The Greatest Letter Dr. King ever wrote
(Below is the backstory, including the letter Dr. King responded to):
In 1962, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and his SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) team just left a "failed" civil rights campaign at Albany, Georgia. Since the strength of the Civil Rights Movement hinged on the "victories" Dr. King would get, his failure to turn around Albany was a blow to its future effectiveness. Any other future "losses" and Dr. King's movement would've been further damaged.
With that, he and his team joined Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth and made it to Birmingham, Alabama in late 1962.
After a coordinated movement of sit in, keel-ins at segregated churches, and more -- as well as 2 separate governments happening in Birmingham at the same time! -- many local news stories about "outside Negro agitators" started to appear.
In a desperate attempt to calm things down, in January 1963 several white local clergymen (aka ministers) published an open letter titled "An Appeal for
Law and Order and Common Sense". This letter acknowledged that -- despite tensions on both ends -- all people should be treated fairly, but the fight for justice should be in the courts, not the streets.
That appeal fell on deaf ears on both sides. More protests followed. Jails were filled up. The costs to post bail dramatically rose, so people couldn't get bailed out.
Finally, on April 12, 1963, after Dr. King was locked up, 8 of the most powerful local white ministers published another open letter titled "A Call for Unity". This letter (which was also published in the New York Times), *directly asked for Black people in Alabama to reject Dr. King and his methods. The letter made rounds and somehow into Dr. King's cell.
This is the letter that Dr. King read:
"April 12, 1963"
We the undersigned clergymen are among those who in January, issued "An Appeal for Law and Order and Common Sense," in dealing with racial problems in Alabama. We expressed understanding that honest convictions in racial matters could properly be pursued in the courts but urged that decisions of those courts should in the meantime be peacefully obeyed.
Since that time there had been some evidence of increased forbearance and a willingness to face facts. Responsible citizens have undertaken to work on various problems which caused racial friction and unrest. In Birmingham, recent public events have given indication that we all have opportunity for a new constructive and realistic approach to racial problems.
However, we are now confronted by a series of demonstrations by some of our Negro citizens directed and led in part by outsiders. We recognize the natural impatience of people who feel that their hopes are slow in being realized. But we are convinced that these demonstrations are unwise and untimely.
We agree rather with certain local Negro leadership which has called for honest and open negotiation of racial issues in our area. And we believe this kind of facing of issues can best be accomplished by citizens of our own metropolitan area white and Negro, meeting with their knowledge and experience of the local situation. All of us need to face that responsibility and find proper channels for its accomplishment.
Just as we formerly pointed out that "hatred and violence have no sanction in our religious and political tradition." We also point out that such actions as incite to hatred and violence, however technically peaceful those actions may be, have not contributed to the resolution of our local problems. We do not believe that these days of new hope are days when extreme measures are justified in Birmingham.
We commend the community as a whole and the local news media and law enforcement officials in particular, on the calm manner in which these demonstrations have been handled. We urge the public to continue to show restraint should the demonstrations continue, and the law enforcement officials to remain calm and continue to protect our city from violence.
We further strongly urge our own Negro community to withdraw support from these demonstrations, and to unite locally in working peacefully for a better Birmingham. When rights are consistently denied, a cause should be pressed in the courts and in negotiations among local leaders, and not in the streets. We appeal to both our white and Negro citizenry to observe the principles of law and order and common sense."
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This must have struck a nerve with Dr. King -- because 4 days later, along the lines of the New York Times article, he wrote his response...
Which is now known as the "Letter from Birmingham Jail" -- the greatest letter Dr. King ever wrote.
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