Letter From Birmingham City Jail by Martin Luther King Jr., Printed Pamphlet in Original Illustrated Wrappers

Presented is one of the most important texts of the American Civil Rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham City Jail.” Printed as a stapled pamphlet, in its original illustrated wrappers, this copy was originally distributed and sold by the Division of Christian Social Concern, American Baptist Convention, in Valley Forge, PA.  A bright and well preserved copy of this truly historic document, it is now protected in an archival cloth-covered chemise and ¼ leather and cloth clamshell case. 

Dated April 16, 1963, King’s famous open letter is considered a classic document of civil disobedience. He argues that people have a moral responsibility to break unjust laws and to take direct action to change them, rather than waiting for justice to come through the courts, if at all. "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere [...] Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." 

In the letter, King laments the "myth concerning time" by which moderates assume that progress toward equal rights is inevitable and so assertive activism was unnecessary.  It is a "tragic misconception of time," he writes, to assume that its mere passage "will inevitably cure all ills." Progress, King argues, takes the "tireless efforts" of dedicated people. Listing numerous ongoing injustices toward black people, including himself, King writes, "Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, 'Wait.'" 

King argues for the importance of civil disobedience in the face of unjust laws. "The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that 'an unjust law is no law at all.'"  He ends by praising the nonviolent demonstrators in Birmingham "for their sublime courage, their willingness to suffer and their amazing discipline in the midst of great provocation. One day the South will recognize its real heroes."

This pamphlet includes the full text of King’s letter, an introduction by Colin Bell, and the April 12, 1963 “A Call for Unity” public statement published by eight Alabama clergymen, to which Dr. King is responding in his letter. 

Extensive excerpts from the letter were first published, without King's consent, on May 19, 1963, in the New York Post Sunday Magazine. The complete letter was first published as "Letter from Birmingham City Jail" by the American Friends Service Committee in May 1963 and subsequently in the June 1963 issue of Liberation, the June 12, 1963 edition of The Christian Century and the June 24, 1963 edition of The New Leader. The letter gained more popularity with circulation, and was reprinted in the July 1963 edition of The Progressive under the headline "Tears of Love" and the August 1963 edition of The Atlantic Monthly under the headline "The Negro Is Your Brother". King included a version of the full text in his 1964 book Why We Can't Wait. The letter was anthologized and reprinted around 50 times in 325 editions of 58 readers between 1864 and 1968. 

CONDITION:

Good condition. Stapled pamphlet, in original illustrated wrappers showing the bars of a jail cell. Clean and unmarked, with bright pages. Tears to the top left side, now archivally repaired and stabilized with tissue, original staples. 

Pamphlet is protected in a new archival cloth-covered chemise and ¼ leather and cloth clamshell case with raised bands, gilt titles, and gilt tooling to the spine, and an inlay of King on the front. 

Pamphlet Dimensions: 9 1/16"H x 6 1/16"W x 1/16"D. Clamshell Dimensions: 10 1/2"H x 7 5/8"W x 1 1/4"D. 

Accompanied by our company's letter of authenticity.