In April of 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested and jailed in Birmingham, Alabama. Alone for several days in the dull “monotony of a narrow jail cell,” as he described it, King penned a letter that has been described as one of the most important historical documents ever written. Considered a classic treatise on civil disobedience, it is perhaps one of the most beautifully crafted and eloquent letters ever composed. Every American should read it.In the 1950s and 1960s, state governments were failing to uphold the rights of African Americans under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment.