
While understanding the oppression and unfair lifestyle that people of the black race went through during the 1960‘s, we can better understand the logic Martin Luther King Jr used while advocating for non-violent protests. “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” was written by MLK Jr., and in this letter he explains his reasoning behind not using violence. The letter connects to the era of the civil rights movement and also the history of oppression the black population dealt with because the lack of rights they had. MLK Jr. led the way for the blacks in order to achieve their constitutional rights behind major protests that included strictly no violence. After reading “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” by MLK Jr. and looking at the events that occurred during the civil rights movement, it is evident that Martin Luther King Jr.’s use of non-violence is the reason that the black population was successful in attaining equal rights.

Throughout America’s history, the black race has never been truly treated equally to the white race. Even after the Emancipation Proclamation, segregation and oppression was still very common in the 1960’s. Due to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954, the “separate but equal” doctrine was formed. This meant there were separated classrooms, bathrooms, and just about everything else, too. White’s also outnumbered black’s by a significant amount during this time period. This was unfortunate for the blacks because it meant that trying to fight the whites for equal rights with violence just was not ever possible because of the difference in amount of people. The black’s had to think use other ways to get their message across other than violence. 

Before the mid 1950’s, there had not been much major support for the blacks to follow. This was why Mr. MLK Jr began to fight this injustice. He realized they did not have much support, so MLK Jr became the primary leader of the US civil rights movement. His major message for the blacks was to not be violent. He urged the black citizens to have non-violent boycotts, sit-ins, and reactions when faced with attack. During these protests, police would fight the blacks with clubs, fire hoses, and police dogs. By not fighting back with violence, the black’s showed their strong will and integrity to keep protesting and fighting for their rights. This non-violent tactic is beneficial for the minority that does not have major authority within a society. 

There were many significant events that involved non-violent protests during this movement. One of the first, major events was when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white bus rider. This went against the southern custom of blacks giving their seats to whites if needed. Rosa Parks was thrown in jail for this act of protest, and it started boycotts. These boycotts were aimed at the city’s buses and it made sure that no blacks would ride the buses until something was done to fix the discrimination with the southern customs. This boycott lasted over a year and proved the determination of the blacks in this community to fight for what they believe in. MLK Jr. was the boycott leader and he brought in the idea of nonviolent tactics that were used by Gandhi, the Indian nationalist. MLK Jr. realized that this method could be effective if he got all the blacks to follow it. This movement sparked MLK Jr. to create and become the president of a new regional organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).

During a March on Washington that MLK Jr. had started, 200,000 blacks participated. This march is where MLK Jr. had his famous “I have a Dream” speech in which he talked about how blacks and whites should be equal. This march and speech helped to create the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in which segregation was outlawed in public facilities and racial discrimination was not allowed. 

Another march that MLK Jr. conducted was from Selma to the state capitol of Montgomery in Alabama. The march was not very long because right away police started to use tear gas and clubs to attack the protesters. This brought national attention to the movement and there were many new supporters because they saw the treatment the blacks received while non-violently marching. Because of the new supporters, a second March from Selma to Montgomery was planned. After a white supporter of the movement was killed by a group of whites from Selma, there was a national outcry. MLK Jr. was finally given permission to proceed with the march. This Selma to Montgomery march was a huge influence on the African-American struggle. Because of this march, Congress soon passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, where more and more blacks could register to vote. This was a big turning point because not only did the march earn the right for blacks to vote, but it also helped the blacks get more support from whites.

In a piece of writing by James W. Vander Zanden about non-violent resistance, he explains that “a minority group withholding of its participation from certain essential areas of life, can exert considerable pressure upon the dominant group and extract concessions from them” (544). By advising the blacks to restrain from certain events, the whites can feel compelled to have control over them causing pressure to build up in the powerful whites. This is valuable for blacks because the “non-violent resistance is less likely to bring direct retaliation from the dominant group (whites)” (Zanden 544). If violent protests were advised, then the whites would retaliate, and by being the majority and having power, the blacks would have no chance if they were to fight with violence. 

Many blacks during this time period were put in jail for these passive acts. This was not good for the whites because of the mass imprisonments and full jails. The circumstances would have differed if these protests had not been passive. In a novel about lynching’s by Stewart Tolnay, blacks were “lynched for nearly every conceivable reason” (Tolnay 606). This shows that the whites would have had reasons to lynch and kill the blacks if the blacks tried to use violence.

Hubert Blalock was a sociologist who studied the civil rights era. His theory hypothesizes how a majority group can be motivated to discriminate against a minority. From both the competitions over economic resources and political power. This explains why whites were so big on segregation during this time period. 

During Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, he explains his strategy of nonviolent resistance. MLK Jr. talks about how people have a moral responsibility to stop unjust laws. This means it is not wrong for someone to break a law if it is discriminating. MLK Jr. says that people have to take direct action in order to achieve their goal, instead of waiting for justice to come. He says, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. This infers that if there is ever a case of injustice, then justice is at fault because it is not dealing with everyone. 

Martin Luther King Jr. came up with four basic steps of nonviolent direct action in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”. The first step is collecting the facts to determine whether injustices are alive. This means reviewing the situation to make sure it is immoral. The second step is negotiation. This step involves being persuasive and leading supporters to follow the nonviolent actions. The third step is self-purification. This step is very important “by which we acknowledge internally that personal sacrifices are needed for the sake of progress” (CoRR). The fourth step is direct action. This is the step that involves taking action to solve it or fix it. Once you have all the other steps, then you can complete the fourth step by using the information to go out and solve the problem. These steps made it easier for all the supporters of the black rights cause to know what they were doing and how it would help. Without these steps, supporters of this movement would have no guidance or scheme to follow to achieve success.

After the civil rights movement had ended, there were still racial discrimination and repression. Martin Luther King was assassinated, but his supporters continued their fight. Anti-black violence declined in the South, and black Americans have been elected to political office.

In MLK Jr.’s “Letter From a Birmingham Jail”, several points 
