Use this primary source text to explore key historical events.
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was established in 1957 to coordinate protests against segregation throughout the South. The SCLC was heavily influenced by its first leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who advocated a policy of nonviolence. King and his allies refused to engage in violence, even when attacked. King’s strategy of nonviolence drew a public statement of concern from eight white religious leaders in an open letter entitled “A Call for Unity,” published in Birmingham, Alabama, on April 12, 1963. At the time, King was imprisoned in Birmingham for his participation in another nonviolent protest. While in prison, King was placed alone in a dark cell, with no mattress, and denied any phone calls. An ally smuggled in the paper that had published “A Call for Unity.” King began to write a reply on the newspaper itself, having no other paper available to him in his cell. The resulting “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was addressed to his critics directly. It was later published several times, as several versions, in the summer of 1963. The full text of the letter was published by King directly in his 1964 book, Why We Can’t Wait.
MLK Letter from Birmingham Jail https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html |