Birmingham Jail Research Paper

On April 4th, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated in Memphis while preparing for a march on behalf of striking sanitation workers in the city. After Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered in 1968, riots and violence ensued in many cities and states across the United States of America. His death caused a media firestorm that portrayed African Americans in a violent and negative light. While there were many cities affected by his death, Greensboro, North Carolina had the most varied reactions due to its college students. Although these people responded in different ways to the tragedy, they reinforced the need for more representation and unification of students and rioters across the country.
After Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, the city of Greensboro immediately erupted. Charles Bombeld and Carolyn Moran responded by writing an article in Greensboro College’s Collegian. In his article, Bombeld advocated for a change of the individual ideologies and the expulsion of racism. David Greenfield, also a writer for the Collegian, took to the paper to

Mere hours after the news of his assassination reached the city, hundreds of students from A & T University organized a peaceful demonstration in the streets. The students also marched to the Guilford County courthouse and had a moment of silence for the fallen civil rights hero. Other incidents occurred at A &T, three police officers were shot down by a sniper. Due to this incident and others, The Guilfordian reported about the curfew was imposed by the mayor. While the curfew was put in place, the governor called for the restrictions of alcohol, firearms, and demonstrations, according to The Guilfordian. National guardsmen were placed in front of the universities, and those that broke the curfew were subjected to a fifty dollar fine and a possible thirty-day jail