Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter To Birmingham Jail

1.In the letter “Letter From Birmingham Jail” Dr.King is making the charge. The charge that he is making is that if the church does not get it together, no one is going to take the church seriously.

The question of whether the law of the land overrides human morality has been a popular topic that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. discusses in his letter titled "The Letter From The Birmingham Jail." King's letter uses both the Rogerian and Classical model to argue that the law of the land can not deem justice or injustice, but rather morality must be the judge.

Written by Martin Luther King Jr., the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is a paragon of persuasive writing that takes advantage of ethos, pathos, and logos in order to convince its readers to take MLK’s side during the American civil rights movement. The use of ethos defines MLK as a credible writer; the use of pathos appeals to his audience on a personal level; and the use of logos layers his arguments and claims with irrefutable reasoning and logic. By using all three techniques, MLK is able to hold the attention of his readers and persuade them to take his side in the battle against segregation.

In the year of 1963, when racial discrimination was evident in the community, Dr. King delivered two of his most noted works called the “I have a Dream” speech and “Letter from Birmingham Jail” to the public. These two pieces, quickly following each other in succession, were literary works of Dr. King devoted to the cause of racial equality and used eclectic devices and appeals to achieve that goal. King’s purpose bolstered in his “Letter” and “Dream” speech by key rhetorical devices are supported by audience oriented diction and appeals.

All three works by Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. narrow their purpose of their piece on fighting against social injustice by using the rhetorical skills contained in They say, I say to provide legitimate, persuasive, and well thought out arguments.

Martin Luther King Jr. 's 1963 "Letter from Birmingham Jail", a rhetorical masterpiece, was written in response to eight clergymen’s statements condemning his nonviolent direct actions. He defends the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights nonviolent, direct action against individuals, institutions, and laws that look the other way while unjust racial prejudice against African Americans runs rampant in Birmingham. Using three main appeals, Ethos, Pathos, Logos, Dr. King communicates the struggle that was the essence of human rights, equality. Appealing to the logic, ethics, and emotions of the reader strengthens his rebuttal of the opposition, helps him gain support, and clearly justify the recent direct action he led. King uses logos to illustrate his argument and invalidate the opposition to his claim, leading the reader to side with his position. Exampling this, he demonstrates that direct action is not opposed to negotiation, contrary to what his fellow clergyman believe, and states “Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue” (King par 9).

Martin Luther King Jr is one of the most famous Civil Rights leader from the past century, he dedicated his life to achieve racial equality in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s. He also penned the Letter from Birmingham City Jail, which outlined the moral basis for the civil rights movement and talked about some of the fundamental questions of political philosophy. Whether what he did in that put him in the Birmingham City Jail was just or unjust, and if it was morally okay to disobey. If next fall I was invited back to Political Science 105 to give a guest lecture on this topic, I would first start off by giving the students background information on Martin Luther King life and what he has done and achieved until to the point where he writes Letter from the Birmingham City Jail.

The worlds freedom and responsibly have so much more meaning to them than just their defines. for many people these worlds hold emotion as well as a greater meaning. One of those people being Martin Luther King Jr.. King Jr. knew the African Americans had suffered a long time as slaves and fought for freedom greatened to them by Abraham Lincoln he signed the Emancipation Proclamation January 1863. Even though Martin Luther King Jr. wasn’t born when the Emancipation Proclamation signed he knew the hardships his people had suffered though he also knew the hardships were not over. He knew he had a responsibility to fight for segregation to end and to be an equal Intellectually and the greatest thing is that no matter what he endured all success was done in a nonvalent way. We can see examples of all of this in he’s Letter from Birmingham City Jail"Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all! By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall!" this quote was said by a founding father John Dickinson I believe it is also true pertaining to segregation. Just because they are African American does not take away the fact that they are Americans and any great nation should stand together not segregated. “Anyone Who lives in the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere in this county” (709) Martin Luther King Jr. knew

