![]() ![]() Later he continued on scraps of paper given to him by a prison trusty, and on pads smuggled to him by his attorneys. King began composing his letter as notes in the margin of the News article. The "Call For Unity" was critical of the protests and incendiary actions organized in Birmingham by "outsiders" and called for forbearance and respect for the law as the courts gradually eroded the worst injustices of segregation. King's letter was directly inspired by, and composed as a response to " A Call For Unity", an open letter signed by eight white clergymen of Birmingham published in the Birmingham News on the day of his arrest. ![]() The idea had also been suggested to King by New York Times Magazine editor Harvey Shapiro. ![]() The idea of composing a "jailhouse epistle", along the lines of the letters sent by the apostle Paul from his own imprisonment, had been discussed before by King and Abernathy, specifically during the 1962 Albany campaign. He was charged with parading without a permit, and spent eleven days in solitary confinement at the jail. King was arrested along with Ralph Abernathy during the Good Friday march on April 12, 1963. ![]()
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