John Patterson

Letter from Birmingham Jail

This letter was very Meaningful and had a lot of importance in it. What meant the most to me in this letter was his paragraph about broken promises. He told how they talked with the leaders of the community and they agreed to promise to remove humiliating signs on stores against black people. King wrote, "As the weeks and months went by, we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise. A few signs, briefly removed, returned; the others remained" (King, 458). This quote showed how they did not keep their word and did not really change anything. This showed that even the leaders of the community, if they believed in segregation or not did not stop it. The clergy reading informed me that this issue was trying to be prevented. The thing that stands out to me is the quote, "hatred and violence have no sanction in our religious and political traditions."

John Paterson

John Patterson was born in Goldville, Alabama On September 27, 1921. He became governor of Alabama from 1959 to 1963. John Patterson knew there was going to be trouble when the free riders came in 1961. He stated that he was against Martin Luther King Jr. in order to win political points with Alabama. The King was arrested and when he was out he blamed John Paterson for not interfering like he should. John Paterson believed it was wrong that they were segregated but did not do anything to stop the march or the arrest. Kennedy later stepped in and helped stop the riots. Paterson later said how he thought it was wrong what they were doing. He said this as a man, not as a politician. He was in a tough spot because if he did what he thought was morally right he lost votes, but if he did not do anything he would keep his votes.