Summary Of Letter From Birmingham Jail

“Letter from a Birmingham City Jail” was written by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963 while serving a jail sentence for participating in a civil rights demonstration. He wrote this letter in response to several clergymen who were found the civil rights demonstrations King was leading in Birmingham, Alabama to be “unwise and untimely.” In the beginning, King tells the clergymen that he is not an “outsider coming in,” like they believe him to be. He then goes on to explain how he became involved with the civil rights demonstration. He mentions his status as the leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and he explains that he came to came to Birmingham upon the request of the local affiliate. The affiliate requests his aid in a “nonviolent

New hope for justice arose when new administration came in to play, but justice was always placed on the back burner when it came to the issue of segregation. Therefore, the Negro community became tired of the word “wait” which ultimately meant “never,” and found that there was no time like the present which began the process because “justice too long delayed is justice denied.” He then continues on to explain the hardship that African Americans have suffered because of segregation. King describes how segregation is feeding into the minds of young children in the form of “ominous clouds of inferiority,” and “unconscious bitterness toward white people.” He describes the disrespectful treatment African Americans receive and proves this through a set of examples. For instance, how humiliation continues because of signs reading “white” and “colored”, because men are given the name “nigger boy” no matter their age, and how women are never given the respect of having the title “Mrs.” Overall, King infers that he has no intention of disrespecting the law now cutting ties with white society, but that he only wishes to end the injustice of segregation which limits the freedom of the Negro