Historically, Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most well-known public figures in the black community during his time. King Jr. was living in Atlanta, Georgia and was serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state. King was part of many organizations across the south, one being the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. When King Jr’s local affiliate of Birmingham invited him to the city he gladly consented. Martin Luther King Jr. is well known for being an incredibly gifted and intelligent man and his letter from Birmingham jail perfectly reflected his this. Throughout his letter, King Jr. illustrates his feelings, thoughts,

Dr. Martin Luther King, one of the most influential men in the world, had played a pivotal role during the Civil Rights movement. He led the entire nation in the fight to end segregation, but while trying, he faced many obstacles, one being getting arrested during a rally. While in jail, King had time to respond to the critics of his work in the movement, and he wrote a marvelous, captivating response. In King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” he replied and professed his emotions to the white clergymen 's stance on his non-violent organization. In the tense racial south, Martin Luther King Jr. made a brave choice to speak out about the injustice occurring in the city of Birmingham, and explained his steps on how it should be fixed, and displayed the purpose of why it needed to be stopped, or else the frightful actions towards the African-American community will not only continue to flood in the streets of Birmingham, it would continue in the rest of the world. As he discussed these broad discussions, King managed to use rhetorical devices throughout his letter, as well as establish different modes of persuasion.

Martin Luther King Jr. discusses the advantages and purposes for his theory of nonviolent direct action in his Letter From Birmingham City Jail. He shows four basic steps that must be taken to achieve nonviolent action. They include 1) collection of facts to determine whether injustices are alive; 2) negotiation; 3) self-purification; and 4) direct action. Each of these steps will be explained as part of King's argument later in this essay. The main purpose of a nonviolent campaign is to force any community to confront a problem rather than refuse to negotiate or face a specific issue. In the letter, King discusses his group's reasons for coming to Birmingham.

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” emphasizes the need for civil disobedience when faced with unjust laws. This idea contradicts Socrates’ claim made in Crito, that one must follow the law under all circumstances. In this paper, I will argue that Socrates is not a proponent of civil disobedience based on King’s definition of civil disobedience and Socrates’ charges. Moreover, I will argue that both Socrates and King disagree with one another based on the concept of civil disobedience—breaking the law and rejecting certain ideals.

In Martin Luther King Jr.’s , “ Letter from Birmingham Jail”, King responds to the judgments of a group of clergymen , after King 's arrest, by writing a letter explaining why the clergymen 's judgments were wrong. In his letter, king brings very reasonable and valid points that challenge the judgments of the ministers. The main arguments that king makes would be the reason of his existence in Birmingham, white power structure and its racial injustice, and finally why negotiation has brought up impatience and little to no solutions. The overall structure of King’s letter was well organized and the letter delivered valid explanations as to why the clergymen 's judgments were wrong and why it is that action had to be taken in order to grasp the attention needed to settle the conflicts of racial injustice the black community in Birmingham was facing.

In his letter, “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, Dr. Martin Luther King Junior uses a didactic tone to inform his audience, eight critical clergy members, that direct action and peaceful protests are the only solution to racial segregation-a moral dilemma. This letter comes after Martin Luther was apprehended by police and confined in a jail cell due to an “extreme” peaceful protest against racist ideals. The didactic tone utilized in the letter can be characterized by Luther’s diction, language, and imagery.

Aristotle, a famous philosopher once said: “ It is absurd to hold that a man ought to be ashamed of being unable to defend himself with his limbs but not of being unable to defend himself with speech and reason, when the use of reason is more distinctive of a human being than the use of his limbs” (Aristotle). He believed that rhetoric was more powerful than fists would ever be. Another man, a very influential social activist, shared the same ideals, preaching to his people to fight for their freedom with words and not their fists. Martin Luther King Jr. used the power of rhetoric during the civil rights movement to gain equality for the black community. MLK was a master of rhetoric and used his knowledge of proper arguments to sway the