Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In 1965, during the civil rights movement there were many organizations which fought for the rights of African-Americans. The Southern Christian Leadership Committee and the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee were two of the major organizations, which focused on fighting for black people's rights. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was the President of the Southern Christian Leadership Committee. He believed in non-violence, which was the form of resistance in which he used against the white people. By Dr. King using this form of non-violence this helped to save the lives of many black people. Many of the black people wanted to go up and fight against the white people, but Dr. King knew that violence wouldn't get them anywhere. He tried to instill this form of non-violence in all of his fellow black citizens. While in the Birmingham jail on April 16, 1963, Dr. King sat and responded to a recent statement, which called his activities "unwise and untimely". In this letter, Dr. King stated how rarely he responded back to all of the criticism in which he received about his work and ideas. Due to the fact, that if he did always respond to all of the criticisms, then he would never have any time to do constructive work. Dr. King proceeded on in the letter and stated the reasons why he was affiliated with Birmingham. Which was because he was asked to be on call to engage in a non-violent direct action program, if it was necessary. The major reason Dr. King was in Birmingham was due to injustice. Birmingham was one of the most segregated cities in the United States, during this time. In this letter Dr. King made a significant statement about why he felt that it was his duty to see to it that freedom for every race was carried out. He said: "Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the lord", far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco-Roman world, so am I. compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid."(Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., In a letter from Birmingham jail.