The “Letter from Birmingham Jail” did not spring quickly to acclaim. It remained essentially a private communication for some time, in spite of Wyatt Walker’s labors to attract the attention of the passing world. Its Gandhian themes did impress some of James Lawson’s contacts, who offered to publish the letter in the June issue of Friends, the Quaker journal, but ordinary reporters saw no news in what appeared to be an especially long-winded King sermon. Not a single mention of the letter reached white or Negro news media for a month.
