Letter on What Inspired Dr. King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech

Although Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic “I Have a Dream” on this day, the events that inspired this speech began long before. These events would be pivotal in the American Civil Rights Movement. However, letters about this speech’s inspiration came months before Martin Luther King was still in prison. One of these letters was known as the “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” to address the criticism of his nonviolent resistance.

Prison Letters From Martin Luther King

During the 60s, Birmingham was one of the most racially segregated cities in the United States. This could be seen in almost all facets of life such as schools, businesses, and public services which left African-Americans in a worse economic condition. This made it a major hotspot both for racial violence and civil rights leaders to combat discrimination. However, the racism didn’t stop with ordinary people as the local government, under the leadership of Public Safety Commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor, was notoriously violent in their response to even peaceful civil rights demonstrations.

Rather than back down, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his supporters continued this movement to end segregation using protests across the city, even organizing the Birmingham Campaign in 1963. This consisted of a series of nonviolent protests and demonstrations against the severe segregation in the city. However, the government cracked down on this movement and had MLK arrested in the Birmingham jail.

While there, King wasn’t entirely cut off from the outside world as he received newspapers. He found an article called “A Call for Unity,” written by eight white Alabama clergymen. They criticized public protests as a foolish endeavor and instead suggested that black Americans simply use the courts to settle disputes.

MLK was left unhappy with this article and penned a response. At first, he just wrote on the margins of the paper, but what started as a few notes turned into an entire document. This letter defended the strategy of peaceful protests both as a mortal stance and a philosophical argument against unjust laws.

The fight for equality began long before MLKs life and could be seen as far back as the 1800s when African-Americans first became freed from slavery. As seen in this letter, slaves struggled with trying to become independent from their masters.

All of this began with the famous letter of emancipation before Lincoln officially freed the slaves.

If you want to create vintage letters with your own or other people’s famous lines, our Vintage Letter service allows you to make and send them here.