THE LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL

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image APRIL 1963 image

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“There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. . . . One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that ‘an unjust law is no law at all.’ One may well ask: ‘How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?’ The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws.”

—Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail

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