ipl-logo

Letter From Birmingham Jail Sparknotes

652 Words3 Pages

Sympathy for the South “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, written by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. conveyed an array of emotion. While reading, I felt feelings ranging from hope to complete outrage. The most prevalent emotion for me was sympathy. I also felt a sense of gratitude for the changes we were able to make in our society and culture. “Letter from Birmingham Jail” did a great job of inspiring sympathy in its readers by sharing examples of injustice, violence and dehumanization as it related to African-Americans of that era. First, King spoke of many injustices in his letter. One was the clergymen expecting African-Americans to wait for fair treatment and equal rights. Not only were openly racist members of society opposing equal rights …show more content…

In paragraph twelve King says, “But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize, and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity…”, it is hard to imagine witnessing such brutality and the lack of justice that followed for African-Americans and their families (12). Birmingham, Alabama, reputed for its high rate of police brutality against African-Americans and as being one of the most segregated cities in the country (5). Because of the latter, African-Americans felt the need for direct action and started peacefully demonstrating; their peaceful demonstrations met opposition in the form of police and angry dogs (43). Dr. King himself was a victim of violence at the hands of police and guards at the jail. In addition to the police, there were other unofficial groups, such as the Klu Klux Klan lynching and mobbing African-Americans at …show more content…

White Americans handled African-Americans similar to animals, never as humans or equals. Dr. King described the many titles used to refer to African-Americans including “nigger”, “boy”, and “John”, which occurred regardless of age or stature (12). It seems the average white American did not address African-Americans by his or her given names or title, thus denying them the respect any human deserves. Dr. King expressed his feelings about this describing a feelings of what he called “nobodiness”

Open Document