| Abstract: | This research investigates Martin Luther King, Jr.' s Letter from Birmingham Jail and the political and religious context of the letter. The methodological approach was interdisciplinary, including oral historical and qualitative and rhetorical analyses. Comparing interviews and personal letters to popular accounts of the Birmingham demonstrations, the essay substantiates that the religious and political complexity in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963 has been overlooked by civil rights scholars. The purpose of the thesis is two-fold: to expose the racial complexity (or shadow) in Birmingham and to add to the body of knowledge concerning King's letter and the civil rights protests in Birmingham |
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