Dr. Martin Luther King

After being jailed in the Birmingham city jail, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist minister who preached nonviolence, wrote this response to a published statement by eight fellow clergymen from Alabama. This letter was not only composed under somewhat constricting circumstances but was written in a way that can be analyzed to be considered as a classic argument. Not only does it contain the five elements needed in a rhetorical situation, but the letter includes the six parts of an argument, the five types of claims, and even the three types of proofs. Dr. King’s letter fully satisfies all requirements needed in order to be considered a classic argument.

In this world, there are a lot of people who showed great courage and tried to make the world a better place. Among these people, one of them is Martin Luther King Jr. He made the world a better place for black citizens by doing non-violence movements and marched the way to freedom.

Martin Luther King, Jr., was a very strong person, constantly fighting for what he believed in, which was equality for African Americans. He was not scared to stand up and tell the world what he wanted for society. He was fearless and did everything in his power to prove a point. Martin Luther King, Jr., was the strongest individual of his time, for he fought until death, which proves how much he was willing to risk his life to make the world an equal place.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was a powerful and eloquent letter that effectively argued the point that segregation is fundamentally unjust and should be fought with nonviolent protest. This letter, through describing the injustice taking place during the civil rights movement also provided some insight about Dr. King’s view of the government in the 1960s. Three mains themes present in Dr. King’s letter were religion, injustice, and racism.

Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the most famous civil rights activists in the history of the United States. He gave several important speeches and promoted non-violent protests. His most famous speech was “I Have A Dream”, around a quarter of a million patrons, black and white, attended this empowering speech at the March on Washington on August 28, 1963. The reason his speech was vastly successful in the movement against segregation and injustice was because of its repetitiveness.

King transcends both the context of present struggle and his listeners. Unlike them, he mk understands the historical situation… he instructs them in the grand strategy of the mmmp Birmingham movement, just as any kindly teacher might attempt to cure the ignorance mmm and elevate the understanding of novice students (Osborn 28). Martin Luther King, Jr. is an expert on the struggle and obviously had the best intentions of his readers in mind while writing. This makes him both reliable and personally involved in spreading the campaign. In his “Letter,” Mr. King refuses to be put in a box, despite the location of his composition. He represents himself as a moral compass; righteous without being arrogant. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s tone and expression are an extravagant part of the letter’s ‘persuasive appeal’ (Leff, Utley 39). Mr. King himself plays an impressive part in making “Letter From Birmingham Jail” extremely effective.

As a result of racist laws that forced blacks to be segregated and refused them their right to peacefully protest, Birmingham, Alabama in the 1960’s, was considered the most racist part of the United States and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. worked towards removing segregation laws from being enforced. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. publicly addressed the issue of racism on a religious, political, and social aspect by addressing his letter to the clergymen, disobeying the law through nonviolent civil disobedience, and expressing disappointment when he did not receive support from the white moderate, respectively. Advocating against the extreme racial injustice in Birmingham, Dr. King’s support of St. Augustine’s belief that “an unjust law is no law at all” caused a controversial debate across the country over who has the authority to decide which laws should be disobeyed (King 3). Although Dr. King addressed his letter to the white clergymen, his target audience was to the entire white moderate of the country whom he hoped would help him gain support in order to change unjust laws that promote segregation and refuse citizens of their First Amendment rights to a peaceful protest (King 4). Dr. King was looking for support from other members of society in order to create an effective change in society’s ethics. Moreover, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s large audience and public movement used nonviolent

Martin Luther King, Jr. was an eloquent speaker and a powerful figure during the Civil Rights Movement. In “Letters from Birmingham Jail,” he uses the classical rhetoric to engage his audience and present his ideas clearly. This particular text was initiated due to the non-violent demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama, which led to the arrest of many African-Americans, including King himself. Although this was not a spoken document, the letter was directed to several targeted audiences: first, the clergymen who wrote “A Call for Unity,” secondly, the “white moderate” (47), and finally, to black men and women across the nation who lacked the initial courage to fight for their rights. Dr. King establishes himself as an authoritative voice

Throughout A Letter From Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. reveals many challenges facing the African American community regarding criticism and racism and that the ultimate goal is to bring equality to America. He provides not only his own option, but reasons to support his thoughts. By finding the ethos, pathos, and logos in the letter, it is clear that this is written so that the form, influences the content of the piece. He wrote this in an honest, logical, and peaceful manner, but wanted to get his point across in a non-violent way in hopes to change people’s views on racism.

