Martin Luther King Birmingham Jail Research Paper

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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a preacher and a civil rights activist, who soon after became the leader of the civil rights movement. A man of many great words, Dr. King did a peaceful protest to remove segregation and promote equality and unity for all people. A couple days before his dynamic arrest,King, some other protestors, and other civil rights leaders were arrested for taking part in a “Good Friday” act, which was apart of a Birmingham movement created to bring turn the nation’s focus to the cruel and harsh treatment that people of selected races, especially African Americans, were experiencing in Birmingham, Alabama, which was of the nation’s most segregated cities.For a long time, King, leaders, and other protestors had organized …show more content…

Without knowing, King’s arrest a few days later would be one that would go down in history. After King’s arrest, a friend of his was able to secretly give him a copy of the Birmingham newspaper which included a letter written by other Christian and Jewish leader, who were opposed against the different protests that were taking place and criticized Dr.King for taking part in it. While in jail, King began to write his own comeback to the claims without any research or any sources. With what he had, King was able to create a peaceful and nonviolent approach in turning the harsh claims back upon both the harsh critics that wanted for things to stay the same, while King and his supporters wanted nothing but change for all of humanity. But where did King find the inspiration to write such a strong piece? When we look at his speech, we see that he uses the word of St Augustine and Socrates, who are other past leaders who have always taught and fought for what they believed in. He even uses Chief Justice Earl Warren as an insight, who had overseen the Brown v. Board of …show more content…

King wrote his letter, he was finally allowed to be released from prison on April 20. Even though King and his followers experienced a lot of harsh treatment from others who were opposed against King, he didn't let that stop him from continuing his work in Birmingham. A couple weeks later, over 1,000 students participates in the well known “Children’s Crusade,” which was when they skipped school in order to march through the city streets promoting the need for the unity and equality for all races. During the crusade, Eugene “Bull” Connor, who was the public safety commissioner, commanded for dogs and fire hoses to be put on those who protesting in the crusade. The reason for this is that Dr. King had continuously criticized Connor in his letter. He wanted for the people to know about Connor’s harsh treatment towards him and others. On that day, over 600 people were sent to jailed alone. The terrible and cruel treatment of the police towards the people was put on display and was put on televisions around the nation and world, frightening its American and foreign viewers. With the different protest and chaos that Birmingham was experiencing and local businesses suffering, government leaders was left with no choice but to sit down and meet with Dr. King to discuss his request. After their meeting, officials agreed to some of his requirements. Even though some time has pass, King’s letter from Birmingham is continuing to be spreading out around the world