Letter from Birmingham Jail
by Martin Luther King, Jr.
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"A beautiful commemorative edition of Dr. Martin Luther King's essay 'Letter from Birmingham Jail,' part of Dr. King's archives published exclusively by HarperCollins. On April 16, 1923, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. responded to an open letter written and published by eight white clergymen admonishing the civil rights demonstrations happening in Birmingham, Alabama. Dr. King drafted his seminal response on scraps of paper smuggled into jail. King criticizes his detractors for caring more about show more order than justice, defends nonviolent protests, and argues for the moral responsibility to obey just laws while disobeying unjust ones. 'Letter from Birmingham Jail' proclaims a message - confronting any injustice is an acceptable and righteous reason for civil disobedience. This beautifully designed edition presents Dr. King's speech in its entirety, paying tribute to this extraordinary leader and his immeasurable contribution, and inspiring a new generation of activists dedicated to carrying on the fight for justice and equality"-- show lessTags
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This is the instruction manual on how to rebel while under authoritarianism. It is one of the peaks of American Philosophy, and one of the greatest literary achievements, ever.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
Martin Luther King is in jail for participating in civil rights demonstrations. He writes to some white clergymen who had urged him to drop his campaign of nonviolent resistance.
Kings response might lack the intense fervor of his public speeches, but it is still a powerful statement of the need for change - a change in the perception that all will end well if we just let the courts and government do its job. What if the laws in itself is unjust? And how do you know if a law is unjust? How are you going to fight against it? What means show more can you do it with?
King writes lucidly and his firm Christian conviction grounded in the Bible and it’s teaching on social justice is clearly the basis for his arguments.
“The early Christians rejoiced when they were deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the Church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.” show less
Martin Luther King is in jail for participating in civil rights demonstrations. He writes to some white clergymen who had urged him to drop his campaign of nonviolent resistance.
Kings response might lack the intense fervor of his public speeches, but it is still a powerful statement of the need for change - a change in the perception that all will end well if we just let the courts and government do its job. What if the laws in itself is unjust? And how do you know if a law is unjust? How are you going to fight against it? What means show more can you do it with?
King writes lucidly and his firm Christian conviction grounded in the Bible and it’s teaching on social justice is clearly the basis for his arguments.
“The early Christians rejoiced when they were deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the Church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.” show less
This letter is so important and still reads to be so true and so relevant. I was assigned this for school (as well as on civil disobedience which I will be reading next) though I have read it before. It's also especially relevant because yesterday I marched in the women's march in Atlanta. I live in the 5th district in Atlanta and John Lewis is my congressman (my district is doing just fine,by the way. Don't believe everything you read in a tweet). He spoke at the march yesterday and told all of us in the crowd to not let anyone turn us around. It is always important to be reminded that the time is always right to stand up against injustice. Martin Luther King Jr understood this better than anyone and we can all wish to be half the show more person he was. His words still bring inspiration and hope. When you're fighting it can often feel you're fighting alone but if you're fighting for what's right someone will always be standing right there with you show less
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. thoughtfully replies to feeling clergymen who criticized his protests in Birmingham that had landed him in jail, and he sets forth his argument for action through nonviolent protest. Though closing in at only 35 pages, I came away thinking I should turn around and reread it to get the full impact.
- audiobook - While in jail for non-violent protesting in 1963, Dr. King wrote an open letter to his detractors (not the completely unreasonable ones, of course), directly addressing many of their complaints such as "segregation creates community which is good for black people", "you're causing friction which can lead to violence", "non-violent protest isn't sufficient", etc.
