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Martin Luther King's Ethos In Letter From Birmingham Jail

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Birmingham Jail Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the most iconic people of the 20th century. One of the reasons Martin Luther King Jr. was such a great and influential revolutionary in the context of civil rights is because of his mastery of ethos, pathos, and logos. Even today when mentioning King’s name in a conversation commands respect which shows just how great of a character he was, which demonstrates ethos. King also had the ability to connect emotionally with people of all different races and could easily be seen as an embodiment of the civil rights movement. Last, but not least King demonstrated logos through his words, he was a very well educated man who articulated himself well and could appeal to logic with ease. King’s “Letter …show more content…

Most people in this world aren’t born into this world alone, King knows this and reminds the clergymen and the white moderate that these people have families too. Even though slavery was abolished in 1865 racism has continued to dehumanize Black people. King has given these people an identity which humanizes them. Lastly King appeals to logos or the logical side of an argument. Similar to the other persuasive tool, King uses logos extremely effectively. King knowing his audience was clergymen and the white moderate, uses something that they cannot argue against, the Bible. King uses countless references to the Bible throughout “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and even wrote it in a format that is accustomed to the clergymen. King thought of everything when drafting this letter, which could be attributed to the fact that he was in jail and had countless hours to think. Just using one of these persuasive tools however was not enough to win over his audiences. King had to utilize each of them to get his point across. Each of King’s statements could not be boiled down to one single persuasive tool, therefore a lot of comorbidity exists within “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. Such as the difference between order and justice appeals to logos and

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