Unlearned Lessons From Letter From Birmingham Jail

Abstract

A major tenet of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s civil rights agenda involved dismantling legal segregation in the United States. King viewed social isolation of the races as a barrier to the American ideals of democracy, freedom, and equality. Despite many advances, racial isolation remains a feature of daily life in America, and the authors report the results of a study that illustrates how it supports and anneals segregation in the workplace. The authors draw from Letter From Birmingham Jail to gain insights into King's notions about segregation, our responsibility to diminish it, and whether the arguments put forth in it have relevance for contemporary business thought leaders.