APRIL 16, 1963 Letter from a Birmingham Jail

Caldonia

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Saturday April 16, 2005 · 11:09 AM PDT

2005/04/16 · 11:09

Today marks the 42nd anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from a Birmingham Jail."

Dr. King's letter was in response to a newspaper statement made by eight of his fellow clergymen (priests, rabbis, and ministers) from Alabama. Their statement implored him to urge the Black community to withdraw support from the civil rights demonstrations being conducted there. They were "convinced that these demonstrations are unwise and untimely."

He began to write his now famous response letter on the margins of the very newspaper in which the statement appeared and it was concluded on a pad his attorneys were permitted to leave for him.

The letter is quite long, so I'll begin with the first few paragraphs and you may read the rest here. It is as powerful now as it was then.
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