"Letter from a Birmingham Jail" was written on April 16, 1963 by Martin Luther King Jr. in response to a letter published in a Birmingham, Alabama, newspaper in 1963. Eight Birmingham Clergymen presented a letter to the public, previous to King's letter, as a means of protesting the progression of desegregation in Birmingham through the peaceful demonstrations brought on by the Negro community. King responds to the numerous claims made by the clergy men throughout their letter in a clear and intelligent way that allows his readers to make their own judgments on the issues at hand. The clergymen saw the demonstrations as an unwise, untimely, and a disrespectful way for the Negro community to get their message across to the powers that be. King felt that it was important to allow the public to see the other side of the argument because the clergy men failed to give the demonstrators any credit for their actions. The clergy men thought the issues plaguing their community were ones that would be dealt with in a court room and not on a street corner. The undisputable message King was sending to his readers when he wrote this letter was that the Negro community would no longer stand idly by as the white leaders of their community deny them their God-given rights.
             It was implied by the clergy men that King was an outsider in Birmingham and the issues that he was involving himself in were such that should be dealt with by the people who lived in Birmingham and no one else. It was stated that bringing in an outsider to solve a towns problems will only lead to more trouble, but King repeatedly justifies his involvement in the Human Rights Demonstrations with evidence backing his presence in the town. King points out the fact that he was invited by the leader of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights to be a prominent guiding figure for the Negro community throughout the demonstrations. He also notes that t...