Events that lead up to MLK’S 1963 “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”

Spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC) organized the Birmingham Campaign The goal was to bring attention to—and, hopefully, change—the unequal treatment black Americans faced in Birmingham, Alabama.

Racial segregation of nearly all public and commercial facilities and services was strictly enforced in Birmingham.

Fifty unsolved racially-motivated bombings between 1945 and 1962 had earned the city the nickname "Bombingham".

Jobs available to blacks were limited to manual labor. In 1960, there were, for example, no black police officers, firefighters, bank tellers, or sales clerks and cashiers in stores.

The Birmingham Campaign’s goals included the following: Desegregation of the downtown stores Fair access to employment in stores and local government The re-opening of public parks A bi-racial committee to oversee the desegregation of Birmingham’s schools Birmingham Police Commissioner, Eugene “Bull” Connor

The Birmingham Campaign consisted of nonviolent demonstrations, which sometimes falls under the category of “direct action” (as opposed to negotiating or writing letters) Marches

The Birmingham Campaign consisted of nonviolent demonstrations. Extended boycotts of stores that would not hire or serve blacks

The Birmingham Campaign consisted of nonviolent demonstrations. Lunch Counter Sit-ins This is a group training for a lunch counter sit-in—they are practicing how to withstand attacks and violence.

The Birmingham Campaign consisted of nonviolent demonstrations. Kneel-ins, also known as Pray-ins

Good Friday, 1963 Fred Shuttlesworth, Ralph Abernathy and Martin Luther King, Jr. took part in a mass demonstration—a nonviolent march.

King and the others were arrested and jailed for taking part in the march.

From his jail cell, on scraps of paper, King wrote his now-famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”