Social activist, Martin Luther King Jr, in his letter, Letter from Birmingham Jail, addresses the exigency of changing segregation laws. King’s purpose is to emphasize the damage the segregation laws have brought upon black people. He adopts an urgent tone in order to establish that he is tired of waiting for change to occur in his clergymen readers. King appeals to emotion in his letter to the clergymen from Birmingham by declaring that he is tired of hearing the world “wait” by the people who have never felt the effects of the segregation laws. He engages his audience of clergymen through pathos by indicating some of the many struggles only black people have to deal with such as “when you are humiliated day in day out by nagging signs reading
King's fundamental argument in the Birmingham letter is that racial injustice toward the black community in America is a result of ongoing support from the white community, notably from influential communities in politics and church. Dr. King uses Ethos most effectively, through the use of this statement where he says “I have the honor of serving as president of the southern christian leadership conference.” (King, 1963, Letter from Birmingham Jail) this is significant because he is attempting to show that he has the capabilities to run as a president and stop all the discrimination. This quote is extremely effective in persuasion in “Letter from a Birmingham Jail." Not only do we see an example of this here, we also see it when he says “the political leaders consistently refused to engage in good faith negotiation.
In letter to birmingham jail, despite the fact that ethos was utilized extremely well, we can trust pathos and logos are utilized most adequately with the representations of what African American confronted each day, cases in history in which the law was wrong, and the makeup of unfair laws. Dr. King depicts what they needed to look consistently and the psychological toll it took against African American families, which is a prime case of tenderness. Logos is demonstrated through recorded occasions were the law was not like it was in the Holocaust. Logos is additionally demonstrated when King depicts the contrasts between an equitable and vile law, for instance if a law benefits just a few society and damages the entire, it isn't a decent law.
The “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was released on April 16th 1963 in response to 8 prominent clergymen in Alabama. These clergymen had criticized Doctor Martin Luther Jr. about being a radical extremist for the civil rights movement. Also, the clergymen tried to leverage the black community to disassociate themselves with the protest MLK was having. They claimed his protest were untimely and meant to incite violence amongst the patrons of Alabama and further polarize whites and blacks. In response, Dr. King devises a writing masterpiece with this letter from the Birmingham Jail by utilizing ethos, logos, and pathos to express his frustration with the white moderates.
King’s periodic sentence structure allows the clergymen and the public to hold suspense and sympathy until the end of the sentence. Nonetheless, the clergymen state, in the last paragraph, that they “further strongly urge our own [African American] community to withdraw support from these demonstrations, and to unite locally in working peacefully for a better Birmingham”. With the use of imperative sentence structure, the clergymen’s requests become authoritative, which makes it harder for the audience to sympathize with the clergymen’s arguments. Consequently, not only does King’s appeal to pathos stimulate an emotional response from the audience, but it also helps the audience connect to King’s point of
In “The Letters to Birmingham Prisons,” the author, Martin Luther King, an equal rights activist, highlights many harms of society through his rhetorical strategies. The purpose of this letter was to speak to the primary audience of the clergy, who limits the freedom and independent of some. Martin Luther King when shifts to the secondary audiences of the State and the people. Both audiences are called to act in civil disobedience. When MLK introduces separation of populations, he writes of it as the “disease of segregation.”
Originally drafted in the margins of the New York Times, Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” refutes the claims from eight white clergymen that his nonviolent protests against segregation within the city of Birmingham were “untimely” and “extreme.” King’s threefold purpose to defend himself and his organization, to call the civil rights movement to national attention, and to impact public policy is depicted to the audience of not only the clergymen, but the citizens of the United States, and finally of the world. King adopts a respectful and courteous tone in order to appeal to his audiences, especially the religious leaders the letter is primarily directed to. King immediately establishes his respect for his primary
By stating who he is, King lets the reader know that his voice matters when it comes to responding to the clergymen. And as a result, he has the ability to gain the trust of the reader which then allows them to be persuaded by what he has to say. Now as for pathos, King uses this appeal throughout his letter by giving examples of what it is like to be black. The example that stood out the most to me was when King writes, “when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your 6-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children” (79). King’s use of pathos in this quote targets the emotions of the reader by revealing how children face the injustices of segregation.
In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was leading the march of the Civil Rights revolution in Birmingham, Alabama, when he was arrested for violating an unjust law. During King’s time in jail, he came across a news article that disparaged the march and degraded its purpose. Thus, evoking a letter response from King, most commonly known today as the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. Martin Luther King Jr. begins the letter by addressing his fellow clergymen, and pointing out that he normally does not respond to criticism. He then starts to explain how segregation has had a negative toll on the black community.
“Letter from Birmingham Jail” was written by Martin Luther King Jr when he was suffering unusual harsh conditions in the Birmingham jail, and it was sent to several clergymen who had written an open letter criticizing the actions of King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In the letter, King told the clergymen that he was upset about their criticisms, and that he wished to address their concerns by discussing about the inequality existing in the contemporary society and the strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism. As a revelatory letter, it leads readers to recognize the fact that they have the right and responsibility to break unjust laws and take more direct actions rather than waiting potentially forever for justice to
Martin Luther King Jr. wrote “Letters from the Birmingham City Jail” to clergymen, from a confined cell. This letter has many points concerning what is happening with the segregation of blacks and whites. The King has a purpose of writing this because of his use of ethos, pathos, and logos, along with the way he justifies himself, and lastly his motivation to more past this dilemma. The use of Ethos is very much used in this letter, which makes him have credibility is the incident of injustice.
In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King, Jr. is responding to criticism of the peaceful protests and sit-in’s that were taking place in Birmingham, which led to his being arrested and the reason that he was in jail. He first responds to the accusation of being an “outsider” by setting the stage for his being in Birmingham due to being invited because of his ties to the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights organization and due to the fact that he is president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Next, Martin Luther King expands on his moral beliefs that there is “injustice” in the way that Birmingham is “the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States”.
The Letter from Birmingham jail was an important document that marked the black community, it was written by Martin Luther King Jr. During the spring of, 1963, Dr. King sent this letter in a response to the eight clergymen from Alabama. King in order to try to get his readers attention, he utilizes three types of persuasion that appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos. First off, he calls to his own reputation and knowledge. Second, he tries to encourage emotions or sympathy in his audience. Lastly, he appeals to logic, supported with proofs and quotes from important philosophers.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., one of the most powerful speaker of his time, spoke out against segregation to millions, making history for many years to come. The speech “ I Have a Dream” by Dr. King was spoken to millions of nonviolent protesters on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. That same year, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the “Letter From Birmingham Jail” to eight white clergymen that criticized his actions. The letter was written in the margins of a newspaper at the Birmingham, Alabama jail. In the two selections Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, he used logos and pathos to explain his views on segregation.
King also elaborates on a few emotional details to establish a connection with his audience. King expresses great sadness as he takes the time to recall several painful experiences that he and other people of color know all too well. He confronts the clergymen about what it is like to have “vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim” (King 2). He even goes on to expose the “hate-filled policemen” who “curse, kick, brutalize, and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity” (King 2). Dr. King ends by declaring that “There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over and men are no longer willing to be plunged into an abyss of injustice where they experience the bleakness of corroding despair” (King 2).
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy” (King, Jr.). Martin Luther King Jr. exceeded this “measure of a man” during his civil rights acts as a strong soldier in a very volatile time. During this time of “challenge and controversy” King made himself heard in his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. In some of his civil rights acts that occurred in Birmingham, resulted in him ending up in jail. During his time in jail, he wrote his also famous “Letter From Birmingham Jail.”