Canisius College Andrew L. Bouwhuis, S.J., Library will host a public reading of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” on Tuesday, April 16, 2013 at 2 p.m. The free event is open to the public.
At the invitation of Archivist Jim Baggett of the Birmingham (AL) Public Library, the Canisius library will join participants worldwide to mark the 50th Anniversary of the day that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. began writing his powerful letter. His correspondence, first published in the New York Times Magazine, was in response to a critical statement by eight white Alabama clergymen to civil rights demonstrations in Birmingham.
Dr. King wrote his letter, also known as “The Negro is Your Brother,” while jailed after his arrest in a non-violent protest organized by the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
The library program will begin with a reading of the clergymen statement followed by King’s letter. Participants will be asked to read aloud a few paragraphs from Dr. King’s letter. A conversation about the documents will follow the reading. The library encourages administrators, faculty, staff and students to attend and participate, especially those who are studying the letter in classes. Among those scheduled to read are Canisius individuals who participated in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, and those whose lives and careers were influenced by Dr. King and his legacy.
This event is a small but meaningful outward sign of the library’s continued commitment to cura personalis and an opportunity to reflect on Dr. King’s message of social justice, civil and human rights. For more information about the year-long 1963 Year of Birmingham commemoration click http://www.bplonline.org/programs/1963/default.aspx
Limited copies of “Letter From Birmingham Jail” and “Letter from the Eight White Clergymen” will be available to share during the reading at the library on the day of the reading. “Letter From Birmingham Jail” is available in Martin Luther King Jr.’s book, Why We Can’t Wait.
Submitted by: Kathleen DeLaney, archivist/reference librarian
