MKL’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail-a Short History

On April 12, 1963, eight clergy—two Methodist bishops, two Episcopal bishops, one Roman Catholic Bishop, a Rabbi, a Presbyterian, and a Baptist—wrote a letter addressed to the citizens of Alabama. This was their second such proclamation. Their first, written nearly three months earlier on January 16, was named “An Appeal for Law and Order and Common Sense.” 

It called for an end to violence surrounding civil rights protests in Alabama and implored those on both sides of the divide regarding the civil rights of African…