This was a letter wrote by Dr. Martin Luther King after he was roughly arrested along with several other marchers. King was in Birmingham responding to The Birmingham Campaign that began on April 3, 1963. The campaign was a series of coordinated marches and counter sit-ins aimed at trying to combat racial segregation in Birmingham, AL. However, King was arrested on April 12, 1963, where he had been met with very harsh conditions inside the Birmingham Jail. This has been believed by many as a way for Birmingham’s top cop, Bull Conner to try to break Dr. King and his campaign. Later that afternoon a local newspaper was smuggled into Dr. King’s cell. This newspaper contained a a article called “A Call For Unity”, written by eight white clergymen as a way of denouncing King and his methods of protest. Upon reading this …show more content…
His claim to his followers being called “outsiders”, by coming in and causing trouble on the streets of Birmingham, led to the most famous quote from this letter. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” These eight men also disapproved the use of public actions like sit-ins and marches.However, Dr. King responding to this said his followers were only using non-violent direct action in hopes of creating “constructive” tension. This became his chief tool in hopes to compel more meaningful negotiation with the “white power” structure. This also became a very crucial moment in the latter achievement of future civil rights movements. The letter was first published in May of 1963 without the consent of Dr Martin Luther King. The letter was later published with the consent of King several other times where the letter gained popularity and effectiveness throughout its publications during the summer of 1963. A full version of this historic letter was subsequently published in Dr King’s book “Why We Can’t Wait” the following