Summary Of Martin Luther King Letter From Birmingham Jail

Starting in the mid-1950s and continuing on into the late 1960s African-Americans aimed to outlaw racial discrimination. On April 16, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a letter from his jail cell in Birmingham jail. As an African American, activist, and public speaker he challenged the laws, politics, and oppression of black people using many persuasive techniques to touch the hearts of his readers.
Martin Luther King Jr. starts off his letter by justifying his follower’s nonviolent direct actions. King Jr. describes his right to be there and how he was “compelled to carry gospel of freedom beyond [his] own home town.” The letter then goes in depth about the four step process he and his followers took to stop the injustice and how all these

King then shifts from social injustice to political injustice, calling the laws into question. He states how the clergymen were anxious over King and his followers “willingness to break laws,” when the majority of people fail to obey the 1954 ruling of the Supreme Court that outlawed segregation in public schools.” King Jr. then claims there are two types of laws: just and unjust. He defines both laws and describes how each individual has the responsibility to uphold just laws and dismiss unjust laws. He then specifically speaks about segregation and how it is an unjust act. Not only does it break the black community down emotionally, it denies them the privilege of the First-Amendment. King then answers the clergymen’s concern of them breaking the law by stating that anyone who breaks the law is open and willing to accept the penalty, and supports the choices of direct action by saying that they only protest because in their conscience they know the law is

Martin Luther King Jr. speaks of is the disappointment he has in the white moderate and the white leaders in general. He blames the white moderate as being the “Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride towards freedom.” King points out everything the white moderate has done to disappoint him and impede their achievements. He claims that white moderates block the flow of social progress and do not understand how the nonviolent direct action does not create tension, just brings up the tension that has hidden under the surface. King Jr. also fights back to a claim made by the white moderates, that they will not support their actions because they precipitate violence. He fights back by using examples from history whose actions precipitated violence, like Socrates and Jesus. In addition, he describes the two forces who have responded to the oppression. One force that is drained and has adjusted to segregation, and other force that is full of bitterness, hatred, and frustration, who believe “the white man is an incorrigible devil.” He describes how the pent-up emotions would be released at some point or another and hopes that the white moderates could at least try to understand why the nonviolent protests are so