为了纪念马丁·路德·金. 一天, AG亚洲官网’s Davis 图书馆 has displayed one of the most influential pieces of text from the civil rights movement, 马丁·路德·金《AG亚洲官网》的原件,，日期为4月16日, 1963.  

国王的信, which powerfully stated a case for racial equality and the immediate need for social justice, 仍然对历史有影响. On April 12, 1963, King defied a court injunction and marched through the streets of Birmingham. King and a small group of protestors were arrested and transported to the Birmingham jail where 40 years earlier, a prisoner had penned a mournful folk ballad about the place that included the line "write me a letter; save it for mail; send it in care of Birmingham jail."

在他被监禁八天的早期, King read a white clergymen’s statement criticizing the timing of the protests and began composing a response. He gave bits and pieces of the letter to his 法律yers to take back to movement headquarters, where the Reverend Wyatt Walker began compiling and editing the literary jigsaw puzzle. 了长达21页的拘留, 输入, double-spaced essay appears as though it is a personal correspondence, 写给八位白人牧师. It opens with a salutation reading "My dear fellow clergymen" and concludes with "Yours for the cause of peace and brotherhood.文件, 然而, was never sent to the eight ministers and instead was used by the movement for public relations purposes as a response to broader criticisms from around the country. In the aftermath of the Birmingham campaign, the "Letter" became part of American folklore. It now appears in hundreds of anthologies and is studied in secondary schools and colleges all over the world.

作为原始打印副本之一, this significant artifact is one of the prized possessions of the library’s 特殊的集合. 由乔治·巴格利捐赠给大学, the executive secretary of the Alabama Baptist Convention at the time of its publishing, AG亚洲官网的学生经常使用这本书, 还有那些大学以外的人.

詹妮弗•泰勒, 助理图书馆员兼特别收藏主席说, “我非常荣幸能从博士那里得到这些早期的作品. 马丁路德金写这封信的时候, 他们能来到AG亚洲官网是AG注册平台的荣幸. And they get used very often by our students and by other museums and collections around the world. AG注册平台非常感激能有这些机会.”

A second copy of the letter in the library’s collection was donated by Professor 乔纳森·巴斯, who obtained it from Bishop Joseph Durick, one of the eight clergymen addressed in the letter. Bass, an expert in civil rights history, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his book 和平缔造者有福了:马丁·路德·金., Eight White Religious Leaders and the “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”

Bass said, “To have something in writing like this is extremely important. Dr. 金花了很多时间证明他为什么在伯明翰, 动作的时机, 饱受批评, 为他的策略辩护, 证明他为什么违法, 与此同时, he admonishes white moderates and white ministers for standing on the sidelines and doing very little.”

这对AG亚洲官网社区尤其重要, 尤其是学生, to have this artifact nearby not only as an 教育al resource, but as a reminder of the history that happened in our city which affected the world. 

丹尼斯·格雷戈里, associate provost for student success and diversity and inclusion said, “For our students it’s such a great reminder of them just to see the work. It also gives them a tangible piece of material to look at to give them a visual display of the great work that he’s done. We’re excited to share this display with our students, to remind them of the great work Dr. Martin Luther King did, and the importance of civility with one another.”

巴斯指出，没有原创, 信的初稿, 包括马丁·路德·金的原始笔记. “For 特殊的集合 to have two 输入 carbon copies of the letter in their collection is a real goldmine,他说. The letter was mass produced locally on mimeograph machines and through 输入 and re输入 carbon copies.

The letter is on display in the Davis library through the end of February 2022 but is available in 特殊的集合 as a resource for faculty, 工作人员, 学生与社会, 在任何时候. 特殊的集合 is open to the public and all researchers are welcome to use the materials during its hours of operation.