Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter To Birmingham City Jail

Martin Luther King wrote his famous "Letter from Birmingham Jail," in response to a public statement of concern and caution issued by eight religious leaders of the South. The statement "A Call For Unity", implored Dr. King and his "outsiders" to obey the law and wait for integration to naturally come out of the courts. King responded with his Letter from Birmingham Jail, voicing his disappointment in the white clergy, who should be "among our strongest allies". This was the persuasive power of King’s writing, an epitome of the art of rhetoric. His letter used the three rhetorical appeals ethos, pathos, and logos, while also utilizing the literary device of kairos in an attempt to explain his actions and change the opinions of his audience.

still prevailed and that blacks were still excluded from everything and had many disadvantages by not being white. On April 12th, Martin Luther King got arrested because of his “confrontations” and from there, he wrote the famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail”(also known as “The Negro is Your Brother”. This letter was directed to a white group of clerics that mocked his strategies of not being violent when fighting for equality. The letter makes it clear that it is critical for people to actually take a stand, instead of standing in a court contrary to what the clergymen believe. And with people mentioning him to as an “outsider”, he responded.

In the Spring of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. stated in a speech that Birmingham was among one of the most segregated cities in the world. 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.

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."

While in solitary confinement for nearly 8 days, reverend and social justice activist, Martin Luther King Jr., wrote his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail in response to the criticism he received for his non-violent protests. Several clergy who negatively critiqued King’s approach of seeking justice, wrote A Call for Unity, arguing that his protests were senseless and improper. Within the article, the clergymen provide nine different critiques that asserted how King’s protest are invalid, uneffective, and simply unintelligent in the fight for obtaining justice and equity for individuals of color. His letter has become one of the most profound pieces of literature of the 20th century, as King uses vivid examples and eloquent rhetorical devices to counter all nine arguments. The criticism made by the these eight clergyman epitomize the idea of whiteness and white privilege.

In 1963, while Martin Luther King was in Birmingham Jail, King delivered a powerful letter to his Clergymen in order to take time and respond to the criticism he had received over his work in Birmingham. The Letter from Birmingham Jail addresses many problems, including the slow action occuring to stop racial discrimination. In order to do this, Martin Luther King uses several techniques in paragraph thirteen and fourteen of his letter such as repetition, personification, as well as allusion, to support his claim that racial unity has taken too long. To emphasize the passing of time and the need to take action now, King uses repetition and allusions in paragraph thirteen to assist his claims. King starts strongly with the bold statement “freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed”, which in this case, the oppressors refer to the whites, and the oppressed are the negroes.

The people of this movement used peaceful protest to accomplish their goals of gaining an equal spot at the table and no longer being discriminated against. Lead by Martin Luther King Jr., a pastor, they paved the way for African American citizens of today. On April 16th, 1963 King was in the Birmingham jail after being arrested for his protests for change. An announcement had just been published by eight southern religious leaders warning people of the dangers of the protests and calling King out on his actions of protest. Dr.King wrote a letter be in response, from a jail cell.

While imprisoned, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, ‘A letter from Birmingham Jail’ as a response to eight clergymen who published a statement that emphatically disagreed with King’s methods of protest towards racism. Dr. King’s reply is demonstrated in a writing style that could be described as ‘efficient’ as he balanced different aspects of organization of his thoughts and passion through use of rhetorical devices to achieve an effective argument. Dr. King, possibly from his pastoral background, wrote his letter in an eloquent, sermon-like matter, yet it was his use of rhetorical devices that effectively stitched his argument together and gave it an interesting flow, either by reminding the reader of his purpose in writing, or to progress through his reasons in an impactful way.

Ty’ Keylah White Ms. Edwina Mosby English Composition I October 31, 2017 Rhetorical Analysis: Letter from Birmingham Jail Summary/Assessment: In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is responding to a few white religious leaders who stated that his nonviolent reveal against segregation was “unwise and untimely” (1). Dr. King had to be really upset at the clergymen because he rarely acknowledges criticism of his work. He states that since they brought up “outsiders coming in”, meaning that they went to the city of Birmingham to start a conflict. He argues his equality to be there like anyone else speaking on the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta, Georgia but run through every Southern state. Dr. King says “anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered outsiders” (4).

King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. With a tone remains polite, respectful, even almost apologetic, and friendly, this letter was written in response to a claim made by eight white clergymen criticizing the actions and ideas of Dr. King and his group as unwise and wrong. According to S. Jonathan Bass argued, “the letter served as a tangible, reproducible account of the long road to freedom in a movement that was largely centered around actions and spoken words” (Bass). Beginning the letter with a greeting sentence “My dear fellow clergymen”, Dr. King explains the reasons his presence as well as his uses of nonviolence and direct action in Birmingham. When King says: “I am here because I was invited here.

2.4 Rhetorical Analysis In April of 1963, while incarcerated in Birmingham City jail, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote an influential letter defending his anti-segregation protests. King had been arrested while participating in a peaceful anti-segregation march, although several local religious groups counted on King for support. Since King’s arrest, he had time to think deeply about the situation; therefore, he decides to reply back to the Alabama clergymen. Who had criticize Martin Luther King because he was simply doing something that was right and violence was not needed for King. “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is addressed to clergymen who had written an open letter criticizing the actions of Martin Luther King, Jr. during several protests

Letter from Birmingham Jail The “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr was a letter that he wrote to answer the statement to fellow clergymen for calling his activities “Unwise and untimely. First, he explained the reason why he was in the Birmingham; it was because he could not ignore the injustice problem there. The injustice anywhere was the reason for him become active in working for civil rights in Birmingham even though he did not claim permanent residence there. The letter mentioned about the strategy of nonviolence resistance to racism. Martin Luther King described the racism problem in his letter, and also explained the reasons why they could not wait for help anymore.

Martin Luther King Junior was the leader of several peaceful protests against the segregation of African American people in the American South. In his Letter form a Birmingham Jail, King responds to the eight clergymen who published an open letter in the local newspaper entitled A call to Unity that ultimately criticized King’s antics directly. King’s powerful yet eloquent use of different literary techniques, especially Aristotle’s persuasive appeals of ethos, pathos and logos, clearly delivers a potent message to his audience. The persuasive appeal logos, according to Aristotle, appeals to a reader’s sense of reason. Birmingham is described by King as “the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States” where “Negroes have experienced

These were supposed to be non-violent protest that show to the nation the inequalities that the blacks faced. Riots broke out and many blacks were arrested and 2 killed. Because of the violence, Martin Luther King Jr. was asked to come to Birmingham. It is here that he created his famous “letter from Birmingham jail”. He brought to light for other clergy men who were opposed to him being there the injustices that Blacks in Birmingham had endured.

In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” first two pages he addresses the clergymen of his church and others as well. During his protest, he expresses how upset he was about what is going on right now. He writes down their complain that he is an “outsider” who has come to Birmingham to cause trouble . He defends his right to be there in a straightforward, humble tone, explaining that the SCLC is based in Atlanta but operates throughout the South. One of its affiliates had invited the organization to Birmingham, which is why they came.