Compare And Contrast Letter From Birmingham Jail And Civil Disobedience

When a federal injunction was put into place to prevent the protest without permission of the city, Martin Luther King Jr. persevered and decided to go on with the campaign. He got arrested for heading the demonstration and was in jail for eight days. When King heard of the eight clergymen who wrote a letter criticizing the direct action campaign, he began to write his well-known Letter from a Birmingham Jail. One of the tactics he uses to get people to agree with him is he uses emotion to get people’s attention. An example of this comes from paragraph eleven in which the main focus is a lengthy sentence devoted to naming the struggles African Americans endured during that time.

Dawn McNeil-Bruce English 2100 Professor Andrews- Parker 10/21/15 The Rhetorical Techniques in “Letter from Birmingham Jail” The unjust treatment of African Americans have cause a significant amount of African American leaders to use different ways to advocate for racial equality.

but he still presented his message strongly to the eagerly listening crowd and delegates. Henry is trying to get people on board with the idea of freedom. Henry uses very strong tones to convey the message his message across to the delegates and listeners at the White House. Henry use of slavery in his speech, he is referring to Britain and how great Britain is keeping them in bondage and not letting them govern as they should. Britain has still enslave them even though they have left the country and found a

In modern day society, racial injustice has a big impact in this world today, as stated in Just Mercy and To Kill a Mockingbird. Showing that they are both related in many ways. The characters from To Kill A Mockingbird deal with racial injustice first hand. Scout, the narrator and daughter of Atticus Finch, experienced racial injustice of her father’s court case with Tom Robinson, an African American.

He does so specifically with examples that resonate with the audience. For instance, as he attempts to persuade listeners to consider revolting against the government, he uses a real-life example: All men recognize... the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable. But almost all say that such is not the case now. But such was the case, they think, in the Revolution Of '75... when a sixth of the population of a nation which has undertaken to be the refuge of liberty are slaves, and a whole

He sets up his argument by saying that there are specific steps to take during a nonviolent campaign. He then elaborates on what he did to accomplish these steps. He justified his actions by saying, “Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such a creative tension that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue”(266). He also refuted how the clergymen told him his actions were untimely by stating that, “This “wait” has almost always meant “never””(267). He even discredits the clergymen even more by saying “it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say wait.”

It even persuaded the Roman catholic Bishop Joseph Aloysius Durick. Originally a conformist cleric, Bishop Durick, along with his seven colleagues wrote the letter "A Call For Unity", calling on Martin Luther King Jr. and his "outsiders" to go home during the Birmingham protests of 1963 and let the courts work toward integration. King responded with his Letter from Birmingham Jail, voicing his disappointment in the white clergy, who should be "among our strongest allies". This, and a message from Vatican II, led Bishop Durick to become a strong voice for civil rights in the segregated South! He did this in the face of severe persecution by his own congregation.

King believed that if he could just go to Birmingham, and protest non-violently, that he could make a difference. On April 16, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. was imprisoned, in Birmingham, for protesting the civil rights of Black Americans. While in jail, he began writing a letter addressing the clergymen. His main audience in writing this letter was to the eight clergymen who criticized his actions and also the majority of the population as well. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, argues that injustice

Ronith Murali 4th hour Mrs.Schmidt AP Language & Composition During the 60’s in America, the civil rights movements for African Americans was at it’s peak. Following Martin Luther King’s assassination, the common response to the tragedy was violence. Cesar Chavez writes this article in hopes of informing the American people that violence is not the answer, and that if they continued on King’s non-violent path to equality, it would bring about more change. When looking at Cesar Chavez ‘s article, one can clearly see that he is easily able to persuade his vengeful audience to cease the violent protests throughout America, by utilizing several examples of juxtaposition, rhetorical appeals, and impactful diction.

Equal rights protester Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “now is the time to make real the promise of democracy, and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood.” In 1963, King was arrested for protesting in Birmingham and was put in jail. During that period, he had a lot of spare time and wrote a long and powerful letter full of stylistic elements to church leaders in Birmingham who had criticized him for leading a protest. They made public statements opposing King and his methods for achieving change, but King believed that they misjudged his cause and ways of doing. Martin Luther King, Jr. uses many stylistic elements including convincing examples and keen figurative language to influence his reader to agree with his point in "Letter from Birmingham Jail."

f one followed the similarities of King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" and Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience," they would notice that King may have been somewhat influenced by Thoreau's essay. The two essays also have many differences that are evident throughout analysis of the two essays that divide individual interpretation of each text. But it is obvious that the overall purpose of these two essays is to persuade the audiences that civil disobedience is necessary if there is social injustice in the government that governs over people.

“Civil Disobedience" is an essay written by Henry David Thoreau who was an “American transcendentalist society in 1849” (“Give Me Liberty”, chap 9). In this essay Thoreau argued that people should not allow their government to override or weaken their consciences because they have a duty to avoid allowing any agreement to authorize the government to make them the proper workers of discrimination. An evidence that gives us this form of information is “The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it” (“Civil Disobedience”, par 1, pg 1). Thoreau meant that the government sometimes proves itself useful and that it

Words are the most compelling drugs used by humanity. In “Resistance to Civil Government” and “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Thoreau and King showed that if words are used properly in society, they can make a difference. Injustice is a huge deal for both Thoreau and King. They talked about their beliefs and told people to stand up for themselves in the government. If they really want something, they need to speak up, no matter what the consequence will be.

Fredrick Douglas and Henry David Thoreau have the same ideas yet different experiences which shine through their writings. The main idea is that I would have had no idea that Thoreau was an abolitionist from this writing alone. This excerpt from Thoreau is extremely philosophical, as were most of his other writings, and could only loosely be applied to the issue of slavery while Douglas’ writing was strictly an autobiography. This simple difference goes a long way in highlighting their differences as rights activists. Douglas is direct and evokes change through his actions and words while Thoreau is indirect, yet he makes you think about your decisions and how they affect the world around you.

A Moral Justification of Civil Disobedience Democracy is the cornerstone of American society and was founded on the belief that each individual ought to have a say in the way they are governed. In the early 1960’s, many inequities in the system existed that inhibited justice in light of the law. Consequently, one’s political voice may not have been heard in the conventional manners of voting and petitioning elected officials. Through unconventional means, King writes, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” a passionate letter that responds to the criticism of clergymen and appeals to people, both white and black, to encourage solidarity among all. Hence, I will explain the nature and purpose of civil disobedience as it relates to the injustices of