LETTER FROM THE BIRMINGHAM JAIL

Letter from the Birmingham Jail

Letter from the Birmingham Jail

Letter From the Birmingham Jail by Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., was provoked by a major demonstration in Birmingham. In the summer of 1962, Fred Shuttlesworth attempted to desegregate local businesses in Birmingham, Alabama (Washington, 2006).

In the letter, King responded to the SCLC's being called “outsiders” who promoted “unwise and untimely” protests that led to violence, expressed his disappointment in white moderates and the white church, and made clear his own position in the African American scene. King refuted the charge that he was a meddlesome outsider, since he ...