a prominent African American choir during the late 1930s and early 1940s, made broadcast history with the first independently produced national and international radio programs created by AFRICAN AMERICANS

On Sept. 15, 1963, four young girls were killed in a bombing at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Three days later, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered this eulogy

died at 39. written from the Birmingham jail, where he was imprisoned as a participant in nonviolent demonstrations against segregation, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote in longhand the letter which follows. It was his response to a public statement of concern and caution issued by eight white religious leaders of the South.

AUDIO: Director of the Civil Rights Memorial Center Lecia Brooks reads Martin Luther KIng Jr's Letter From Birmingham Jail' as part of a wordwide celebration of the of the 50th anniversary of it's writing.