April 4th, 1968. April 4th, 1968, a day in history that will never be forgotten. This day is one that, if you experienced it, would be able to tell your children and grandchildren exactly where you were and what you were doing at that moment in time. This day was one where all of America witnessed the loss of a national icon. On April 4th, 1968, someone who is unknown to this day assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. On this day America stood still. Whether the people loved him or hated him, this day was a loss for everyone who ever stood for something they believed in. This clergyman from Atlanta, Georgia was the most famous man to speak out in favor of Civil Rights equality, and because one or more men decided that what he was saying was not favorable for the common man, took it upon themselves to deal with what they saw as a “problem.” Martin Luther King Jr. was known for his role in the advancement of civil …show more content…
The letter struck a bad note with King and he began to write a response on the newspaper itself. The Letter from Birmingham Jail was a response to calls on the movement to pursue legal channels for social change. He would argue that the crisis of racism is too urgent, and that the current system is too entrenched. He would go on to say in his letter that “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed” (King 1963). King went on to say a year later, “Begun on the margins of the newspaper in which the statement appeared while I was in jail, the letter was continued on scraps of writing paper supplied by a friendly black trusty, and concluded on a pad my attorneys were eventually permitted to leave me” (King