Martin Luther King wrote "A letter from Birmingham jail" in response to a published statement by eight fellow clergymen from Alabama who fiercely criticized King for organization and participation in the protest march against segregation in Birmingham. King's letter was an attempt to defend himself from accusations and to criticize white moderates and church.

From the first lines of the letter, Martin Luther King tries to reject the accusation of being an outsider in Birmingham. He claims that he was invited to Birmingham and had organizational ties as the president of Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Moreover, Martin Luther King did not consider himself to be an outsider due to the fact that all people who live within bounds of the United States of America could not be described as outsiders.

In response to accusations that the demonstrations were...