A Maryland woman helped piece together Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”King wrote the letter in 1963 as a response to eight clergymen who criticized his nonviolent demonstrations against segregation in Birmingham, Alabama, but he did not bring that letter to life by himself.Willie Pearl Mackey King never figured her name would be etched in history, but she helped piece together the letter that is so well known today.Mackey King has no relation to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. She just happened to marry a man with the same last name.Yet, at the bottom of the last page of the famous letter, it’s signed: “MLK, WM” for Martin Luther King and Willie Mackey. Those are her initials written in ink on one of the most famous documents of the civil rights movement that has been seen by countless eyes. “I think it was a divine intervention. I think it was something that was already planned for my life,” Mackey King said.The beginnings of what led Mackey King’s historic careerShe was born in the 1940s in Glenwood, Georgia, and grew up in deep poverty.”No electricity, no indoor plumbing, nothing like that. It’s embarrassing because I was probably 13 years old when I got my first toothbrush because we used bath cloths and baking soda,” Mackey King said.She moved to Atlanta right after graduating from high school. In 1962, she stumbled upon a secretary position with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. She was 21 when she landed the job, and only then did she learn what the civil rights movement was all about.”I was reading these brochures talking about this man, Martin Luther King Jr. I read about the (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) movement. I read about the sit-ins and what have you. That was my first introduction to the civil rights movement,” Mackey King said.Mackey King got a front-row seat to the movement through her hard work. She earned the opportunity to travel with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and she went with him to Birmingham as he worked with local partners to hold nonviolent demonstrations protesting segregation in the city. “I saw Dr. King’s strength in the fact that he said, ‘You are to have something in life worth dying for.’ I said, ‘But not at my age. I’m too young for this.’ He said, ‘If you want to go back to Atlanta, I would have no problem with that because you may lose your life in this movement and on this trip.’ So, I cried a little bit, but I decided since the rest of them were staying, I was going to stay,” Mackey King said.Ministers’ letter strikes nerve, inspires MLK to write his ownBecause she stayed, Mackey King witnessed the moment police arrested Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and took him to jail. That same day, eight ministers published a newspaper article condemning his demonstrations as “unwise and untimely.” The letter struck a nerve, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was determined to respond even without a notepad in his cell.”He started to write on the edges of that newspaper. Then, he wrote on toilet paper, greasy sandwich bags, paper napkins, anything that he could find to write on,” Mackey King said.Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s lawyer took the fragmented pieces of paper straight to Mackey King and her boss, Wyatt Tee Walker, and together, they pieced together the puzzle of his words.”There was no order, and they came in at different times, so it was one of the most difficult assignments I guess I ever had,” Mackey King said.But she was determined. She used a typewriter to type all 20 pages of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words — a message that still rings true today.Asked what she wants people to take away from the famous letters today, Mackey King said: “You need to take a stand. You can’t sit back and wait for somebody to do your job.”Mackey King certainly did not sit back and wait, and that’s why her name is etched in history.She told sister station WBAL she never told her family she worked for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. until three years later. After her time at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, she spent years working for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and on Capitol Hill. Today, she enjoys retirement in Maryland.
A Maryland woman helped piece together Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”
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King wrote the letter in 1963 as a response to eight clergymen who criticized his nonviolent demonstrations against segregation in Birmingham, Alabama, but he did not bring that letter to life by himself.
Willie Pearl Mackey King never figured her name would be etched in history, but she helped piece together the letter that is so well known today.
Mackey King has no relation to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. She just happened to marry a man with the same last name.
Yet, at the bottom of the last page of the famous letter, it’s signed: “MLK, WM” for Martin Luther King and Willie Mackey. Those are her initials written in ink on one of the most famous documents of the civil rights movement that has been seen by countless eyes.
“I think it was a divine intervention. I think it was something that was already planned for my life,” Mackey King said.
The beginnings of what led Mackey King’s historic career
She was born in the 1940s in Glenwood, Georgia, and grew up in deep poverty.
“No electricity, no indoor plumbing, nothing like that. It’s embarrassing because I was probably 13 years old when I got my first toothbrush because we used bath cloths and baking soda,” Mackey King said.
She moved to Atlanta right after graduating from high school. In 1962, she stumbled upon a secretary position with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. She was 21 when she landed the job, and only then did she learn what the civil rights movement was all about.
“I was reading these brochures talking about this man, Martin Luther King Jr. I read about the (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) movement. I read about the sit-ins and what have you. That was my first introduction to the civil rights movement,” Mackey King said.
Mackey King got a front-row seat to the movement through her hard work. She earned the opportunity to travel with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and she went with him to Birmingham as he worked with local partners to hold nonviolent demonstrations protesting segregation in the city.
“I saw Dr. King’s strength in the fact that he said, ‘You are to have something in life worth dying for.’ I said, ‘But not at my age. I’m too young for this.’ He said, ‘If you want to go back to Atlanta, I would have no problem with that because you may lose your life in this movement and on this trip.’ So, I cried a little bit, but I decided since the rest of them were staying, I was going to stay,” Mackey King said.
Ministers’ letter strikes nerve, inspires MLK to write his own
Because she stayed, Mackey King witnessed the moment police arrested Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and took him to jail. That same day, eight ministers published a newspaper article condemning his demonstrations as “unwise and untimely.” The letter struck a nerve, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was determined to respond even without a notepad in his cell.
“He started to write on the edges of that newspaper. Then, he wrote on toilet paper, greasy sandwich bags, paper napkins, anything that he could find to write on,” Mackey King said.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s lawyer took the fragmented pieces of paper straight to Mackey King and her boss, Wyatt Tee Walker, and together, they pieced together the puzzle of his words.
“There was no order, and they came in at different times, so it was one of the most difficult assignments I guess I ever had,” Mackey King said.
But she was determined. She used a typewriter to type all 20 pages of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words — a message that still rings true today.
Asked what she wants people to take away from the famous letters today, Mackey King said: “You need to take a stand. You can’t sit back and wait for somebody to do your job.”
Mackey King certainly did not sit back and wait, and that’s why her name is etched in history.
She told sister station WBAL she never told her family she worked for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. until three years later. After her time at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, she spent years working for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and on Capitol Hill. Today, she enjoys retirement in Maryland.
