An Unpublished, Powerful, and Evocative Letter of Martin Luther King From Jail, the Only Known to Have Reached the Market

The only letter of Dr. King from jail we can find ever having reached the public market; perhaps the most illuminating letter from MLK ever offered for sale; At the crucial moment in the Civil Rights struggle, he writes: “My schedule is so uncertain now…”

The image of the Dr. King struggling against authority and embracing the road of self sacrifice is an iconic one that will forever be associated with his legacy and achievements.  Like Gandhi before him, nowhere was his sacrifice for a common good seen more clearly than his time in jail. His stints there are a lesson in perseverance that school children learn about today as a symbol of what one man can give, and do, for the betterment of others.  In facing imprisonment, King claimed he was carrying on the legacy of civil disobedience set out not just by Gandhi but by fellow American Henry David Thoreau.

The Albany Movement began in fall 1961 and ended in summer 1962. It was the first mass movement in the modern civil rights era to have as its goal the desegregation of an entire community, and it resulted in the jailing of more than 1,000 African Americans in Albany and surrounding rural counties.  The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the NAACP became deeply involved.  SNCC workers encouraged students and others in Albany to challenge the establishment and its segregation policies. In mid-November 1961, the major black improvement organizations in town formed the Albany Movement and selected as their president William G. Anderson, a young black physician. Mass meetings were called, protestors marched, and by mid-December more than 500 demonstrators had already been jailed. The leaders decided to call in Martin Luther King Jr. to keep the momentum going and to secure greater national publicity for the cause. In December King spoke at a mass meeting, marched the next day, and was arrested and jailed.

In Albany, King witnessed the power of song to inspire and empower the crowds attending the mass meetings. Out of Albany emerged the SNCC Freedom Singers, including Albany native Bernice Johnson Reagon, who brought this rich musical tradition, borrowed from the rural Baptist churches, to other communities around the nation.

Convinced that city officials had agreed to certain concessions, King accepted bail only to discover that the white leadership refused to consider any of the movement’s demands. King returned to Albany the following summer for sentencing on the convictions relating to the December marches. He and fellow civil rights leader Ralph Abernathy chose jail over paying a very small fine.

From jail, Dr. King continued his work.  It is hard to place oneself in the position of Dr. King, alone, in jail, and working against the power of the local laws, and numerous forces determined to resist integration.

This unpublished letter, acquired by us directly from the descendants of the recipient, gives us an incredibly uncommon and intimate glimpse into his state of mind in his dark prison cell.  Pauline Jackson was a personal friend and advocate of his in the struggle for Civil Rights.

Autograph letter signed, August 3, 1962, to Pauline Jackson.   “Here in this dirty, dingy cell in the Albany jail, my mind, with a sort of instinctive naturalness turns… My schedule is so uncertain now that I don’t know what will happen to our proposed conference on Aug. 14.  If I am out, it will still stand.  But I am not sure that I will be out.  I will keep in touch.… MLK.”  

ALSs of Dr. King are incredibly uncommon, just a small handful ever having been sold at public sale. Also, unlike Gandhi letters from jail, which do surface from time to time, that is not the case with King.  This is the only letter of MLK of any kind from jail that we can find having ever reached the public market.  It is unpublished, moreover, having remained with the family of the Pauline Jackson for a generation.  That it is so evocative of King is all the more incredible.

The Jackson family relates that Pauline and King had an intimate relationship for at least five years, meeting while King was on the road.

Eight months later King left Albany. Although he had not succeeded in accomplishing the movement’s immediate goal, when Albany is told as a chapter in the history of the national civil rights movement, the lessons King learned would soon apply in Birmingham, Alabama, and elsewhere. Out of Albany’s struggles, then, came Birmingham’s success.