Civil Rights: guarantees of equal social opportunities and equal protection under the law, regardless of race, religion, or other personal characteristics. (Source: Britannica)
Background
Perhaps no individual in American history was more eloquent and moving that Martin Luther King Jr. Below is a passage from his now world-famous 1957 “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” King addressed it to local ministers who had criticized him for causing civil disorder in the city. In the passages, note his use of persuasive speech.
Directions: Have students read the passages and answers the questions. There are notes for the teacher after each one. For the full text of the letter, click on the the following link: Letter from a Birmingham Jail
Section I
Martin Luther King, Letter from a Birmingham Jail (16 April, 1963)
While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities “unwise and untimely.” Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would have little time for anything other than such correspondence in the course of the day, and I would have no time for constructive work. But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms…
When I was suddenly catapulted into the leadership of the bus protest in Montgomery, Alabama, a few years ago, I felt we would be supported by the white church. I felt that the white ministers, priests and rabbis of the South would be among our strongest allies. Instead, some have been outright opponents, refusing to understand the freedom movement and misrepresenting its leaders; all too many others have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained glass windows…
I have heard numerous southern religious leaders admonish their worshipers to comply with a desegregation decision because it is the law, but I have longed to hear white ministers declare: “Follow this decree because integration is morally right and because the Negro is your brother.” In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churchmen stand on the sideline and mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard many ministers say: “Those are social issues, with which the gospel has no real concern.” And I have watched many churches commit themselves to a completely other worldly religion which makes a strange, un-Biblical distinction between body and soul, between the sacred and the secular.
I have traveled the length and breadth of Alabama, Mississippi and all the other southern states. On sweltering summer days and crisp autumn mornings I have looked at the South’s beautiful churches with their lofty spires pointing heavenward. I have beheld the impressive outlines of her massive religious education buildings. Over and over I have found myself asking: “What kind of people worship here? Who is their God?... Where were they when Governor Wallace* gave a clarion call for defiance and hatred? Where were their voices of support when bruised and weary Negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest?”
*George Wallace, segregationist governor or Alabama
Questions:
1. What is King’s goal in the first paragraph of his letter? Why does he refer to his critics as “men of genuine good will” and their “criticisms sincerely set forth”?
[Very old rhetorical device, imply your opponent is X, when they are really Y. Suggests they have created a false narrative about themself. Notes that they are just another in a long list of tireless critics that he probably would not answer unless he was confined in jail and thus not able to do “constructive work.” In other words, they are holding back progress.]
2. Why is he critical of religious leaders in Birmingham?
[Note the attempt to shame religious leaders (“where were they…?”). Implies that merely attending church (“behind the security of stained windows”) does not make one holy and the “beautiful churches and lofty spires” might point to heaven but the congregations will not reach it. King comes from a long line of ministers and feels strongly about this issue. You could link this to late 19th/early 20th century Social Gospel movement (Washington Gladden, Walter Rauschenbusch, etc.) which maintained that Christians and Jews had a moral and religious obligation to improve society. It was not enough to simply attend houses of worship.]
Section II
Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. ... It was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire. To a degree, academic freedom is a reality today because Socrates practiced civil disobedience. In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of civil disobedience.
We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary* was “illegal.” It was “illegal” to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country’s antireligious laws…
I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. I also hope that circumstances will soon make it possible for me to meet each of you, not as an integrationist or a civil-rights leader but as a fellow clergyman and a Christian brother. Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.
Yours for the cause of Peace and Brotherhood,
Martin Luther King, Jr.
*In 1956 Hungarians rose up and attempted to overthrow their tyrannical pro-Soviet government. Russian forces invaded and brutally suppressed the rebellion, killing an estimated 25,000.
Questions
1. What does King mean by “civil disobedience”?
[Discuss the term with students. Link it back to Henry David Thoreau and Mahatma Gandhi. Ask them why it can be more effective than violence?]
2. What is his point in comparing what he and African Americans are doing to the Boston Tea Party?
[Obviously, he is referencing what is considered a patriotic and justified act. It is almost a creation story of the United States. Opposing civil rights thus makes one appear un-American.]
3. Why would the reference to Germany be effective?
[Remind students that World War II, at this point, had only ended 18 years earlier. Therefore, people were very aware of the Holocaust and other Nazi horrors (much more so than today) which was prominently covered in news, literature and film. There were still literally millions of veterans of the war still alive. You could also discuss the issue as to whether one obeys an unjust law, even if it is legal. Bring up the Nuremberg trials, and the Nazi leaders’ defense that they were just following orders (which the court did not accept).]
Part III: Protest Today:
During King’s era, protesting injustice entailed marching, boycotting, knocking on doors, meeting in churches and other forms of physical , face-to face activities. Though there are still public protests today much activism has shifted on-line through social media. Much of it is anonymous.
What are your thoughts on this new form of activism compared to that which King and his supporters employed? Is it equally courageous and effective? Does it encourage us to become better human beings as King had hoped?