"ʟᴇᴛᴛᴇʀ ғʀᴏᴍ ᴀ ʙɪʀᴍɪɴɢʜᴀᴍ ᴊᴀɪʟ": ᴀɴ ᴇɴᴅᴜʀɪɴɢ ᴘʟᴇᴀ ғᴏʀ ᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ᴀɢᴀɪɴsᴛ ɪɴᴊᴜsᴛɪᴄᴇ

                50 - 65

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             Introduction

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Rosa Parks - refused to move to back of bus

James Meredith - 1st African American student at

University of Mississippi in 1962

Jackie Robinson - 1st black man in MLB

Sidney Poitier - figure on American movie screen

LBJ pass most progressive civil rights legislation since

Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln

tens of thousands of committed activists

Dr. MLK (1929-68)

drew on religious background to address civic problems

epistolary essay, addressed to specific audience, also

appeal to general readers

invokes Christianity, patriotism, history current events

makes case for necessity of nonviolent action

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             Life of MLK

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Nobel Peace Price in 1964

numerous statues, 900+ highways, national holiday

3rd gen American Baptist preacher born in 1929

national prominence in 1955, leader of Montgomery, AL

bus boycotts

1957 - first president of Southern Christian Leadership

Conference

unsuccessful series of actions in 1962 in Albany, GA

1965 Selma to Montgomery marches

campaign against housing segregation in Chicago

1963 March on Washington - "I have a dream"

4/4/68 - about to launch "The Poor People's Campaign",

assassinated by James Earl Ray

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    Birmingham Campaign

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arrest in April 1963

Project C (confrontation)

economic boycotts

city withdrew $45,000 from food program 

Eugene "Bull" Connor (Commissioner for Public Safety)

granted injunction to make public gatherings unlawful

raise bail from $200 - $1500

mass arrests - Dr. MLK, reverend Ralph Albernathy

youth march dubbed The Children's Crusade by Newsweek

organized by SCLC leader James Bevel

used high pressure fire hoses, police dogs

5/8/63 - business leaders agree to protester's demands

5/10, Birmingham desegregate lunch counters, restrooms,

other public spaces, released imprisoned demonstrators

september - schools desegregated

Gov George Wallace attempt to use National Guard

6/20/63 - bomb left in MLK's motel

9/16/63 - KKK bomb went off in basement of 16th Avenue

Baptist Church in Birmingham, kill 4 little girls

Eulogy for the Young Victims of the Sixteenth Street

Baptist Church Bombings

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        Context of Letter

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April 1963 - SCLC allow King to remain in jail longer

April 12 - letter from clergymen

began writing in margins of newspaper, later scraps of

paper supplied by black trustee of jail

completed draft on legal pad

Rev Wyatt Walker work to compile pieces

published in June in Liberation, The Christian Century,

The New Leader

reprinted in The Negro is Your Brother in July 1963 edition

of The Atlantic Monthly

never sent directly to cosigners

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           Pathos, Logos

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far from confrontational, offer different perspective

ethical position: has credentials, capable leader

SCLC has 85 affiliate organizations across the South,
including Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights

enlists theologians, saints, national leaders, philosophers

cites Protestant theologian Reinhold Neibuhr

groups can be more immoral than individuals

Saint Augustine and Jewish theologian Martin Buber

unjust law needs to be overturned

Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Amos, Paul the 
apostle, Martin Luther extremists of their causes

until situation reaches level of discomfort, too easy for those
in power to protect and maintain the status quo

1/16/1963 - An Appeal for Law and Order and Common Sense

1954 - Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education