Letter from Birmingham Jail

by

Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Martin Luther King, Jr. Character Analysis

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Baptist minister, a leader of the Civil Rights movement, and the author of “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Responding to an open letter known as “A Call for Unity,” written by eight white clergymen, King answers their criticism of his racial activism and defends civil disobedience as necessary in the face of the injustice African Americans experienced at the time. In the letter, King refers to himself as “the son, the grandson, and the greatgrandson of preachers,” and contextualizes his protest within the history of Christianity, noting that the early Christians practiced civil disobedience as well and were “willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire.” King’s vast biblical knowledge and rhetorical skills are clear in this letter: despite being written in the margins of a newspaper in a Birmingham jail cell, King’s letter is one of the most important works of the Civil Rights Era.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes in Letter from Birmingham Jail

The Letter from Birmingham Jail quotes below are all either spoken by Martin Luther King, Jr. or refer to Martin Luther King, Jr. . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Racism  Theme Icon
).
Letter from Birmingham Jail Quotes

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Related Characters: Martin Luther King, Jr. (speaker)
Related Symbols: Apostle Paul
Page Number: 5
Explanation and Analysis:

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

Related Characters: Martin Luther King, Jr. (speaker)
Page Number: 10
Explanation and Analysis:

The answer is found in the fact that there are two types of laws: there are just laws, and there are unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that “An unjust law is no law at all.”

Related Characters: Martin Luther King, Jr. (speaker)
Page Number: 13
Explanation and Analysis:

We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal.”

Related Characters: Martin Luther King, Jr. (speaker)
Page Number: 17
Explanation and Analysis:

…the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councillor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice…

Related Characters: Martin Luther King, Jr. (speaker)
Page Number: 17
Explanation and Analysis:

We must come to see that human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability.

Related Characters: Martin Luther King, Jr. (speaker)
Page Number: 20
Explanation and Analysis:

So let him march sometime; let him have his prayer pilgrimages to the city hall; understand why he must have sit ins and freedom rides.

Related Characters: Martin Luther King, Jr. (speaker)
Page Number: 23
Explanation and Analysis:

Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice, or will we be extremists for the cause of justice?

Related Characters: Martin Luther King, Jr. (speaker)
Related Symbols: Apostle Paul
Page Number: 25
Explanation and Analysis:

We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom.

Related Characters: Martin Luther King, Jr. (speaker)
Page Number: 32
Explanation and Analysis:

One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters they were in reality standing up for the best in the American dream and the most sacred values in our Judeo-Christian heritage.

Related Characters: Martin Luther King, Jr. (speaker)
Page Number: 35
Explanation and Analysis:
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Letter from Birmingham Jail PDF

Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes in Letter from Birmingham Jail

The Letter from Birmingham Jail quotes below are all either spoken by Martin Luther King, Jr. or refer to Martin Luther King, Jr. . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Racism  Theme Icon
).
Letter from Birmingham Jail Quotes

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Related Characters: Martin Luther King, Jr. (speaker)
Related Symbols: Apostle Paul
Page Number: 5
Explanation and Analysis:

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

Related Characters: Martin Luther King, Jr. (speaker)
Page Number: 10
Explanation and Analysis:

The answer is found in the fact that there are two types of laws: there are just laws, and there are unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that “An unjust law is no law at all.”

Related Characters: Martin Luther King, Jr. (speaker)
Page Number: 13
Explanation and Analysis:

We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal.”

Related Characters: Martin Luther King, Jr. (speaker)
Page Number: 17
Explanation and Analysis:

…the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councillor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice…

Related Characters: Martin Luther King, Jr. (speaker)
Page Number: 17
Explanation and Analysis:

We must come to see that human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability.

Related Characters: Martin Luther King, Jr. (speaker)
Page Number: 20
Explanation and Analysis:

So let him march sometime; let him have his prayer pilgrimages to the city hall; understand why he must have sit ins and freedom rides.

Related Characters: Martin Luther King, Jr. (speaker)
Page Number: 23
Explanation and Analysis:

Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice, or will we be extremists for the cause of justice?

Related Characters: Martin Luther King, Jr. (speaker)
Related Symbols: Apostle Paul
Page Number: 25
Explanation and Analysis:

We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom.

Related Characters: Martin Luther King, Jr. (speaker)
Page Number: 32
Explanation and Analysis:

One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters they were in reality standing up for the best in the American dream and the most sacred values in our Judeo-Christian heritage.

Related Characters: Martin Luther King, Jr. (speaker)
Page Number: 35
Explanation and Analysis: