On April 12, 1963, Good Friday, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., composed a letter from his prison cell in Birmingham in response to local religious leaders' criticisms of the campaign.Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968) was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama for leading nonviolent demonstrations against segregation. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the Letter from Birmingham Jail while he was imprisoned for leading nonviolent civil rights demonstrations in Alabama in 1963. One who breaks an unjust law must do it openly, lovingly . . . And with a willingness to accept the penalty. On this day in April, Martin Luther King Jr. participated in a peaceful march in the name of anti-segregation. King was met with unusually harsh conditions in the Birmingham jail. So Joseph's master took him and had him thrown into the prison where the king's prisoners were confined. They were arrested and held in solitary confinement in the Birmingham jail where King wrote his famous "Letter From Birmingham Jail.