Letter from Birmingham City Jail by King, Jr., Martin Luther - 1963

Philadelphia: American Friends Service Committee, 1963. First separate printing of Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham City Jail." As president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, King came to Alabama in April 1963 to lead a protest against segregation in Birmingham, a citywide campaign timed to disrupt the Easter shopping season. On Good Friday, King was arrested, along with dozens of fellow marchers, for "parading without a permit." While in jail, he was the unnamed target of an open letter from eight Alabama clergymen, criticizing "outsiders" for inflaming racial tensions in the city: "a cause should be pressed in the courts and in negotiations among local leaders, and not in the streets." King's reply, first composed in the margins of that open letter, and smuggled out of the Birmingham jail in pieces, would become one of the most influential calls to action in American history. Rejecting "the narrow, provincial 'outside agitator' idea," King directly challenged all Americans, of all races, to see themselves in the civil rights struggle: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." He outlines the philosophy of nonviolent direct action, and takes particular aim at complacent white allies: "the Negroes' great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens' 'Counciler' or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice." The New York Times declined to run King's letter, but the New York Post published unauthorized excerpts in May 1963, escalating public demand for the text. This pamphlet, published by the American Friends Service Committee, is the first separate appearance of the complete letter. "Letter from Birmingham City Jail" would be reprinted many times in 1963: this is the first printing, dated "5-63," with no later printings noted. A very good example of an American landmark. Side-stapled pamphlet, measuring 9 x 6 inches: 16. Original wrappers printed in grey and white. Lightly creased; a few faint stains, primarily to rear wrapper.