Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham City Jail

2007

Raven Fine Arts Editions

Culture

America

Medium

color screenprint

Measurements

Image: 29.4 x 22.1 cm (11 9/16 x 8 11/16 in.); Sheet: 45.5 x 35.6 cm (17 15/16 x 14 in.)

Credit Line

Sundry Art - Miscellaneous Fund 2025.165

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

This print is the product of a collaboration between Ringgold and her longtime master printer, Curlee Raven Holton. The two met in Harlem in 1992 and worked together from that point until her death in 2024.

Description

This print belongs to a series based on Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” drafted while King was imprisoned after participating in a nonviolent demonstration against segregation. Produced in flat planes of color that evoke the aesthetic of quilts, a medium in which Faith Ringgold had a lifelong interest, the print presents King looking outward past the bars of a jail cell while holding his pen and a draft of his letter. The image aligns with Ringgold’s aim to address issues of race throughout American history through her work as an artist, educator, and activist.