Letter from Birmingham City Jail is a letter written on April 16, 1963, by Martin Luther King Jr. advocating civil disobedience against unjust laws, and to bring forth the integration of blacks and whites. It speaks of the atrocities that went on during the 1960’s in Birmingham, Alabama. King wrote about the severe police brutality, the prohibition of colored people being in any place that does not adhere to them and only them, the crimes committed by the whites and no punishment following after, etc. One topic in particular is civil disobedience and its effect on the black community as opposed to the white community and those people in between. He knows that ‘through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor'(292). Next step to take from this is that the oppressed should take the responsibility to demand freedom from their oppressors.
Civil disobedience was the act of peacefully breaking the law or disobeying an unjust law to change it and make it better for a majority of a particular group or population. King’s strategic way of getting the higher-up to listen to him and his fellow colored people who also wanted a different life for themselves was to take action, but it was a very long and painful road to take in order for change to happen. All those other people who supported King in his movement were those who were willing enough to be brutally attacked by racist white people and the authorities who were also white and could do whatever they wanted because they were the ones that enforced laws. His strategy was to purposefully break the laws that were unjust. Some of these laws were that colored people couldn’t buy certain things (even though they had the money to do so), they couldn’t go to certain places, they basically did not have the privilege of being anywhere were whites were or do most of the things whites had and nothing could be done about it. Acting out violently would only be doing them more harm than good because they were in a predominantly white city and more power was being held over them. The only way get what they wanted was by doing things in a calm and peaceful way, and the ultimate goal was to get arrested.
Nonviolent campaign steps that were taken were the collection of facts(injustice is alive), negotiation, self-purification, and the direct action. Before King came to Birmingham, he already knew what was going on. Many called him out on this because he is an outsider taking action for the residents of Birmingham, but he was still apart of the African American community. Birmingham was the most segregated city in the United States at that time. It had a tremendously ugly record of police brutality, unsolved bombings in Negro homes and churches, unjust treatment of Negroes in the courts and locking them up for the most simplest things, while white people would murder colored people and get away with it with no further investigations. Negroes were willing to negotiate things such as merchants putting down racially humiliating signs. Unfortunately, after having negotiated with Rev. Shuttlesworth and the leaders of the Christian Movement for Human Rights, nothing was changed and the signs remained. Negotiation went flying out of the window and it was now the time for preparation if the colored people who stood with King really wanted change to occur. Workshops would be setup for the African Americans to endure the worst pain and treatment they have ever received. Questions such as, ‘Are you able to accept blows without retaliating?’ or ‘Are you able to endure the ordeals of jail?'(291). The primary goal from here on out was to be placed in jail and have as many of them placed in jail for minor misconducts in order to overflow the jails. They would have to let out really dangerous criminals out in the street to make a point. It’s either they wanted no innocent colored people who are just trying to live their lives as peaceful as possible or having murderers, robbers, rapists, etc., out on the street. The final step was to take direct action. Direct action such as sit-ins or marches that would result in them getting physically and verbally harassed, and then being placed in jail.
One example I have seen was the Parkland gun-control movement by a large group of teens from the school. After the Parkland shooting, all of the Parkland students refused to go back to class and protested against the gun laws. The teens would respectfully stand up and tell their stories to politicians. They would write and speak up about this in order for a gun ban to be put into place. It is still going on and change is still waiting to be made, but steps by the students and faculty have been made to further change the situation at hand. Like the students of Parkland are working towards a gun-ban, the African Americans worked towards integration and no further unfair treatment from white people simply because of their skin color. Martin Luther King Jr. played a great role in shaping African American and American history, and he will continue to be a hero in the African American community for many years to come. His contribution in helping his other fellow African Americans will be one of the greatest contributions in black history and American history for eternity.