“I have a dream, that one day my four little children will live in a nation, where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” These words were spoken on August 28 1963 by a man named Martin Luther King, who was a huge leader of the U.S civil rights movement. Martin Luther King believed in equal rights for white and colored people. He also believed that nonviolent protests were the most effective way to change the attitudes of racist and unjust people. Earlier in that year on April 16, Martin Luther King wrote a letter from the Birmingham Jail addressed to many different church leaders. This letter was about letting people know that it is their responsibility to take action and protest laws against …show more content…
Reading this made me feel very sad and gave me a small but powerful glimpse of what it was like to grow up a colored child. I was a little kid once and I know what it feels like to really want to get something that you have heard, or seen advertised. I also know how disappointing it is to find out that getting what you want may not be possible.This poor six year old girl just wants to go have a fun time, and finding out that because of the color of her skin she can’t go to a intriguing place like Funtown must have been very heartbreaking. The effect of this line was that it must have motivated many black people to end segregation because who would want their children to live a life full of heartbreak and …show more content…
This line influenced people to be willing to work with Martin Luther King, and listen to what he had to say. It let the people know that he was not just some rebellious colored man who wanted to defy the government, but he was a kind man who wanted nothing more than peace and love for the people of
In his letters titled “ Letter From a Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther King Jr. utilizes religious allusions as a way to bring logic to his claim while simultaneously contributing to his credibility as a reverend and activist. In this letter, King seeks to justify the need to participate in the civil rights to the southern clergymen who have previously stated that Kings proactive participation in the civil rights movement is not the most appropriate way to solve the issue. He supports his claim when saying “I am compelled to carry to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid”. In this quote, King alludes to Acts 16:6-10 when Paul the Apostle had been looking to spread 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. King brings up the anxiety that willingness to break laws can cause. He decides next to answer the question, “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” He feels that, “there are just laws, and there are unjust laws” (Letter from Birmingham Jail 2). Dr. King explains first that, “A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law, or the law of God” (Letter from Birmingham Jail 2). He next explains that, “Any law that degrades human personality is unjust” (Letter from Birmingham Jail 3).
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr was born in Georgia in 1929. His father and grandfather were both Baptist pastors. In 1954, Martin Luther King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. It was in Alabama where he was chosen to lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955, when, Ms. Rosa Parks, secretary of local branch of NAACP had refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on the bus.
It was a direct response to the “Alabama Clergymen’s Public Statement to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”, which condemned King’s use of public demonstrations. His purpose in writing the open letter was to address topics with which the undersigned clergymen of the public statement took issue. He also aimed to explain why said public demonstrations were necessary for bringing about tangible civil justice, as well as garnering more support for the cause. King’s intended audience was not only the clergymen who penned the public statement, but also Christians and the people of the United States as a whole. In his “A Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. successfully argues that peaceful protests and public demonstrations are necessary for bringing about civil justice.
Starting in the mid-1950s and continuing on into the late 1960s African-Americans aimed to outlaw racial discrimination. On April 16, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a letter from his jail cell in Birmingham jail. As an African American, activist, and public speaker he challenged the laws, politics, and oppression of black people using many persuasive techniques to touch the hearts of his readers. Martin Luther King Jr. starts off his letter by justifying his follower’s nonviolent direct actions. King Jr. describes his right to be there and how he was “compelled to carry gospel of freedom beyond [his] own home town.”
In the letter, King is addressing leaders who had published a document against him and fellow SCLC members for protesting in Birmingham. While writing this King was incarcerated in a Birmingham jail for the protesting. Dr. King was jailed due to him expressing his First Amendment freedom of the right to peaceful assembly. King stayed peaceful throughout the arrest, and spent his time professionally addressing those against his mission. This letter provides King’s argument for the importance of this granted right and why he is being punished for practicing it.
Martin Luther King Jr. wrote this letter from jail in response to eight white clergymen who did not approve of his nonviolent protests against racial inequality. He has been arrested and is writing to them from jail about why he did what he did and why he wants them to care. I thought his words were very persuasive and they ought to have made the church ashamed of itself for rebuking him. He references many historical theologians and biblical characters who would have done just as he has done. His letter is impressive because it is so intelligent and clear.
The entire letter of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail” presents an African American view of cultural and political issues -- everything needs to take action. As King informs the reader, when he was participating in the parade, nonviolently as ever, he would end up arrested for not providing a “permit” while he knew that was not the truth. King was the person to acknowledge what needs to be done, it shows in the letter what motivated him to write one of the outstanding archives in civil rights verbalization. Ultimately this is coming from the man who defends injustice for African Americans. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
What is a law, is person ever morally justified in lovingly breaking a law? For Dr. Martin Luther King JR, the answer could be yes. Dr. Martin Luther King JR will explain this to us in his letter from Birmingham Jail. One of the most influential leaders of the American civil rights movement through the 1950s and 60s fighting for black and white equality was Dr. Martin Luther King JR.
Martin Luther King, Jr. attempts to persuade clergymen to follow in his civil rights movement through exhibiting his knowledge over just and unjust laws, displaying peaceful behavior, and empathetic diction. King was very knowledgeable about laws and his right as a human. King stated laws in his letter to the clergymen, which displayed his credibility. He did not only state laws, he also stated just and unjust laws. King stated, “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?”
Civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr, in his Letter from Birmingham City Jail, argues against criticism from eight Alabama clergymen, and addresses their concerns. He defends his position, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), against accusations of disturbing the peace in Birmingham, as well as explaining his values and opinions. Throughout the letter, King adopts a strong logical and credible tone, and reinforces his position through the use of strong emotional justifications, in order to appeal to the clergymen and defend his public image. Martin Luther King opens up his Letter from Birmingham City Jail by appealing to the clergymen's emotions, and assuring his peaceful response, which he describes in "patient and
In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. led a peaceful movement in Birmingham, Alabama. The purpose of the demonstration was to bring awareness and end to racial disparity in Birmingham. Later that night, King and his followers were detained by city authorities. While in custody, King wrote the famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” This letter voiced out his disappointment in the criticisms, and oppositions that the general public and clergy peers obtained.
A Letter From Birmingham Jail Martin Luther King Jr. is a name that will never be forgotten, and that will go down in the books for all of time. He was foremost a civil rights activist throughout the 1950s and 1960s. during his lifetime, which lasted from January of 1929 to April of 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister and a social activist and was known for his non- violent protests. He believed that all people, no matter the color, have a moral responsibility to break unjust laws and to take a direct action rather than waiting forever for justice to come through and finally be resolved. 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.
Martin Luther King’s speech, “I Have a Dream” is vastly recognized as one of the best speeches ever given. His passionate demand for racial justice and an integrated society became popular throughout the Black community. His words proved to give the nation a new vocabulary to express what was happening to them. Martin was famously a pacifist, so in his speech, he advocated peaceful protesting and passively fighting against racial segregation.