Birmingham jail
Southern civil detention
Birmingham jail refers to the city jail in Birmingham, Alabama, where Martin Luther King Jr. was held in April 1963 after his arrest during civil rights protests.
The phrase is most associated with King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail," a foundational text of the American civil rights movement written during his imprisonment, defending nonviolent resistance to unjust laws: He wrote it on scraps of newspaper in Birmingham jail.
- MLKCivil rights initials
- Martin Luther KingCivil rights movement leader
- civil rightsGuaranteed individual legal protections
- letterWritten symbol or message
- injusticeDenial of fair treatment
segregation · Jim Crow · protest · peaceful protest · Alabama · nonviolence · incarceration · cell · behind bars · bars · arrest · racism · South · clergy · conscience · civil disobedience · oppression · sit-in
- Alabama HistoryMontgomery, Selma, Montgomery bus boycott, Martin Luther King Jr., statehood
Birmingham jailfreedom
Absence of constraint
liberty · sanctuary · emancipation · release · home
Birmingham jailLincoln Memorial
D.C. presidential monument
March on Washington · Civil Rights Act · Emancipation Proclamation · Promised Land · voting booth
Birmingham jailstate prison
Government-run correctional facility
state penitentiary · maximum security prison · Alcatraz · Leavenworth · Sing Sing