Martin Luther King Draws in the readers of his letter with heavy emotion. He describes in great detail the horrific events that occur from racism and segregation. He draws in the Negro people by comforting them and condoling them telling them that everything is going to be all right all they have to do is stay positive and strong. He accomplishes this with his expert use of pathos that draws the nation in like a mouse to a cheese. As well as that he uses emotion in his writing and place of writing. King had been condemned and was sitting in jail at the time that he wrote this. “ Never before have I written I letter so long (or should I say book). I’m afraid that it is much too long to take your precious time. I can assure you that it would have been a lot shorter if I had been writing from a comfortable desk” (King #5). He says that he apologizes it for being so long and that he has never written a letter so long in his life but he is doing this because it needs to be done and apologizes if for being to long but that was just because he is in jail. He also uses emotions ands states that if any information that he has included in this letter that is incorrect or false that he doesn’t mean for it to be. “If I have said anything in this letter that is an overstatement of the truth and is indicative of an unreasonable impatience. I beg you to forgive me” (King

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail is a response to a public statement of caution that was issued by several religious leaders of the South. During the midst of the nonviolent demonstrations against segregation in Birmingham, Dr. King was arrested and felt compelled to respond to their statement as he saw these fellow religious men as sincere and of good nature. In this letter he defends the use of nonviolent resistance to the racism occurring. He states that there is a moral responsibility to break unjust laws when taking direct action, in order to further the cause for justice which does not occur on its own.

Dr. King wrote “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” when he was in jail for holding a desegregation protest in Birmingham, Alabama in April, 1963. As a leader of the civil-right movement, Dr. King found that it was an urgent need to take action in Birmingham where the worse segregation and racism brutality happened. However, Dr. King was criticized by eight clergymen that the protest was an extreme action. The letter was the response from Dr. King to their criticism. This essay will briefly summarizes what the letter was about, then discusses about the main arguments in the letter and why Dr. King’s fighting process was remarkably a great lesson to learn from.

The argument of the letter is that direct action must be taken in specific ways for changes to be brought about. King says that nonviolent action can only be achieved by following four specific steps. The first step he says is to determine if there really are injustices being made towards a certain group. He shows these injustices with examples of violent acts against Negroes including police attacks, bombing of homes and churches, and lynching by mobs. He says that Negroes have been victims of discrimination in their inability to receive the benefits that their white counterparts receive. More have also been in poverty due to prejudices against them. He sees a flourishing, affluent society in which blacks are not allowed to play a role in. King knows that the Negroes are not free and in order for freedom to be gained it must "be demanded" because it "is simply not given". The second step in the process of starting a nonviolent movement is the attempt to negotiate with your oppressors. King spoke with white merchants in Birmingham and asked that racial signs be removed from store windows. These merchants promised

As a child, my first memories with race were when my mother was trying to integrate more Native American representation in my early media. However, the lack of Native American representation in children’s books and movies made her search to find fitting and accurate role models for me difficult. In the end, I only had Disney’s Pocahontas and a series of books about Kaya, an American Girl doll. Although she wanted me to learn more about my Native American heritage, these two examples were the only ones I had of Native Americans. At around the same age, I also learned about racism at school on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The teachers taught us about segregation, the rights that Martin Luther King, Jr. worked to secure for black Americans,

“We are not makers of history, we are made by history”- Martin Luther King Jr.