You're looking a strongly worded letter, people.

"Letter from Birmingham Jail" was a response to a letter to the editor by eight white clergymen, unfortunately and ironically titled "A Call for Unity." It's unclear whether the clergymen got the response delivered personally or first found out about it after it was published in various national and regional papers and magazines.

Either way, they weren't psyched.

Dr. King's letter wasn't an overnight sensation, but as it got published in full and in excerpts in more places, it became required reading for Civil Rights activists. Reading the letter today, its historical significance to the progress of the Civil Rights Movement is even more apparent.

Fifty years later, a group of more sympathetic Christian Churches and organizations got together and published a response to the letter. They confessed that they've all been terribly remiss in not opposing injustice and in helping maintain the status quo in the interests of "stability." In short, they've been those "moderates" that King thought were the biggest problem of all.

Nowadays, as you probably know, the letter's become required reading for middle school, high school, and college students because of its historical importance, the way it recounts the story of the Birmingham Campaign, and its rhetorical brilliance. It sure got Shmoop's attention.

And hopefully yours.