A Call for Unity

"A Call for Unity" was an open letter published in Birmingham, Alabama, on April 12, 1963, by eight local white clergymen in response to civil rights demonstrations taking place in the area at the time. In the letter, they took issue with events "directed and led in part by outsiders," urging activists to engage in local negotiations and use the courts if rights were being denied rather than to protest.

The term "outsider" was a thinly veiled reference to Martin Luther King, Jr., and King replied with his famous "Letter from Birmingham Jail", arguing that civil action was in fact necessary.

The authors of "A Call for Unity" had written "An Appeal for Law and Order and Common Sense" in January of the same year.

Signatories

• C. C. J. Carpenter, D.D., LL.D., Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Alabama
• Joseph Aloysius Durick, D.D., Auxiliary Bishop, Catholic Diocese of Mobile, Birmingham
• Milton L. Grafman, Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El, Birmingham, Alabama
• Paul Hardin, Bishop of the Alabama-West Florida Conference of the Methodist Church
• Nolan Bailey Harmon, Bishop of the North Alabama Conference of the Methodist Church
• George M. Murray, D.D., LL.D., Bishop Coadjutor, Episcopal Diocese of Alabama
• Edward V. Ramage, Moderator, Synod of the Alabama Presbyterian Church in the United States
• Earl Stallings, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama

References

• Bass, S. Jonathan (2001) Blessed Are The Peacemakers: Martin Luther King, Jr., Eight White Religious Leaders, and the "Letter from Birmingham Jail". Baton Rouge: LSU Press. ISBN 0-8071-2655-1

External links

• "A Call for Unity", also known as "Statement by Alabama Clergymen"
• "Letter from Birmingham Jail" as pdf and audio version