Martin Luther King Jr. ‘s,” Letter from Birmingham Jail” is a touching letter expressing his reasoning for the march he participated in leading to his arrest in Birmingham. He begins his letter by addressing the clergymen as individuals of “genuine goodwill” and appreciating their sincerity, establishing a tone of fair discussion. These people stated that what he had participated in was “unwise and untimely”. King disagrees with the accusations and rebutes them with justifications. During this time period there were many cases of segregation, police brutality, and injustices practiced all across America. In order to grab the attention of people across America, Martin Luther King Jr. and many other participants marched in Birmingham. Martin Luther King Jr. had been invited by an affiliate of his church located in Birmingham to join the nonviolent march.
King knew that there was a lot of injustice going on in Birmingham and he wanted to help out because no one would. Martin Luther King Jr. then expresses his criticism to the white leaders of churches. He emphasizes that he asked many predominantly white churches to help the black community. Also many people, including himself, went to speak directly to government officials about their concerns of the injustices circulating all across America. He found that speaking to these people had done nothing to help the Black Community. Churches decided to comply with segregation, regardless of how many people went to them, and government officials blatantly denied any request the Black Community had. They ignore their pleas and cries for help and change.
Martin Luther King Jr. and the black churches planned the march for months. The march had been postponed several times due to crucial dates approaching, but following the election, they decided to go forward with it. Martin Luther King Jr. ends his letter by emphasizing that he believes that soon the Black Community will get the freedom and justice they deserve.
King, M. L. (1969, August). Letter from Birmingham.
LitCharts. (n.d.). Letter from birmingham jail summary. LitCharts. Retrieved September 10, 2021, from https://www.litcharts.com/lit/letter-from-birmingham-jail/summary.
Hi! I wanted to comment regarding the impact of churches in the Civil Rights movement. In your post, I see that black churches were powerful centers of organization for protesters and the like. Similarly, MLK was, in fact, a minister. However, many of the white led churches complied with segregation and harmed the movement as a whole. Accordingly, I wonder about the impact of churches as a whole on the movement. Did churches, all in all, help the movement more than they harmed it? Why did white churches comply, despite MLK’s pleas? Personally, I feel that many white led churches felt more obligated to comply with their government rather than do what was right- a decision that hurt the Civil Rights movement greatly.
I believe that these white churches denounced Martin Luther Kings involvement in marches and other events because they wanted segregation and racism to continue in America. They knew MLK was spreading awareness to a huge problem and gaining support with every event he was involved in and these white clergymen and churches didn’t want segregation to end. Another reason these churches were against MLK is they would try to justify their racism and mislead ideologies through the Bible and their own religion. Obviously they were wrong in doing this but they believe the Bible justified segregation, and racism. They didn’t want other churches getting involved with MLK to make their point and messages look bad.
I think that an important thing to note would be how white people and members of white churches had the chance to connect with MLK through that common ground–their faith–m and yet, they did not. It makes one wonder what people value more: their faith and community, or keeping things the same as they have always been. History is made by those who are willing to challenge the status quo, and without King and the work of many other activists, this could not have happened. You did a great job with this context presentation, and I am glad that I can read his letter knowing this context beforehand.
I also did my context presentation on the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, but I was interested to read your take on it regarding the churches involvement. Churches can be very influential for many people, so having the support from the clergy would have been very beneficial to the movement. It surprises me that those in the white churches were able to comply with segregation. Do people care more about following societal norms, or doing doing whats right, fair, and ethical? I find it so hard to believe that so many people were so quick to follow in line even when they preach about having good morals. I think MLK did more than anyone could’ve imagined given the circumstances and obstacles he and the black community as a whole faced during this movement.
I think MLK’s composure and ability to write one of the most important pieces of literature of the Civil Rights movement in a jail cell is truly incredible. Dr. King was trapped in a cell in the most dangerous city for African Americans in the country. He showed no fear or anger, only determination and strength. Dr. King was able to back up his direct and nonviolent approach, bring awareness to what was going on, and respond to the church leaders who disagreed with him all in one letter. Dr. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” shows just how great a leader he was, and had a large imapct on the Civil Rights movement as a whole.
I thought it was interesting how you pointed out the churches involvement in Birmingham. I do believe that if the churches had a connection with Martin Luther King Jr that they could have explored due to their similarity in religion. This just showed how the churches were apart of the problem standing by segregation. I think if they would have worked with King much more change could have happened and King would most likely not gone to jail because the power of the church is strong especially in this time period.
I liked that you mentioned that the march in Birmingham had already been postponed and moved several times. Despite the comments that Dr. King received about the timing of the march, he planned the march accordingly. In the reading, Dr. King emphasized that they couldn’t wait for a “perfect” time when people were getting killed. There was no more perfect time than that moment. I also liked that you mentioned the impassivity of the white churches. Church is an active community that holds sway over many people. I think it was horrible that so many churches chose to stand by and do nothing instead of standing with the march.