On April 16, 1963, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote an open letter from the Birmingham jail, where he was imprisoned after participating in non-violent demonstrations against segregation. It is largely known today as the Letter from Birmingham Jail. The letter was his response to a public statement of caution outlined in A Call for Unity that had been issued by seven white Christian ministers and one Jewish rabbi, who agreed that there were injustices, but argued that the battle against segregation should be fought patiently and in the courts, not the streets.

In the letter, King cites Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Buber and Paul Tillich. King writes that,
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a
single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.” Read more