Dr. King 's Letter From Birmingham Jail

The 1960s was a time when skin color was crucial, hate was inevitable, and where actions and words were uniform. Although accused of being an outsider, Martin Luther King Jr. was able to demonstrate his strengths and powerful influence even while confined in the walls of the Birmingham jail. The racial issues were addressed through his compelling and impassioned letter in reply to the eight prominent Alabama clergymen. Even during a time of racial injustice, King was able to establish many rhetorical strategies throughout his piece, specifically throughout paragraphs 45-50. Establishing logos and utilizing diction and syntax, are the three essential aspects that Martin Luther King Jr. used in order to portray the true message to the reader.

The year is 1963, the date April 16th. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr is sitting in his cell in Birmingham, Alabama writing what we know today as the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. In this 12 page letter, found in Writing Arguments a Rhetoric with Readings by John Ramage, John Bean, and June Johnson, Dr. King describes his outrage and disappointment with society and finally his want for society to recognize racial prejudice. In his letter, he uses Pathos, or emotional appeal, ethos, appeal to authority/reputation, and logos, appeal to logic, to help with his argument. Dr. King uses a lot of emotional appeal and diction when writing his argument so that he could appeal to his intended audience as best he could.

“The church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.” Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 1963. This quote from Rev. King, Jr. most of the time is linked to his defense of the strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism; but Rev King, Jr was first a Pastor and a Preacher! I chose this opening because Rev King despite being jailed for protesting, loved the church, just like apostles Paul, Silas, Peter, and many others. Despite their circumstances and being able to prophecy their future, they still loved the church and wanted it to better itself. Rev. King spoke about his love for the church very strongly in this letter and in this letter how he came from a legacy of preachers (father, grandfather and great grandfather), so he had seen the good and the bad in the church. So now in the 21st century, has the church, specifically

In the letter, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 16, 1963, Dr. King is answering criticism from white clergy men. King stumbled upon a statement in a newspaper while in jail and felt the need to write on it. He did it to explain why he was in jail. After all Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is a nonviolent protestor. Kings says “I am in Birmingham because in justice is here.” Dr. King wants to see a change. This paper will examine King’s uses of rhetorical devices to appeal to his audience. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s letter “Letter from Birmingham Jail” reveals all three rhetorical appeals. It appeals to ethos, logos and pathos.

The use of just laws was first abided by Dr. King in his “Letter From Birmingham Jail.” In this letter, he mentions the necessity of just laws in society and how individuals are morally obliged to follow them. He also makes a clear distinction between “just” and “unjust” laws, further advocating his beliefs. Dr. King defines the two different laws in his interpretation of what they actually mean in society. A just law is a human-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. In other words, a law that can uplift the personality of an individual is a law that is just. Also, citizens also have their moral responsibility in a constitutional democratic society to obey and abide by the laws of the country. In comparison to just

Dr. King wrote this letter in the Birmingham jail, during that time there was a nonviolent campaing. King audience was an open letter to the public, and to response to a public statement of the eight white leaders of the south and clergymen. The purposed of this letter was to inform the clergymen of his remorse that the demonstration was taking place in Birmingham. King felt,“that the white community power structure left the African American community with no alternative.”. King uses rhetorical strategies such as ethos, logo, and pathos to prove his argument.

From 1882-1968, 4,743 lynchings occurred in the United States (NAACP). African Americans accounted for 72.2% of recorded lynchings, yet close to none of these lynchings were ever brought justice. Racial injustice was a huge issue until the mid-late twentieth century, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was one of the first documents to address the issue. It is one of history’s most important documents regarding racial injustice, as it is considered a classic document of the civil-rights movement. King wrote the letter while he was in jail for parading without a permit, one of 29 misdemeanor offences King was arrested for (history.com). He wrote it in response to a previous letter from eight southern white

In Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech, King makes use of an innumerable amount of rhetorical devices that augment the overall understanding and flow of the speech. King makes the audience feel an immense amount of emotion due to the outstanding use of pathos in his speech. King also generates a vast use of rhetorical devices including allusion, anaphora, and antithesis. The way that King conducted his speech adds to the comprehension and gives the effect that he wants to rise above the injustices of racism and segregation that so many people are subjected to on a daily basis.

Often times in letters or passages, authors analyze strengths and weaknesses often know as rhetorical analysis. In Martin Luther King Junior’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, he uses terms of artistic appeal by utilizing ethos, pathos, and logos to demonstrate his claim. Martin Luther King Jr. utilizes personal experiences and events to therefore convince the clergyman to stop the segregation occurring and to increase the public use of nonviolent campaigning.

Meanwhile, in 1963 King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), continued to fight for civil rights but this time they marched to Birmingham, Alabama. Birmingham was the worst city for the blacks in the south. King went to the city’s leaders and demanded that they change the laws about public places being segregated, but the leaders of Birmingham refused to change. Many blacks were afraid to protest because they were scared that they would end up in jail. King responded with, “If the road to freedom leader through the jailhouse … then, turnkey, swing wide the gates!” (Hakim 18). On April 12, 1963 King led a march down the streets of Birmingham. They headed towards City Hall, but never made it because the police stopped the

The year 1963 is a year of civil unrest in the United States of America’s history. 1963 is the year in which Doctor Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech in the front of the Lincoln memorial in Washington, D. C. Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech uses many rhetorical devices to enhance the effectiveness of his message which states his want for freedom and racial equality for African Americans. Three rhetorical devices stand out prominently: imagery, allusion, and anaphora.

Dr. King was arrested in 1963 in the struggle for civil rights for African-Americans. “The Letter from Birmingham Jail”, written a few days after King’s arrest, defended Dr. King’s argument about the civil rights movement. He uses the pathos, ethos, and logos modes of persuasion and uses several rhetorical strategies such as metaphors, citing authority, parallelism, Rogerian strategy, and anaphora to defend his argument against racism and segregation.

It’s August 28, 1963. The sun beats down on the hot streets of Washington D.C. as over 250,000 protesters sit or stand as close as sardines; watching, starring, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. goes up to a pedestal and proceeds to speak a speech that will resonate in this country for years to come. Dr. King wrote his “I Have a Dream” speech for the March on Washington for which he presented his speech in front of thousands of Civil Rights protesters and activists. In this exhortation, Dr. King beats down the issues of human rights, Jim Crow laws, and racism with the rhetorical strategies of metaphors, anaphoras, and ethos.

On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr delivered one of the most moving speeches in American history. His powerful oration was characterized by bold statements that provoked deep thought and recollection among members of his audience and the nation as a whole. In his “I Have a Dream” speech, Dr. King employs anaphora, allusions and strong metaphors and imagery to address the issue of racial injustice and mobilize the people towards a common cause.

When informing Americans across the nation of his dream, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. proposed an unforgettable speech that would one day change The United States of America forever. In analyzing “I Have a Dream”, there are a few rhetorical purposes that are reflected throughout. These purposes are repeatedly focusing in on a particular audience in which King speaks to. Using different types of appeals and literary elements, his speech produced a meaningful purpose that the audience could relate to.