The correct answer is D) George Washington and Ben Franklin.
King alludes to many profound thinkers and philosophers in his letter, but he does not refer to George Washington and Ben Franklin.
We are referring to "Letter From Birmingham Jail," written by Martin Luther King while he was locked in Birmingham prison. It was an open letter he wrote on April 16, 1963, in which Dr. King write his arguments that support nonviolent resistant to fight segregationism and racism in the South of the United States. This document represented an important "flag" for the civil rights movement in America.