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In the spring of 1963, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, under the direction of Martin Luther King Jr., was preparing for a civil rights demonstration in Birmingham Alabama. In an attempt to forestall a likely violent confrontation with White racists, eight of Birmingham’s prominent clergy published an open letter cautioning that the planned demonstration was ill-timed. The eight, all White (though not all WASP), were two Episcopal bishops, a Methodist bishop, a Methodist pastor, a Jewish Rabbi, a Roman Catholic bishop, a Presbyterian pastor, and a Baptist pastor. The demonstration went forward as planned, with the predicted result that the demonstrators were jailed for parading without a permit. Among those jailed was Dr. King himself, who, from his cell, composed the first bits and pieces for what was to become his now-famous public reply to the eight White clergy, “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” In Blessed Are the Peacemakers, Jonathan Bass recounts the circumstances that led to the publishing of the two letters. He also reconstructs the process by which King’s letter was written, polished, published, edited, and published again. And he focuses on each of those eight White clergy, tracing each life up to that fateful spring and beyond, providing insight into the personal mindset and motives of each and the way King’s letter influenced the personal career of each. An excerpt: “A black southerner once asked [Nolan] Harmon [the Methodist bishop] if he had ever met Martin Luther King Jr. ‘No,’ the bishop replied, “all he ever did was just write me a letter’” (p. 164). Bass has done a masterful job of gathering the facts and telling the story. His book is essential reading for developing an informed assessment of the Civil Rights Movement.

2022-11-14 18:21