In Letter from Birmingham Jail, Dr. King writes to the clergymen to defend his nonviolent actions. He goes on to show that his actions are justified and that it's time to move forward from all the injustices toward African-American people just because of the colors of their skin. Dr.King defends his peaceful protests and stated that they can no longer wait, and that is not right that clergymen think they should wait, when they have not been in the position and have felt the discrimination. Dr. King uses emotional, ethical and, logical appeal to convince the clergymen that his actions are wise and justified. Dr. King uses emotional appeal, to try to persuade the clergymen that he is not an extremist as it is being said he is. Dr. King does …show more content…
Pain and suffering which resulted in Kings action to protest and denounce these injustices. Pain and suffering which came from the killing of innocent African American children who were caught in the midst of hate. Suffering that came with when the killers of the innocent girls killed in the church bombing were set free just because they were white. Pain from a justice system that only served the whites but left the people of color out and were treated badly because of the color of their skin. King is trying to convey the messages that is not time to wait but to act because they a tired of the …show more content…
He goes to explain that what Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did was illegal. Hitler persecuted the Jews and it was considered legal. Even though he killed and hurt many jews but when the Hungarian Freedom Fighters tried to comfort and help the jews it was considered illegal. He is trying to express that just because it is legal to segregate black from whites it does mean it is the right thing to do. He wants the clergymen to get clear pictures that what is taking place is completely wrong. King is trying to sway their opinion that what he is doing is wrong and justifying the
Freedom Writer An Analysis of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Moving Letter On April 12, 1963, a group of clergymen from Alabama released the “PUBLIC STATEMENT BY EIGHT ALABAMA CLERGYMEN” in which they criticized the actions of the Civil Rights Movement, asking for the oppressed African American community to wait with patience for their justice to arrive. In response to this publication, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a lengthy letter while incarcerated known as “LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL”, on April 16, 1963. Dr. King uses this letter to respond to the clergymen, and convey his side of the situation, as well as to justify the actions of those involved with the movement.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was an amazing civil rights leader. In 1963, Dr. King and some other civil rights actives went down to Birmingham, Alabama to help in the fight to end inequality. During a nonviolent demonstration Dr. King and countless other protestors were arrested and sent to a Birmingham jail. While in prison Dr. King had time to think and he took this time to write to his fellow clergymen who critics the nonviolent demonstrations. The letter is entitle "Letter from a Birmingham Jail".
Although the Alabama clergymen disagree with his actions, King defends his use of nonviolent protesting by saying, “The purpose of our direct-action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation,” (King 168). Throughout the entire text, King repeats his explanation for nonviolent protesting. He uses repetition on this idea to really create emphasis on it: in hopes that the clergymen would realize how nonviolent protesting is not bad. King later on in
He uses a biblical allusion to provoke emotion in his audience. He makes the clergymen feel bad by indirectly accusing them of not practicing what they preach. King stated “You may well ask, “why direct action , why sit-ins, marches, and so forth? ” .... Isn’t negotiation a better path (King 10)?””
That same year King was arrested in one of these marches because he did not have a permit. While in jail he wrote “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in response to white clergy who were telling him his tactics were “untimely” and “unwise.” He needed the clergy to understand that many innocent lives have been taken in the fight against injustice. Although King uses an abundance of rhetorical appeals, logos and allusion are the most effective because they earn King the readers’ trust, help the clergymen better understand the civil rights movement from a biblical perspective.
Because he was a man of God, he did not approach the civil rights movement with violence in mind, but instead peace. This letter was part of his plan. King’s purpose in the letter was to motivate the clergymen, and eventually white moderates, to stand for civil rights using strategic ethos, pathos, and logos. King stood up for those oppressed during and before the civil rights movement; yet he knew that responding to violence with violence would do nothing but delay the agenda and create pain for the two opposing parties. In order to avoid any cruelty, King described a day in the life of a black man, showing the emotions of a people who had never been empathized with before.
He then refers to his earlier statement about the apathy of the clergymen regarding the reason for the demonstrations, alluding to their anxiety over the protesters willingness to break the law. However, he brings up a dichotomy: the laxness and rigidity in which different laws are enforced. Namely, he sarcastically refers to the apprehensive enforcement of the 1954 Supreme Court decision outlawing segregation. Well, why are only some laws enforced? King answers this question by stating that there are two kinds of laws: just and unjust.
In “A Letter From A Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther King Jr defends his use of nonviolent protest in order to accomplish racial equality. In the letter, Dr. King uses ethos, diction, and allusions when defending nonviolent protest which makes his argument really strong. His goal is to make the clergymen help him fight racial equality. He uses ethos to build up credibility.
His use of pathos conveys his desires for justice. King saw things that nobody should ever have to, and he expresses this when he 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, and even kill your black brothers and sisters;...”(218). Everyone has a mother, father, sister, brother, etc. and this textual evidence can evoke feelings of being in the shoes of all black individuals.
He supports his claim first by comparing injustice and unjust laws with justice and just laws, then calling the African American population to action, then clarifying what exactly has been and can be done against the racial inequality, and then finally restating his personal progress and goals. King's purpose is to call African-Americans to action against racial and social inequality in order to strengthen the civil rights movement. He creates a frustrated but calm and peaceful tone for those that are infuriated by the social
On April 16, 1963. Dr. Martin Luther King Junior, a persistent civil rights leader, addressed 8 white clergymen on the way they responded to the protests from nonviolent Negros. He supports this claim by first emphasizing that all of what is going on is part of their heritage and how everyone has rights, then by telling them breaking the law and standing up for what they believe in embodies the American spirit, and finally indicates the protesters are heroes and they are doing what they can to defend themselves and show others their side of what is going on. Through King’s use of tone, rhetorical appeals, and rhetorical tools he effectively persuades the clergymen and the people of the U.S, to fathom what is happening everyday around them and
King stating their wrong doings, helped prove his point about just and unjust laws and about his wrongful jailing for taking a peaceful stand.
He is trying to create the “kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood”. This would show new ways to enlighten people that it was no longer acceptable for African Americans to be treated unfairly by the government. This would lead King to protest for equal rights and he protested peacefully which created tensions between him and those that disagreed with him. Yet this tension was what he had wanted so that he and the people who were against him could have this compromise. This would show that
In the year of 1963, on August 28 was a speech given by Dr Martin Luther King JR. On the mArch of Washington, the purpose of the speech was to end segregation on blacks and whites against discrimination. The speech is considered a seminal US document because this was a very important moment of history. First of all, on August 28, 1963, on the Lincoln Memorial. Dr. Martin Luther King JR, is trying to make a statement that Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation to free the slaves.
In Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Dr. King addresses his fellow peers for calling his protest ending segregation “unwise & untimely”. King hopes to clarify their actions in this letter. Dr. King couldn’t remain mutual while in other places across the United States horrendous segregation acts were taking place. He said, “Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly”. Like many before him, he too felt the need to help his fellow brothers and sisters’ fight for their cause.