Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”

Martin Luther King’s 1963 “Letter from Birmingham Jail” remains a classic document of the Civil Rights movement and is certainly an appropriate read for Martin Luther King Day.  

The “Letter” is a response to a public statement of criticism of MLK’s methods of protest and resistance.  In defense of a policy of non-violent resistance, King here suggests that one is morally bound to resist unjust laws; indeed, drawing on the likes of Augustine, he wants to suggest that “an unjust law is no law at all.” The “Letter” was important enough to King for him to have included the full text in his book, Why We Can’t Wait.

Read the “Letter” here.