Letter from a Birmingham Jail

 

-written in April 1963 in Birmingham Alabama, while MLK was in jail. (it was written to the clergymen)

-written on toilet paper and pen; smuggled out by a fellow activist.

-The letter specifically addressed the religious community.

-MLK was in Birmingham through organizational ties.

-He felt compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond his own home town.

 

     ** “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

 

-He wanted everyone who lived in the U.S. to never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.

-The city’s white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.

 

4 Basic Steps to Non-violent Campaign

       -Collection of the facts to determine whether injustice exists.

       - Negotiation

       - Self purification

       - Direct action

 

***Birmingham was probably the most segregated city in the U.S.

         -ugly records of brutality

         -Negroes experiencing unjust treatment in the court.

         -More unsolved bombing on Negro homes and churches.

 

-Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. (nothing came of it)

 

Vocabulary:

-Plight: an unfortunate or difficult or precarious situation.

-Rabid: violent, furious.

-Substantive: real, having substance.

-Gadflies: a fly that bites or harasses livestock.

Letter From Birmingham Jail

-After reading this letter, I felt like there were a lot of things happening that were unjust and brutal. Reading this I felt everything was being done to the Negro race to hold us back and the few people who tried to be activist were being courageous and honorable to make a stand for what we believe in. I feel like MLK was a great leader and wanted equal rights and a just system for all people and in this letter he was trying to illustrate that.

 

-Reading this letter I was thinking that if everyone had a voice and spoke out against the unjust and wrong doing that is going on today like MLK did in 1963 then we could take action and make things right. Not everything we do has to be solved in a violent way, sometime negotiation and compromise is the best way to solve situations.

 

-Reading this I thought about me and the things I see going wrong and I how I can actually go and speak out against these things and take action in my community and get issues out that need to be taken care of.

 

-My first reaction was sometimes you have to do more than take direct action but seeing how the year 2008 has brought change I know now that anything can help with a voice and a little bit of action.