Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" was written in response to a letter that he

received from his fellow clergymen asking him to not take any direct action and to rely on the
judicial system regarding segregation and racial issues. The key to this letter is that, while King
took direct action against injustice, it was always NONVIOLENT direct action. You need to
familiar with King's bio before the letter begins.

This letter contains many things. Early in the letter, he gives us the four basic steps to a
nonviolent campaign:

1. Collection of facts to determine whether an injustice has been committed

2. Negotiation

3. Self-purification

4. Direct Action

According to King to what does "self-purification" refer? Discuss what he is talking about here.

King also mentions just laws and unjust laws. He gives multiple definitions for these two types
of laws, but the ones I want you to remember are the following: "Any law that uplifts human
personality is just." "Any law that degrades human personality is unjust."

King also mentions that just because a law is legal, does not make it just. Do you agree with that
statement? Is he recommending breaking all laws, or only the unjust ones?

My favorite MLK quote is, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." What does
King mean by that?

King mentions that he is disappointed in two types of people: The white moderate and the
white clergymen.

He discusses the white moderate. What is his definition of a white moderate? Why does he say
that dealing with the white moderate is more frustrating that dealing with the opposition, or
people of ill-will?

King's disappointment in the white clergymen stems from the fact that the need for justice for
all is a moral issue, and an issue that he feels church leaders should discuss with their
congregations. But instead, he says church leaders are simply pursuing the common beliefs of
those around them, which, at this time, was racial prejudice. King himself was a clergyman and
realized that value of that position is teaching a moral code.
King ends his letter by putting himself on equal terms with the eight clergymen to whom he is
writing: " I also hope that circumstances make it possible for me to meet each of you, not as an
integrationist or a civil rights leader, but as a fellow clergy man and Christian brother."

King was specifically put in jail for failure to have a parade permit, not for having the parade
itself.