Nonviolent Direct Action In Martin Luther King's Letter From Birmingham Jail

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.

Martin Luther King’s adherence towards peace and especially social justice is clearly shown in “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” In this letter King writes with passion and conviction. Through this suggestive yet powerful letter Martin Luther King uses various rhetorical devices to get his point across by saying “justice too long delayed, is justice denied.” Through the clergymen’s arguments and use of ethos, pathos, and logos, he demonstrates to them that they need to take action immediately.

:"Letter from Birmingham Jail" is a powerful piece of writing that graces the writings by Martin Luther. Part of the power lies in the use of rhetorical devices such as ethos, logos, and pathos in the letter. Luther used these stylistic devices and literary approaches to express his message, intention and express the mood of the letter making a masterpiece like no other letters before.

In his correspondence to his fellow clergymen entitled “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” King, a promoter of peace and brotherhood, analyzes his act of non-violent resistance to clarify the necessitate of producing creative tension. King begins by elucidating the differences between just and unjust laws. According to King, unjust laws are human laws that are not harmonized with the natural laws of God that cause the degradation of personality and damage the soul. According to this ideology, King states that when injustice occurs there is a correct approach to civil disobedience. First, King expects one to collect information regarding the immoral implication of law with the intent of proving injustice. This requires one to be able to distinguish between the laws of man and the laws of good, the immoral laws and moral laws, the unjust laws and just laws. Next, negotiation is used to establish an understanding of the endured injustice; however, this purpose is not to humiliate or defeat the adversary, but to promote friendship through a form of selfless and spiritual love known as agape. As Martin Luther King Jr. points out, “It is an overflowing love which seeks noting in return. And when you come to love on this level you begin to love men not because they are likeable, not because they do things that attract us, but because God loves them and here we love the person who does the evil deed while hating the deed that the person does” (“Non-violence” 2).

In his letter to the clergy he justified the use of ‘nonviolent direct action’ as tactical means to bringing parties together to negotiate. He vehemently condemned all forms of violent action but insisted that it was strategic and constructive to employ the nonviolent tension as a powerful alternate to negotiation. Similarly, Dr. King Jr. stressed to his audience in his momentous speech in Washington DC, that the desire to attain set goal must not be tainted by any acts of retaliation and cautioned the crowd to avoid the temptation of being ‘guilty of wrong doing”. He emphasized the importance of adhering to strict discipline and conducting their struggle in the highest form of respect for human dignity.

     Martin Luther King Jr. writes the Clergymen that have written him a letter disputing his actions in Birmingham. King is disturbed and offended by the Clergymen disagreeing with his purpose in Birmingham. King say he normally does not respond to criticism because it would waste to much precious time, but since these were men of good will he wanted to give his answers to their statements. In King's letter he appeals to many emotions as pathos, ethos, and logos to appeal to his audience.

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.

Injustice is a big problem in today’s society. Martin Luther King wrote the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in which he addressed many forms of injustices that was present then and continue to be present in today’s world. Martin Luther King did a lot of things that still effect today. He got in trouble for some things as well; such as like protesting how blacks were treated. He was arrested and was sent to Birmingham City Jail. He wrote a letter to defend the strategies of nonviolent resistance to racism. He employs the use of pathos, ethos, and logos to support his argument that nonviolence resistance is definitive. Based on the pathos, ethos, and logos present in this letter, the article is overall effective to this argument.

After being arrested and imprisoned in Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote one of his most famous works to the people of Birmingham, titled “Letter From Birmingham Jail on April 16, 1963. This piece speaks of the evils of the segregation laws and how the blacks had been treated unfairly in Birmingham, in an attempt to get the white people to support the desegregation of Birmingham. He had been imprisoned because of his participation in a civil disobedience protest, and he is arguing that, even though the white people of Birmingham see the black’s way of protesting as wrong, it is a justified way to fight back against the unjust laws. In “Letter From Birmingham

However, after King demonstrated how a law is unjust, he makes his position clear concerning breaking laws. King was aware of his audiences' "disproval" of breaking laws. According to King in this letter he doesn't advocate evading or defying the law, and he found it very important that his audience see these facts clearly. It is critical for King to

Today, the word disobedience carries a negative connotation that acts as a deterrent for necessary disobedience. The common way in which people view disobedience is as a rejection of a rule, law, or a simple standard. Historically, rules were implemented in ways that were deemed immoral by society. Therefore, civil disobedience is justified to combat immoral standards implemented in society. However, civil disobedience is only justified under these circumstances, mainly for the betterment of society. Historic figures such as Rosa Parks, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. all acted civilly disobedience, but society benefitted from their movements. Civil disobedience is the underlying theme of Sophocles’ Antigone and Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter From Birmingham Jail. The main character of Sophocles’ Antigone, Antigone, acts civil disobedience, just as Dr. King acted civilly disobedient. Both Antigone and Martin Luther King Jr. fought to gain justice for the people who they believed were denied the rights of society. Although Antigone believes she is fighting for a just cause, she acts civilly disobedient by advocating for a traitor to society, deeming her civil disobedience unjust. Martin Luther King Jr., in contrast, did fight for a just cause by advocating for equal rights of all persons, which justifies his civil disobedience.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a protester and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement, greatly known for his use of nonviolent forms of demonstration. On a specific occasion, King was arrested for leading a peaceful protest as part of the Birmingham Campaign, which attempted to bring national awareness to the gruesome treatment endured by blacks. While in jail, King replies to the clergyman’s remarks of him being a foreign agitator in his “Letter from a Birmingham jail,” passionately defending the actions he took. The clergymen accused King of being an extremist, as they saw his relentless protesting and civil disobedience as a threat to a stable political and social system. In paragraphs 27-32, King attempts to persuade the

Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1965) is important from both historical and sociological points of view. It is an example of self-sacrifice as in idea for the of equality of all people. Formally, King addresses this letter that he wrote while in Birmingham jail at the clergymen who opposed his protests. In fact, he applies it to everyone who approves of racism, and considers the methods of nonviolent struggle to be too radical and far fetched from achieving an actual goal. From a sociological point of view, the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” shows the way of nonviolent adjustment of the social conflict and stages of this way: “collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist negotiation; self-purification; and direct action” (MLK np.). Martin Luther King was the first person in western history to show that you can achieve change without going into violent measures. While taking a sociological viewpoint and following two of its major theories. It is conceivable to say that King’s method of nonviolent direct action was the leading motive in the civil rights movement, which allowed for change.

Sometimes in order to change something for good, one must or many must do what’s wrong but must be willing to face the consequences that come with it. Not consequences for doing illegal acts of demonstrations but instead for doing what they were being advised to not do. “Letter from Birmingham Jail“by Martin Luther King Jr., he states that there are four basic steps in a non-violent campaign. Kings says they are “collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist, negotiation, self-purification, and direct action.”(King) In the letter he also explains why direct action can be effective, he says “Non-violent 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

In Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from Birmingham jail”, King talks about his imprisonment for his involvement in a nonviolent protest and defends his rights and moral grounds for organizing nonviolent protest activities. In this essay, I will look at his views on nonviolent protest and how they differ from todays violent protests.