The State<span> of </span>Alabama<span> declared that it had </span>seceded<span> from the </span>United States of America<span> on January 11, 1861. It then quickly joined the </span>Confederate States<span> during the </span>American Civil War<span>. A </span>slave state<span>, Alabama provided a significant source of troops and leaders, military material, supplies, food, horses and mules; however, very little of the state's cotton crop could be sold, as the main port of </span>Mobile<span> was closed off by the </span>U.S. Navy<span>.</span>
Martin Luther King Jr.'s letter was an answer to a message from a group of clergy in Birmingham in 1963. In their “Call for Unity,” the clergy appealed for restraint and “common sense,” and a withdrawal of support for the civil rights demonstrations.
