Letter from Birmingham Jail

This review, by Dr. Nicholson, has been provided courtesy of Desert Bible Institute (www.desertbibleinstitute.com).

This was a truly amazing recording. After hearing this recording, I was struck by how Dr. King could take so many ideas from so many sources and smoothly and coherently tie them together. In this speech, Dr. King eloquently uses parallelism, allusion, and metaphor to paint a clear image of what the black community was experiencing in the South at this time. His arguments are clear and his definitions are accurate. Just as the pastors he was speaking to, I felt compelled and duty-bound to address the injustices he was speaking about rather than settling for a safe middle-ground. After hearing this, I feel a need to look for areas in my life where I choose wellbeing and effortlessness over uprightness and evenhandedness.

I am currently looking for other audio recordings of his famous speeches so that I can be further blessed by one of the most persuasive and charismatic speakers and teachers of the last century. Additionally, I plan to use this speech as the basis of several assignments for my students so that they can see how a truly great writer expresses himself and persuades his audience. If they can even begin to emulate Dr. King, they will truly be great writers.

Dion Graham was the perfect narrator for this recording. He has a strong, clear voice that rivals Dr. King's. While Graham spoke in a style similar to Dr. King's, he was by no means trying to do an imitation. It seemed to me that Graham has done he research however. He had a clear understanding of the rhythm, emphasis, and musical quality of Dr. King. His performance was engaging and a true tribute to Dr. King. I plan on finding other works by Graham to listen to in the future.

Trent Nicholson, Ph.D., D.Min.
Desert Bible Institute, President

Dr. King is not reading the audio. WTH

Absolutely a must listen to for everyone

King sits in a jail arrested on Good Friday for standing up for his rights and the rights of others. On April 12th he is smuggled a newspaper and sees the headline "A Call To Unity" written by 8 clergyman criticizing King and his methods, calling him an "Outsider". King wrote his reply on April 16, 1963 on anything he could find to write on, the newspaper, scraps of paper and eventually a notepad.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly… Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider." Every American should read or listen to this letter. It is one of the most powerful essays ever written.

Dion Graham's voice lent itself to Dr King's cadence and had me imagining that I was actually listening to King recite his essay. The power of the pen as a means for change is strongly evident in Martin Luther King's eloquent words. MLK is truly a hero for the people.

The audio is very different from the text.

Outstanding

Outstanding

Nice reading...

I teach this letter in my freshmen composition course to kick off the writing as activism unit. Martin Luther King Jr. exposed some very ugly truths about America with remarkable prose. Every mind should be informed about our past as an American culture. We take a day to praise and honor this man because of what he represented in contrast to the separate but equal solutions put forth by small-minded revolutionaries. This man had a dream that was far bigger than this. I urge you to listen to this letter to know a bit about the cultural context that surrounded his thoughts and ideals. There is a dark shadow in our American past that should never be forgotten.