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Analysis Of Martin Luther King Letter From Birmingham Jail

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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter From Birmingham Jail Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter From Birmingham Jail was his most infamous publication. Influenced by Thoreau and Gandhi for their similar ideas on peaceful protesting injustice in society, King created a group of nonviolent protesters across the south known as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). King’s whole movement was based around being nonviolent, King saw this as a way to get his message across peacefully and while being taken seriously. This is known as civil disobedience. In the letter, King is addressing leaders who had published a document against him and fellow SCLC members for protesting in Birmingham. While writing this King was incarcerated in a Birmingham jail for the protesting. Dr. King was jailed due to him expressing his First Amendment freedom of the right to peaceful assembly. King stayed peaceful throughout the arrest, and spent his time professionally addressing those against his mission. This letter provides King’s argument for the importance of this granted right and why he is being punished for practicing it. Nobody has been given freedom without a fight b …show more content…

King states “I would agree with St. Augustine that ‘An unjust law is no law at all.’”(King). As human beings it is our natural instinct to rebel against laws that are detrimental and unfair, this is what King refers to as unjust laws. Just laws would be those laws for the common good of society, which are unbiased. King’s whole argument is based around God. King knows that one cannot be oppressed forever without the urge to act against the oppressor “The urge for freedom will eventually come”(King). King argues were all born with freedom instilled in us and that it is only natural to fight for

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