preview

Martin Luther King Letter From Birmingham Jail Analysis

Decent Essays

Surname 4 Student's Name: Professor's Name: Course: Date: Martin Luther King’s Letter Martin Luther King signed the message from a Birmingham jail after being arrested for leading demonstrations in the city. Birmingham was the biggest city in Alabama was segregation was openly practiced. In the famous open letter, Martin Luther King was defending his constitutional and moral right to organize nonviolent protests in the city to advocate for the civil rights of African Americans. Martin Luther King famously stated that breaking laws was justified as long as such laws were deemed inhumane or unjust. Although some people disagree with Martin Luther king's letter, many came to believe later that the methods advocated by King were just, and they were meant to protect the civil rights of the African Americans. For instance, Martin Luther King argued …show more content…

The city of Birmingham was the center bed of segregation and racism as the city's mayor had won the election with the promise of continuing with segregation forever. King justifies the move to break the Birmingham laws on segregation because the laws were unjust and were meant to racial abuse the African Americans. As such, the blacks were under no moral or constitutional obligation to follow laws which were meant to make their lives more difficult. Martin Luther king's push to break unjust laws awakened the African Americans in other parts of the United States as they realized that they did not have to follow laws which were meant to segregate them. King led peaceful demonstrations which were meant disrupt the normal operations of the city and push its officials to act on the issue of segregation. Even though he was arrested for such

Get Access