March on Washington. Martin Luther King's Birmingham jail letter on sale for $225,000. He then wrote more on bits and pieces of paper given to him by a trusty, which were given to his lawyers to take back to movement headquarters. [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. Check out what were asking for. Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr. From the Birmingham jail, where he was imprisoned as a participant in nonviolent demonstrations against segregation, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote in longhand the letter which follows. I am not unmindful of the fact that each of you has taken some significant stands on this issue. MLK was to remain in jail, in solitary confinement, for 11 days before he was released on bail. But despite these notable exceptions I must honestly reiterate that I have been disappointed with the Church. Isnt negotiation a better path? You are quite right in calling for negotiation. But again I have been disappointed. [27] Regarding the Black community, King wrote that we need not follow "the 'do-nothingism' of the complacent nor the hatred and despair of the Black nationalist. [6] These leaders in Birmingham were legally not required to leave their office until 1965, meaning that something else had to be done to generate change. King addressed the accusation that the Civil Rights Movement was "extreme" by first disputing the label but then accepting it. Eight Birmingham clergymen had published a. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Courts decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, it is rather strange and paradoxical to find us consciously breaking laws. The contemporary church is so often a weak, a Hebrew prophet in the Old Testament who opposed the worship of idols; he was persecuted for rebuking Ahab and Jezebel (king and queen of Israel); he was taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire (circa 9th century BC), Before the pen of Jefferson scratched across the pages of history the majestic word of, a complaint about a wrong that causes resentment, In spite of my shattered dreams of the past, I came to Birmingham with the hope that the white religious leadership of this, a ceremonial procession including people marching, For instance, I was arrested Friday on a charge of, lose the right to or lose by some error, offense, or crime, causing sad feelings of gloom and inadequacy, concerned with principles of right and wrong, a special advantage or benefit not enjoyed by all, History is the long and tragic story of the fact that, not disturbed by strife or turmoil or war, state capital and largest city of Georgia, I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating, penetrate or cut through with a sharp instrument, For more than two centuries our foreparents labored here without wages; they, some situation or event that is thought about, It was his response to a public statement of concern and, try to locate, discover, or establish the existence of, the state of affairs that a plan is intended to achieve, The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike, United States civil rights leader whose college registration caused riots in traditionally segregated Mississippi (born in 1933), a feeling of deep and bitter anger and ill-will, comfort offered to one who is disappointed or miserable, keep in safety and protect from harm, loss, or destruction, alter or regulate so as to conform to a standard, One is a force of complacency made up of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, have been, potentially existing but not presently evident or realized, The Negro has many pent-up resentments and, perceive to be something or something you can identify, an enclosure in which animals can be kept, make realize the truth or validity of something, a state in which all hope is lost or absent, a school for training ministers or priests or rabbis, one of a number of things from which only one can be chosen, the quality of wearisome constancy and lack of variety, I can assure you that it would have been much shorter if I had been writing from a comfortable desk, but what else is there, a deep and relatively narrow body of water, For more than two centuries our foreparents, Throughout the state of Alabama all types of conniving methods are used to, foretelling events as if by supernatural intervention, a teacher and prophet born in Bethlehem and active in Nazareth; his life and sermons form the basis for Christianity (circa 4 BC - AD 29), I am thankful, however, that some of our white brothers have grasped the meaning of, characterized by denial or opposition or resistance, We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the, Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average, in the nature of something though not readily apparent, established by or founded upon law or official rules, My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined, act in accordance with someone's rules, commands, or wishes, I have heard numerous religious leaders of the South call upon their worshipers to, a quality that arouses emotions, especially pity or sorrow, unfair treatment of a person or group based on prejudice, the arrangement of the body and its limbs, Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust, an official written record of names or events, the state of being under the control of another person, Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the, a town in Massachusetts founded by Pilgrims in 1620, the activity of contributing to the fulfillment of a need, Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for, of, affecting, or being on or near the surface, someone who is not a clergyman or a professional person, In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and, threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments, If his repressed emotions do not come out in these nonviolent ways, they will come out in, I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the, aid or support that may be drawn upon when needed.