LETTER FROM A BIRMINGHAM JAIL:
If Martin Were Here Today, A Powerful Reminder, The Struggle Is Real and It’s Not Over.
The cast from left to right in the photo: Abdul Rahman Qadir, Michael Solo Farrow, John Vines, Mary Craig, and Dallas Taylor.
April is a very important month for civil rights history in America. April 1963, 63 years ago, Dr. Mar tin Luther King, Jr. was held in a Birmingham Alabama city jail for eleven days. It was during those eleven days that Dr. King wrote his Letter from a Birmingham Jail that has evolved into one of the most significant writings by Dr. King. It is a marker and a touch point in the civil rights movement during the 1960s. April is also the month when on April 4th, 1968, 58 years ago, when Martin Luther King, Jr. was standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee that he was shot and killed.
He was there to lead a peaceful protest demanding better wages for Black men working in the public works and sanitation departments of Memphis. Dr. King has always been a voice for equality and justice during his lifetime as well as posthumously – his conviction and belief that since all men were created equally by God, that this truth should be reflected in their ability to pursue life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as enshrined in the American Constitution.
As the nation rolls up on its 250th anniversary and major events are being planned around the country, this writer hasn’t seen any energy or investment from the highest levels of government to celebrate or include the contributions made by Black men and women to the successful establishment of the Republic and its ability to sustain itself over the last 250 years. The nation has yet to confront and acknowledge the cruelty and crime of the slave industry in America, or its harsh and lasting impact on the African American community centuries later.
Letter From a Birmingham Jail: If Martin Were Here Today is a dramatic and moving enactment and reminder of the courage, contributions and sacrifices, made by African Americans and their supporters and allies, laced with music of the early movement and the music of today.
The performances, presented by Typography of Women, are free and open to the public and will be held in various venues with the goal of being as accessible as possible to the community. The schedule is as follows: Saturday, April 18th, 6pm, Michigan Street African American Heritage Center, 119 Broadway, corner of Ellicott Street, Sunday, April 19th, 2:30pm, Frank Merriweather Library, 1324 Jefferson Avenue, near E. Utica, Thursday, April 23rd, 7pm, St. Martin de Porres Church, 555 Northampton Street, near the Science Museum, and Saturday, April 25th, 6:30pm, and Sunday, April 26th, 5:30pm at Buffalo City Ballet’s Black Box Loft Theater, 307 Leroy Ave, near Main and Fillmore. All venues are wheelchair accessible with the exception of the Ballet’s Black Box Loft Theater.