Letter from a Birmingham Jail
By Brenda B. Covert
Narrator Jailer Martin Luther King, Jr. MLK Voiceover Four White Clergymen Jane Ted Wanda Richie Lawyer -
Cast
in order of Appearance
male or female
male or female
black male in a business suit
from the stage's edge, this male reads aloud what Dr. King is writing
(2 bishops, 1 reverend, 1 rabbi)
black female in late 50's-style dress
black male in a business suit
black female in vintage teen clothing
black male in vintage jeans and plain white t-shirt
white, Asian, or Hispanic male or female in business suit, carrying briefcase
Setting: jail cell. The look can be had by tacking artwork of a window with bars on it to the
wall or the curtain behind the actors.
Props: plain wooden chair set center stage and facing audience, small table or desk,
newspaper, scrap of paper, legal pad, a simple black pen that doesn't look modern, and a
briefcase.
NARRATOR: In April 1963, Martin Luther King was arrested and placed in a Birmingham
jail. [JAILER escorts KING to a chair and leaves him there.] His crime was that he
participated in a peaceful demonstration against the city's wishes. He had joined a group to
protest segregation. While in jail, he read a letter that was published in the Birmingham
News. [KING retrieves paper from floor beside chair and opens to read, holding paper low
so that his face is still seen.] Eight local clergymen, all white, had demanded that he end his
demonstrations. With nothing but the newspaper to write on, Dr. King began his response.
[KING moves chair to table, pulls pen from pocket, and writes on margin of newspaper.]
MLK VOICEOVER: While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your
recent statement calling my present activities "unwise and untimely." Since I feel that you are
men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to
answer your statements in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.
FIRST CLERGYMAN: (walking briskly onstage toward KING; stopping 3 feet
away) [KING looks up] Why did you come to Birmingham? You aren't from here! We don't
need outsiders coming in to solve our problems.
[KING goes back to writing.]
MLK VOICEOVER: I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. I am compelled to
carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and
not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice
everywhere. Beyond that, I'm here because I was invited here. I'm here because I have ties
here through the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
SECOND CLERGYMAN: (walks in as FIRST CLERGYMAN walks off) Why
Birmingham, of all places? The demonstrations taking place in my city are deplorable and
should be stopped at once!
MLK VOICEOVER: It's unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham,
but it's even more unfortunate that the city's white power structure left the black community
with no alternative. Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the
United States. Its ugly record of brutality is widely known. Black leaders tried to negotiate
with city leaders, but the city leaders refused to negotiate.
[KING continues to write as SECOND CLERGYMAN leaves; JANE and TED enter and
speak]
JANE: (enters stage right and stands upstage right, speaking to audience) Last September,
our black leaders spoke to the city merchants. The merchants promised that if we stopped
demonstrating, they would remove those awful signs -- the ones that said "Whites Only" or
"No Coloreds Allowed." They promised to stop displaying those signs at lunch counters,
restrooms, and stores. So we stopped holding demonstrations. Then we realized that we were
the victims of broken promises. The few signs that had been taken down were put back up!
Many other signs were never removed at all.
TED: (enters stage right and stands beside JANE, speaking to audience) Once again our
hopes had been blasted. We knew we had to take direct action and lay our case before the
conscience of the local and the national community. We began a series of workshops on
nonviolence. We repeatedly asked ourselves: "Are you able to accept blows without
retaliating?"
JANE: Are you able to endure the ordeal of jail?
TED: We chose the Easter season to put our direct-action plan to use. Easter is one of the
biggest shopping seasons of the year. We decided not to shop here in town while we also
demonstrated in the streets. That would put pressure on the merchants. We made allowances
for the mayoral election and didn't hold any demonstrations until after election day. We have
behaved fairly and decently. We just ask for our civil rights.
THIRD CLERGYMAN: (walks in from stage left and stops 3 feet from KING) Why direct
action? Why sit-ins, marches, and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?
JANE: (turning to address the clergyman with hands on hips) Were you not listening? We
tried negotiation!
TED: (pointing at clergyman) You people refused to negotiate! You treat us like second
class citizens! (Turns to JANE with his arm crooked; she takes it, and they walk off stage
right with heads held high.)
MLK VOICEOVER: Nonviolent direct action seeks to create a crisis and dramatize the
issue so that it can't be ignored. I agree with you in your call for negotiation. The purpose of
our direct action was to open the door to negotiation.
FOURTH CLERGYMAN: (walks in as THIRD CLERGYMAN walks off) The action you
have taken is untimely. We just elected a new mayor and other city officials. Why didn't you
give the new city administration time to act?
MLK VOICEOVER: While the new mayor is a more gentle man than the old mayor, the
fact remains that he is as much a segregationist as the old one. It is a historical fact that
privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Freedom is never voluntarily
given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. It's interesting that direct
action is never "well-timed" in the eyes of those who have never lived under injustice. We
have always been told to wait. Wait has almost always meant never.
JAILER: (entering the stage as FOURTH CLERGYMAN leaves and addressing KING) Are
you through with that paper yet?
[KING hesitates, then tears off the strip he has been writing on and puts it in his jacket
pocket]
KING: (folding the paper and holding it out to the JAILER) Certainly. Here you are.
JAILER: Gimme that. (Jerks paper from KING'S hands and leaves)
[KING stands up and searches through his pockets. He finds a scrap of paper and sits down
to write.]
[WANDA and RICHIE enter from stage left]
WANDA: (forcefully) We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and
God-given rights!
RICHIE: (firmly) The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jet-like speed toward
gaining political independence!
WANDA: Meanwhile, we creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward gaining -RICHIE: -- a cup of coffee at a lunch counter!
