King: Letter from Birmingham Jail

On April 16, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. while confined n Birmingham jail wrote a letter to his fellow clergymen. In letter Martin Luther King spoke about the injustice found in Birmingham. Those coming from outside the city of Birmingham automatically labeled you as an “outsider” by the people of Birmingham (173). When you move into a new city or state people should welcome you and treat you with respect, sure it may take some time to warm up, but the way the people were treated in Birmingham was with such a lack of respect, people were seen as outcast and looked down upon. They were welcomed or invited over for a cup of tea or a friendly neighbor get together. Instead they were called names, made fun of, talked down to.

Martin Luther King Jr. came to Birmingham because there was injustice there; he came to solve the problem and to show that we the people are all equal. He went to rid Birmingham of unjust. King was only lead to disappointment and broken promises. Given the chance to speak with Birmingham’s economic community, they negotiated promises with certain merchants, “to remove the stores humiliating racial signs and in return Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth and the leaders of Christian Movement for Human Rights agreed to a moratorium on all demonstrations (King 175).” It was only several weeks they had realized they’d become victims of broken promises, a few signs were removed for a short period of time, returned, and many others still remained (175).

King also many blacks the victims of poverty; this was because the colored people did not have the privilege to uphold a well paying job as the white people. Colored people had to unwilling explain to their children why “Fun town” was closed to colored children. If a colored person was to travel cross-country, they would have the uncomfortable luxury of curling up in the corner of their car because motels denied colored people a vacant room. Colored people had to live with the humiliation of their first names being replaced as “nigger” their middle name became “boy” and their last name became “John”. Their wives were never granted with the respectful title of “Mrs.” They were constantly tormented with nagging signs reading “white” only or “colored” only (178). King went there to end this madness and although he didn’t achieve it when his presents was still with us, it was definitely accomplished it after his death.

King Jr., Luther, Martin. “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. 7th ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2006. pp173-178.