Letter from Birmingham Jail

Multiple Choice

What was Martin Luther King Jr.'s background?

• Baptist minister

• Catholic priest

• Harvard professor

• Communist activist

Multiple Choice

Martin Luther King Jr. supported all of these EXCEPT

• civil disobedience

• nonviolent resistance

• boycotts

• Black nationalism

Multiple Choice

How was Martin Luther King perceived in the 1960s by most Americans?

• He was seen as a violent extremist

• He was seen as doing too much too soon

• He was seen as a civil rights hero

• He was seen as an inspirational leader

Multiple Choice

What is the main point made in "A Call for Unity"?

• Nonviolent protests are a useful means to achieve change.

• Reformers should use the courts, not street protests, to advocate for change

• Black people should stop trying to gain white acceptance & instead focus on building up their own communities

• Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever

Multiple Choice

Who do you think the clergymen are referring to when they claim "outsiders" are making a ruckus in Birmingham?

• Martin Luther King, Jr.

• George Wallace

• James Meredith

• Klansmen

Multiple Choice

Who is King writing to?

• Members of hate groups such as the KKK

• The white clergymen who wrote "A Call for Unity"

• His supporters, members of the SCLC

• President Kennedy

Multiple Choice

King says he is in Birmingham because ...

• he was invited

• there is injustice there

• it's part of his Christian and American duty to fight against injustice everywhere

• all of these!

Multiple Choice

Which of the 4 steps of the nonviolent campaign has failed?

• identifying a problem

• negotiation

• self purification

• direct action

Multiple Choice

How does King see tension?

• something to be avoided at all costs

• something that is necessary to spark change

• something that can only be broken through violence

Multiple Choice

What does King say his movement can no longer do?

• Wait

• Nonviolence

• Boycotts

Open Ended

What is Dr. King's main idea about just vs. unjust laws & civil disobedience? When is it acceptable to break the law?

Multiple Choice

Who did King express disappointment within the previous passage?

• Extreme white supremacists

• Black nationalists

• White moderates (bystanders)

Multiple Choice

In particular, what does King say makes the southern Jim Crow laws especially unjust?

• They impose majority rule on minorities

• Minorities were not involved in their creation

• They do not align with the Bible

• They infringe on the Bill of Rights

Open Ended

What does Dr. King say will happen if people cannot voice their frustration and achieve social change?

Multiple Choice

Who did Dr. King express disappointment with in the previous passage?

• Church leaders

• the SCLC

• SNCC and CORE

• white supremacists

Multiple Choice

Why does Dr. King think the police have been somewhat mild in their treatment of protestors?

• the police know segregation is morally wrong & do not want to enforce it either

• they're using moral means to preserve immoral ends

• they don't want the protests to escalate into violence

Open Ended

Discuss how MLK uses one of these themes to appeal to the reader in the Letter from Birmingham Jail: Christianity, brotherhood, patriotism