This month marks the 50th Anniversary of the Letter from a Birmingham Jail (April 16, 1963) written by Martin Luther King, Jr. In it he responded to 8 white clergymen who expressed their objections to recent nonviolent protests. As one of King’s most well-known pieces, the letter served as a turning point for the civil rights movement as it defended the strategy of nonviolent resistance in response to racism.
King wrote the letter in the margins of newspapers (the only paper he had at his disposal) and eventually pieced it together for publication in the New York Post, Christian Century, and Atlantic Monthly. It then became part of huge changes that year and beyond.
King used his writing to make a difference; he clearly understood the immense power of writing and used it to express his passion and inspire huge numbers of people the world over. You can take a cue from him.
On this website, in my presentations and coaching session, and in my editing work, I offer a slew of tools to use when sharpening your writing to inspire change and engage hearts and minds. While we may not find ourselves at King’s level of making sweeping changes at the end of our pens (or keyboards), we can strive to maximize our written words.
Here’s an excerpt from King’s letter, where I highlighted the most famous quote:
“… I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial “outside agitator” idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.
You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city’s white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.”
Read the full letter HERE.