[WANDA and RICHIE exit stage left]
MLK VOICEOVER: (passionately) It's easy for you to say, "Wait." But when you have
seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers
at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, and even kill your black
brothers and sisters; when you suddenly find yourself stammering as you try to explain to
your little girl why she can't go to the public amusement park that she saw advertised on
television because it is closed to colored children; when you have to come up with an answer
for a five-year-old son who asks, "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so
mean?" when you are forever fighting a sense of "nobodiness," then you will understand why
we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over.
FIRST CLERGYMAN: (enters as before) I don't understand how a man of the cloth could
willingly break the law. You are in jail because you broke the law. How can you advocate
breaking some laws and obeying others?
MLK VOICEOVER: There are two types of laws: just and unjust. One has not only a legal
but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. However, one has a moral responsibility to
disobey unjust laws. An unjust law is no law at all. Any law that degrades human personality
is unjust. A law that is inflicted on a people who are not allowed a vote is not just. All
segregation statutes are unjust; they give the white man a false sense of superiority and the
black man a false sense of inferiority. (Pause for breath) My crime was "parading without a
permit," that is, I participated in a peaceful march down a city street. There is nothing wrong
with requiring a permit for a parade, but it is wrong if it is used to deny blacks the First
Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest.
SECOND CLERGYMAN: (joining FIRST CLERGYMAN onstage) I still disagree that
civil disobedience is necessary in order to bring change. It's just wrong!
MLK VOICEOVER: The Boston Tea Party was a massive act of civil
disobedience. [CLERGYMEN look at each other, surprised, then embarrassed] Everything
Hitler did in Germany was called legal, and everything the freedom fighters did was
considered illegal. It was illegal to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany. Had I been
there, I would have disobeyed those laws. I would have done my best to help the Jews.
Would you have done any different?
[CLERGYMEN exit stage right with bowed heads.]
[JAILER and LAWYER enter from stage left. KING slips paper into his jacket pocket.]
JAILER: Look here, Mr. King. Your lawyer has come to see you.
[KING stands and waits expectantly.]
LAWYER: How are you holding up, Dr. King?
KING: As well as can be expected, under the circumstances.
JAILER: I'll leave you two alone. (exits)
LAWYER: (shaking KING's hand) We hope to have you out of here in just a few days.
You may want to consider this a nine-day vacation.
KING: (laughing) No thanks. Not much about a stay in jail can be considered a vacation,
but I have managed to do a bit of writing. Did you bring -LAWYER: -- that pad of paper you asked for? Most surely. It's in here. (flips briefcase
onto the table and opens it, withdraws a legal pad, and offers it to KING) Will this do?
KING: (smiling and accepting the pad) Yes, this is just what I need to finish the letter I've
been writing.
LAWYER: If there's anything else you need, just let me know.
JAILER: (entering) Your time's up. (Begins to escort LAWYER from the stage)
LAWYER: (over shoulder toward KING) I'll be in touch!
KING: (lifting hand as if to wave) I appreciate it!
[KING returns to chair and places the pad on the table.]
[THIRD and FOURTH CLERGYMEN enter stage.]
THIRD CLERGYMAN: Your activity in Birmingham is extreme.
FOURTH CLERGYMAN: Dr. King, you are an extremist!
MLK VOICEOVER: I'm disappointed that fellow clergymen see my nonviolent efforts as
those of an extremist. I have tried to stand between the forces of complacency and of hatred
and despair. I have said that we should neither do nothing, nor should we react violently.
There is the more excellent way of love and nonviolent protest. If this philosophy had not
emerged, by now many streets of the South would be flowing with blood.
THIRD CLERGYMAN: (shaking his head) I see no good in your demonstrations. You're
just asking for trouble.
FOURTH CLERGYMAN: (arms folded across his chest) You've made your point. Let's
put this all behind us. Go back to Atlanta where you belong.
MLK VOICEOVER: The black community has many pent-up resentments and
frustrations that must be released. So let us march; let us make prayer pilgrimages to the city
hall; let us go on freedom rides, and try to understand why we must do so. If our repressed
emotions are not released in nonviolent ways, they will seek expression through violence.
THIRD CLERGYMAN: Is that a threat?
MLK VOICEOVER: That is not a threat but a fact of history. Right now, we can channel
our discontent into the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. And you call this action
"extremist."
[THIRD and FOURTH CLERGYMEN turn and exit stage.]
MLK VOICEOVER: I've never before written such a long letter. It would have been much
shorter if I had been writing from a comfortable desk, but what else can one do when he is
alone in a narrow jail cell other than write long letters, think long thoughts, and pray long
prayers? (Looks up for a moment, mentally counting to three, then returns to writing) I hope
that one day soon I will be able to meet each of you, not as an integrationist or a civil rights
leader, but as a fellow clergyman and a Christian brother. Let us all hope that the dark clouds
of racial prejudice will soon pass away. May the radiant stars of love and brotherhood shine
over our great nation.
[KING freezes in place, still looking down at his words.]
NARRATOR: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. closed his letter with the words, "Yours for the
cause of peace and brotherhood." He was soon released from jail. He continued to be a leader
for the cause of civil rights. He was arrested 30 times for participating in civil rights
activities. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. Though he was killed by a sniper in 1968,
his dream of civil rights for all people, no matter the color of their skin, did not die. He
believed that unarmed truth and unconditional love would have the final word in reality. May
it ever be so.
[THE END]
NOTE: The author drew heavily from Dr. King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" in creating
lines for this play; creative license was taken to include other characters without corrupting
the message.
Copyright © 2012 edHelper