College Marks 50th Anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”

To mark the 50^th anniversary of the day Dr. King wrote his famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” College of Charleston students, faculty and staff will read the letter aloud to the public on April 16, 2013. The reading will take place at 1:30 p.m. in Cougar Mall (across from the Starbucks on Calhoun St.).

The College is one of 200 other organizations around the world hosting a local reading, and is the only event in South Carolina. The worldwide effort is organized by the Birmingham Public Library.

King wrote the letter while in the Birmingham jail after his arrest for violating Alabama’s law against mass public demonstrations. As the events of the campaign intensified on the city’s streets, King composed a letter from his prison cell in Birmingham in response to local religious leaders’ criticisms of the campaign. More about the “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”

The College of Charleston reading is supported by the Jubilee Project, which celebrates the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, the 50th anniversary of the desegregation of public education in South Carolina, and commemorates other key events both of 1863 and of the Civil Rights movement in 1963. More information about the Jubilee Project and events.

For more information about the reading, contact Simon Lewis at lewiss@cofc.edu or Kristi Brian at briankj@cofc.edu.