Summary Of Letter From Birmingham Jail

Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in 1964 was in response to an open letter by eight white clergymen in the Birmingham News called “Call to Unity”. Kings rebuttal letter describes his clear purpose working to ensure that equal rights for all were accomplished.

King writes about how it is his life’s mission to not sit idly by and watch injustice happen in the world. King was determined to change laws and ensure that all men and women were treated equally and fairly. He did this through many avenues like speeches, meetings, and writings like the "Letter from Birmingham Jail". He was determined to make strong and compelling arguments to emphasize that civil rights were being violated and how working together to overcome

The black people of Birmingham were demonstrating and retaliating during that time because of the injustices that were taking place. He commented “I am here because I have organizational ties here, but more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here” and he could not sit idly by and do nothing. In the first 4 paragraphs of King’s letter he describes, in detail, his background as a President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and his timing for being in Birmingham. He explains how he is called to carry the gospel of freedom beyond his home town just as prophets before him and as the Apostle Paul were called to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the

We all have a moral and a legal obligation to obey just laws just as we have a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly”. “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” The laws put in place by the Supreme Court in 1954 are obeyed because it is morally right. These laws include the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It ended racial segregation in schools, the workplace, and in the general public. Although these laws were passed by legislation they were slow in being