Plate from Letter from Birmingham City Jail
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View on museum website →Medium
screenprint from an illustrated book with eight screenprints
Dimensions
overall (closed): 39.8 × 33.2 × 4.9 cm (15 11/16 × 13 1/16 × 1 15/16 in.)
Classification
Volume
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Ruth Fine in honor of Michele Wallace
Accession Number
2021.80.27.4
Art Historical Context
Faith Ringgold's *Plate from Letter from Birmingham Jail* (2007) is a screenprint from an illustrated featuring eight such prints, pairing the artist's vivid imagery with Martin Luther King.'s iconic 1963 epistle. Written while imprisoned for protesting segregation, King's letter passionately defends nonviolent civil disobedience against injustice, becoming a cornerstone of the Civil Rights Movement. Ringgold a trailblazing African American artist renowned for her narrative quilts and activism, brings this historic text to life through bold, colorful screenprints that amplify its urgency and r...