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A transformational figure in US history, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) wrote the powerful “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in April 1963. The letter reveals much about his character and priorities. Most important is King’s unwavering commitment to the expansion of civil rights. Insisting that it is no longer possible for Black Americans to wait for equality, King defends the protests in Birmingham, linking them to historical precedent, American values, and Biblical principles. An impressive array of references to other thinkers grounds King’s arguments in a larger intellectual tradition, one that he knows well. While King rejects violence as a means for social change, King is not afraid of an intellectual fight, challenging white moderates and the white church to reconsider their privilege and cowardice in failing to advocate for Black Americans’ rights. King’s political commitments cannot be divorced from his profound religious conviction. As he notes in the letter, he follows his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather to the pulpit. King draws on their legacies to cement his belief in the power of religion to enact social change.
In tandem with his courage and faith, King’s powerful use of words helped establish his importance both to the Civil Rights Movement and to US history. Several months after writing “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” King delivered his best-known speech, “I Have a Dream,” at the March on Washington of August 29, 1963. Many of the ideas that appear in the later speech are present in “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” Both focus on the idea of justice and express enduring hope in the promise of the United States, and both argue forcefully for the need to combat police violence and other forms of racial inequality. King’s courage, passion, and extraordinary talent for inspiring and organizing successful activism were instrumental in the successes won by the Civil Rights Movement. King’s efforts to comabt poverty and support minoritized communities, as well as his ongoing work to gain equal rights for Black Americans, was tragically cut short when he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968.