While I am very familiar with the contents of the letter, I had never read or heard the whole thing in its entirety. It was a lot less formal than I expected it to be. As opposed to his famous speeches the intent of this letter was clearly to inform, not necessarily to evoke emotions. And I do indeed feel better informed about his situation after listening, which is show more impressive at a hindsight of over 50 years. It is a very nice short listen (a little under an hour), but be careful if you listen around bedtime because the narrator's voice is very soothing. show less
While I am very familiar with the contents of the letter, I had never read or heard the whole thing in its entirety. It was a lot less formal than I expected it to be. As opposed to his famous speeches the intent of this letter was clearly to inform, not necessarily to evoke emotions. And I do indeed feel better informed about his situation after listening, which is show more impressive at a hindsight of over 50 years. It is a very nice short listen (a little under an hour), but be careful if you listen around bedtime because the narrator's voice is very soothing. show less
The only appropriate way to honor this masterpiece of moral strength and clarity, mind-altering eloquence, reason and crystal clear definition of the differences between justice and injustice is to quote the mighty Chrisopher Hitchens himself: " It is quite impossible...to read his sermons or watch recordings of his speeches without profound emotion of the sort that can sometimes bring genuine tears. Dr. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” written in response to a group of white Christian clerics who had urged him to show restraint and “patience” – in other words, to know his place – is a model of polemic. Icily polite and generous-minded, it still breathes with an unquenchable conviction that the filthy injustice of show more racism must be borne no longer." Amen! show less
An excellent piece of writing from the man himself, MLK. Some incredibly persuasive rhetoric involving the nature of peaceful resistance, during the most pivotal and influential time in American history regarding civil disobedience. This is the sort of writing that created an icon out of King.
Reading it now, it's definitely dated and a little bit bogged in religious rhetoric, but this doesn't really take away from the clear historical and ethical value of the read.
Reading it now, it's definitely dated and a little bit bogged in religious rhetoric, but this doesn't really take away from the clear historical and ethical value of the read.
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Author Information
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Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 into a middle-class black family in Atlanta, Georgia. He received a degree from Morehouse College. While there his early concerns for social justice for African Americans were deepened by reading Henry David Thoreau's essay "Civil Disobedience." He enrolled in Crozer Theological Seminary and show more there became acquainted with the Social Gospel movement and the works of its chief spokesman, Walter Rauschenbusch. Mohandas Gandhi's practice of nonviolent resistance (ahimsaahimsa) later became a tactic for transforming love into social change. After seminary, he postponed his ministry vocation by first earning a doctorate at Boston University School of Theology. There he discovered the works of Reinhold Niebuhr and was especially struck by Niebuhr's insistence that the powerless must somehow gain power if they are to achieve what is theirs by right. In the Montgomery bus boycott, it was by economic clout that African Americans broke down the walls separating the races, for without African American riders, the city's transportation system nearly collapsed. The bus boycott took place in 1954, the year King and his bride, Coretta Scott, went to Montgomery, where he had been called to serve as pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. Following the boycott, he founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to coordinate civil rights organizations. Working through African American churches, activists led demonstrations all over the South and drew attention, through television and newspaper reports, to the fact that nonviolent demonstrations by blacks were being suppressed violently by white police and state troopers. The federal government was finally forced to intervene and pass legislation protecting the right of African Americans to vote and desegregating public accommodations. For his nonviolent activism, King received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. While organizing a "poor people's campaign" to persuade Congress to take action against poverty, King accepted an invitation to visit Memphis, Tennessee, where sanitation workers were on strike. There, on April 4, 1968, he was gunned down while standing on the balcony of his hotel. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Letter from Birmingham Jail
- Original publication date
- 1963-04-16
- People/Characters
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Important places
- Birmingham, Alabama, USA
- First words
- "My Dear Fellow Clergymen:
While confined here in the Biringham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities ʻunwise and untimely.ʻ - Quotations
- Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
...the Negroes' great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens' "Councilor" or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative ... (show all)peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can't agree with your methods of direct action;" who paternalistically feels that he can set the timetable for another man's freedom;...
Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)". . .And in some not too distant tomorrow, the r adiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great naion with all their scintillaing beauty. Yours for the cause of Peace and Brotherhood, martin Luther King, Jr."
- Publisher's editor
- Shirley Davenport and the Concerned Elders of Waiʻanae (HI)
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- Reviews
- 22
- Rating
- (4.57)
- Languages
- English
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- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 14
- ASINs
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