Letter from a Birmingham Jail: Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This week we highlight one of the most significant and consequential calls for racial equality and social justice in American History - “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”

On Good Friday, April 12, 1963 - the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and fellow civil rights leaders were arrested in Birmingham, Alabama as they lead a now famous Campaign of non-violent direct action to protest racial segregation and oppression in that Southern City.

In the early 1960s, Birmingham was one of the most racially segregated cities in the United States - enforced by both law and culture. Black citizens faced legal and economic oppression, and violent retribution when they attempted to even draw attention to these conditions

The Birmingham Campaign would become a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. President Kennedy’s Address to the Nation on Civil Rights, the August 1963 March on Washington and many other events were a direct result of this campaign and Dr. King’s now famous letter. 

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