In this letter by Martin Luther King Jr., he wants to explain to the eight clergymen why he has been jailed. He wants to show them that what he was doing was necessary. The clergymen were confused and upset about his image and wrote a statement explaining their own views. After reading this statement, King wanted to have these men completely educated on the matter. King does this by persuading his audience, using various rhetorical devices.
Martin Luther King Jr., who is a civil rights activist, wrote “Letter from Birmingham Jail” on April 16, 1963 when he was arrested for being in Birmingham civil rights demonstrations to fight for justice. He wrote this letter to respond to eight white clergymen who criticized his demonstrations as “unwise and untimely” (601). In this letter, he explained the reason and purpose of him being in Birmingham to clarify the criticism. He also mentioned about the basic steps towards any nonviolent campaign that need to go through and describe each steps that they took in Birmingham. Lastly, he distinguished the difference between the two types of laws; just and unjust laws.
Provide specific details to support your response. The first 4 paragraphs of Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” introduce his purpose in writing: to refute the criticisms listed in the clergymen’s letter which describe his recent activities in the city as “unwise and untimely” (800). King explains that he “does not usually respond to such criticisms as he receives far too many for this to practical” (800).
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote “Letter From Birmingham Jail” in 1963. He wrote the letter to explain to his clergyman he refused to wait any longer for his freedom. Dr.King used peaceful protests such as sit-ins and marches across America to get his point across. I disagree with his all peace beliefs. I feel as though protesters should have the right to defend themselves against their oppressors.
By using things that everyone knew of King was insuring they would understand what he meant. He is trying to say that in the past the church was in the same position as the African Americans in the South. They were seen as wrong and “disturbers of the peace” but now they sit in the background seeing everything but doing nothing and going with the majority on
In paragraph 1, King establishes his purpose for writing the letter. According to this paragraph, King found a statement made by the clergymen criticizing his actions. He felt that the clergymen had clearly thought out their criticisms and were good people at heart, so he decided to respond in a rational way. He uses formal structure in this paragraph to show respect for the clergymen and to show that he is a reasonable man.
The Letter From Birmingham Jail was written on April 16,1963 by Martin Luther King Jr. in response to being sent to jail after a protest. The letter addresses to the clergyman and explains his reasoning for the protest as well as why he is in jail. Him and his people protested in order to gain attetion which would lead to fair negotiations. He claimed to have gone to jail to fight injustice. He also speaks of his thoughts in segragation and what a just and unjust law is.
Martin Luther King Jr., an activist and leader for the civil rights movement, wrote the Letter from Birmingham Jail and gave the famous “I Have A Dream” speech. While the letter is not as publicly acknowledged today, Dr. Kings speech will go down in history as one of the most influential and well-remembered speeches of all time. In Dr. Kings letter from Birmingham Jail, he addresses a group of men criticizing his actions in Birmingham. While holding his ground, Dr. King expresses his concerns using respectful words while providing straightforward examples of what they accused him of, and why they are wrong in those accusations.
In “Letter to Birmingham Jail”, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. states that, “We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that ‘justice too long delayed is justice denied.’” His statement expresses his view that the term “wait” is much thought of as “never” to many Negroes, for if change does not happen immediately, the change will never be made. King’s main rhetorical strategy is taking his periodic sentence in paragraph fourteen and attempting to grab at the reader’s emotions, placing them into his and many other Negroes’ harsh daily situations. He goes on to state that, “It is easy for those who have never the stinging darts of segregation to say ‘wait’.” King’s meaning behind this statement reveals a fact of whites being unfamiliar
In “Letters from Birmingham Jail”, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr answers the clergymen's criticisms in a calm and collected way, acknowledging them and providing insight into his ideas rather than attacking and criticizing. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr begins this letter by addressing his audience, the clergymen, as “My Dear Fellow Clergymen.” This automatically shows that King is taking a more friendly, sincere approach to this rather than a confrontational approach. He is attempting to make them listen and agree with him and his ideas, not give them a reason to completely disregard what he is saying. Throughout the whole letter, King addresses the clergymen’s complaints and criticizes them, without directly attacking and accusing them.
Dr. Martin Luther King’s Letter from Birmingham City Jail served various purposes besides responding to the attack on nonviolent tactics by the Alabama clergymen. His letter painted a vivid picture of the grief, desperation, and impatience that filled black hearts. The choices King made when writing the letter allowed the reader to view the civil rights issue from a Negro perspective. Dr. King first filled the reader with the overwhelming desperation blacks had felt for generations, and then he set out to debunk the clergymen’s argument.
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail is originally intended to be a response to a statement published by eight white clergymen against the “unwise and untimely” action of King in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. He addressed the apparent injustices subjected to the Negro community in the 1960s. These include biased laws imposed on Negros promoting racial segregation. King argues, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.
Alone, afraid, and unwanted is how Martin Luther King, Jr. explained he felt in “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” King Jr. wrote the letter to several clergyman in Alabama. On April 16, 1963, King, Jr. wrote to several clergy men regarding their recent statement of his present activities. The clergymen referred to his recent activities as “unwise and untimely.” He lets the clergymen know why he is in Alabama.
In “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. states: “any law that degrades human personality is unjust” and that it is therefore our moral obligation to resist unjust legal systems. Unjust laws have been around since the beginning of our country, and we still have not been able to solve this basic conundrum; it can still be seen in contemporary issues that are occurring to this day such as Colin Kaepernick sitting during the national anthem. King’s arguments can be applied to most, but not all, aspects of the U.S. prison system because just laws are also present in the system. Current U.S. prisons are built on fundamentally degrading laws including the increase in punishment if one desires to go to court and people of color receiving
King replies to a comment made by the clergymen calling him an extremist. He even will take the idea of being an extremist and turn it into a positive for the campaign saying that he was originally “disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as [he] continued to think about the matter [he] gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: ‘Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you’” (King p 808). He uses his knowledge of religious passages to show that being an extremist is not always a bad thing.
