Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (1963)
Explanation and Analysis of the Document
King establishes a tone of rational dialogue as he begins his letter to the eight clergymen. He explains that he rarely responds to critics, but since they are “men of genuine good will” who are sincere in their criticism, he is making an exception. He hopes that they will find his remarks “patient and reasonable.” Because they had questioned his presence in Birmingham, he relates that he was invited to their city by the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. A more compelling reason, however, was the pervasive racial oppression in Birmingham. King compares himself to the apostle Paul, who spread the Christian faith among the Gentiles. Paul traveled more widely than any of the early Christian missionaries, preaching and establishing churches throughout Greece and Asia Minor. The “Macedonian call” mentioned in the third paragraph refers to Acts 16:9, in which a man appears to Paul in a dream, asking him to “come over into...
