In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference joined forces with the Alabama Christian Movement for Civil Rights to protest segregation in Birmingham. After Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested there, eight fellow clergymen publicly criticized King’s actions as being “unwise and untimely.” King’s letter to them — and to the world — clarifies his belief in the necessity of the nonviolent yet “illegal” campaign. The letter is an exciting (not merely academic) combination of political philosophy and theology. Lives were at stake and Birmingham was at the center of the storm.
This is a Road Scholar talk by Robert Schaefer, Ph.D.
April 16, 2026 | 10am
16th Street Baptist Church (Birmingham)
205.251.9402
tbrown@16thstreetbaptist.org
