"Letter from Birmingham Jail"

Collection

Identifier: MSS-1831

Scope and Contents note

Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his famous, "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," on April 16, 1963, after his arrest for violating Alabama’s law against mass public demonstrations. King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) joined with Fred Shuttlesworth’s Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) for the Birmingham Campaign in April 1963 with the hopes of disrupting the system of segregation in the city by putting pressure on Birmingham merchants during the Easter season. The campaign began on April 3, 1963, with lunch counter sit-ins, boycotts, marches, and mass meetings. On April 10, 1963, the city’s Commissioner of Public Safety, Eugene "Bull" Connor, obtained an injunction against the protests. Two days later, after much deliberation, King decided to defy the injunction and marched with supporters. He, along with Ralph David Abernathy and fifty other supporters, was arrested and taken to the Birmingham jail, where he was subject to solitary confinement and denied access to his lawyers. While in jail, a friend smuggled King a copy of the Birmingham News, which contained a statement from eight white Alabama clergymen critical of King’s methods, favoring the electoral process to societal change. King began writing his response in the margins of the newspaper and continued on scraps of paper until he received a legal pad from his lawyers. The letter defends his presence in Birmingham and his dedication to the civil rights movement through direct action and nonviolence. This iteration is a copy transcribed and then sent to various clergymen in Birmingham, Alabama, including Rev. Joe C. Higginbotham, and includes the original envelope and transcription control sheet.

Dates

1963-04-16

Creator

King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Due to the nature of certain archival formats, including digital and audio-visual materials, access to certain materials may require additional advance notice.

Conditions Governing Use

Researchers are responsible for using the materials in conformance with United States copyright law as well as any donor restrictions accompanying the materials. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any copyright claimants in collection materials. Copyright for official University records is held by The University of Alabama. The library claims only physical ownership of many manuscript collections. Anyone wishing to broadcast or publish this material must assume all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of literary property rights or copyrights. Please contact Special Collections (archives@ua.edu) with questions regarding specific manuscript collections.

For more information about copyright policy, please visit: https://www.ua.edu/copyright/. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.

Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals without the consent of those individuals may have legal implications, for which the University of Alabama assumes no responsibility.

Biographical / Historical

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) was born in Atlanta, Georgia, to Michael King and Alberta Williams. He had two siblings, an older sister named Christine and a younger brother named A. D. (Alfred Daniel). He attended Morehouse College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in sociology in 1948. After graduation, he entered the ministry, attending Crozer Theological Seminary in Upland, Pennsylvania. He married Coretta Scott in 1953, and had four children: Yolanda, Martin, Dexter, and Bernice. King is best known as a leader in the Civil Rights movement, and his great ability as an orator. He was assassinated by James Earl Ray in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968.

Extent

0.1 Linear Feet (1 item, 23 pieces)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Contains Martin Luther King's "Birmingham Jail Treatise" or as it is commonly known, "Letter from Birmingham Jail," originally written by King on scraps of paper. This iteration is a copy transcribed and then sent to various clergymen in Birmingham, Alabama, including Reverend Joe C. Higginbotham, and includes the original envelope and transcription control sheet.

Provenance

Gift of Mrs. Joe C. (Ann T.) Higginbotham, in memory of the Rev. Joe C. Higginbotham and in honor of the University of Alabama Black Faculty and Staff Association (BFSA), 2006