Martin Luther King Jr. is a man of many words and actions, and we cannot only focus on his “I Have a Dream” speech.

King — whose memory was honored Monday — is so much more than “I Have a Dream.” As magnificent as the speech is, we need to also know of his other works, like his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” which shows what King has done for this nation.

On April 16, 1963, King wrote an extensive missive to eight clergymen, making them face 340 years of abuse, lynchings, segregation, beatings, drownings and much more. In King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” the logical statements appeal to readers, giving them a new outlook on their reasonings for dehumanizing black men and women.

King eloquently paints an image of the violence, distrust and inequality black men and women have endured for centuries and continue to endure.

The colors of language King applies are too vivid to ignore; the strokes are true and strong, painting a stark picture of the rights he and black men and women deserve.

He gives the clergymen the truth instead of what they want to see. White clergymen and members of the Southern culture had become accustomed to black men and women who preached appeasement, going back perhaps as far as Booker T. Washington, whose rhetoric sanctioned segregation.

While King’s letter is not an appeasement, it is insistent, even demanding, revealing the physical and psychological abuse black men and women endured.

Excerpt from the letter:

“…You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city’s white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.

“In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self purification; and direct action. We have gone through all these steps in Birmingham. There can be no gainsaying the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community. Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Its ugly record of brutality is widely known. Negroes have experienced grossly unjust treatment in the courts. There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in the nation. These are the hard, brutal facts of the case. On the basis of these conditions, Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the latter consistently refused to engage in good faith negotiation….”

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