A Call for Unity

"A Call for Unity" was an open letter published in Birmingham, Alabama, on April 12, 1963, by eight local white clergymen in response to civil rights demonstrations taking place in the area at the time. In the letter, they took issue with events "directed and led in part by outsiders," and they urged activists to engage in local negotiations and to use the courts if rights were being denied, rather than to protest.[1]

The term "outsider" was a thinly-veiled reference to Martin Luther King Jr., who replied four days later, with his famous "Letter from Birmingham Jail." He argued that direct action was necessary to protest unjust laws.[2]

The authors of "A Call for Unity" had written "An Appeal for Law and Order and Common Sense" in January 1963.[3]

Signatories

References
  1. "Alabama Clergymen's Letter to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 29, 2018. Retrieved September 30, 2023.
  2. "Baltimore Sun". www.tribpub.com. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
  3. Bass, S. Jonathan (2001). Blessed Are the Peacemakers: Martin Luther King Jr., Eight White Religious Leaders, and the "Letter from Birmingham Jail". LSU Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-2800-8.

Further reading
  • Bass, S. Jonathan (2001). Blessed Are the Peacemakers: Martin Luther King, Jr., Eight White Religious Leaders, and the "Letter from Birmingham Jail". Baton Rouge: LSU Press. ISBN 0-8071-2655-1.


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