What is the usual title of Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 open letter written in Birmingham Jail?

Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 open letter written in Birmingham Jail is usually titled “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”

King wrote the letter in April 1963 after his arrest during the Birmingham campaign in Alabama. Several white clergymen had criticized the demonstrations as untimely and disruptive, and King responded by explaining why direct action against segregation could not be postponed.

The letter argues that people have a moral responsibility to oppose unjust laws and that nonviolent protest creates pressure for negotiation. King also distinguished between just laws, which uplift human personality, and unjust laws, which degrade it.

The text was first published under titles such as “The Negro Is Your Brother” before becoming widely known by its current title. It is not the same event as King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, which he delivered later in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963.