It's because they are human beings

Within this quote there are multiple metaphors that help bolden King’s thoughts: “crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination,” “island of poverty,” and “vast ocean of material prosperity.” These metaphors explain how it still felt nearly impossible to end discrimination, and how Negroes are on their own with no support. The use of the metaphors display a deeper and stronger meaning to the topics that King was passionate about. These rhetorical devices brought to the non-colored portion of the audience’s attention of how difficult the life of a Negro was and that freeing the slaves one hundred years ago was not enough.

In paragraphs 12-14 of “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, Dr. King begins addressing the clergymen’s belief that the peaceful demonstrations conducted by him and his associates were untimely. King starts answering questions frequently heard by opposing or moderate forces, as well as essentially denouncing the resistance to desegregation. King then introduced the relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed; concluding that the oppressor is not inclined to act on things that do not directly affect them. Therefore, providing a platform of his argument as to why blacks could no longer wait to be given their basic human rights. Action needed to take place because fair treatment was no longer a hope to be given, it had to be taken.

King’s use of many rhetorical devices in these three paragraphs of “Letter from Birmingham Jail” solidify his conviction that segregation needs to be quelled immediately. Dr. King’s explanations justify the demonstrations and protests that he is participating in. Although this was a letter meant for clergymen, Dr. King simultaneously taught all of America a very important lesson: justice is a universal natural right, and when it is denied, it needs to be demanded. Racial equality is the form of justice in this case, as segregation was the culprit that divided society into two racial groups. Thus, Dr. King successfully advocated civil rights through this letter with powerful, clever

Blackmon provides many stories in his book about what the slaves to forced laborers went through and how they felt about the new so called “freedom” they gained. The Black Americans prior to the Emancipation Proclamation have never seen the slightest clue to what freedom could even feel like. “Some of the old slaves said they too weren’t sure what “freedom” really was”

King brings up several emotions in his letter. King uses his children and how they ask him why the white men are so mean and why can’t they do what the other kids do, and how he would have to concoct an answer for his five year old son on why colored people are treated like trash. This is very sad on how a father has to explain to his kids why they can’t do anything and why they are called niggers instead of their first name, while the women aren’t even granted the respect of being called “Mrs.”. Imagine telling your child that they couldn’t do anything just because they were different. King also appeals to his beliefs in God, often quoting bible verses such as “I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus”(6) referring to how Jesus was whipped just like the black men were for standing up for his beliefs or his people.

Martin Luther King lived in a time where Negro people were faced with a multitude of social injustices. King was actively participating in passive protests opposing the laws which upheld these injustices. In his “Letter From Birmingham Jail” King replies to the criticism of eight clergymen, who called him and his companions extremists and law breakers (King 187). In his letter of response, King both shows his disappointment with these men, as well as plead with them to see his side. King wants his letter to make the clergymen to look past his skin color and simply see him as a brother in the church.

The main porpuse of Mr. King writing to the prest is to addres the fact of segragation and what the priest and pasters are doing to kill the Jim Crow laws and segragation in all states. This letter that King wrote while in Jail had a great effect in the future giving not only the Preist and Pasters a different point of veiw but also rascist white people. In the Letter he stated that he dreds having to explain to his four year old daughter that they cant go to Fun Land because black and white people are seperated fdue to segregation. This quote in the letter was proof that doing so

After the Revolutionary War, America proclaimed all men were created equally; however, this freedom did not include African Americans. African Americans, subjected to slavery and segregation, were viewed as subspecies. They were inferior to white Americans who unfairly ruled this country. Martin Luther King wrote the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” to his fellow white clergy man, addressing his views on injustice. King writes this historical document, while unjustly jailed, to inform the public about sacrifices and hardships faced by African Americans throughout history and the civil rights movement. He urges for immediate change. Through his use of pathos, logos, and ethos, King successfully establishes himself as a significant figure who voiced

Martin Luther King wrote the “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” after an unfair proposal made by white clergymen. Their claims were that no negro should be allowed to establish or lead any protests. King replied directly to the clergymen, but used religious ties to establish himself as legitimate authority in the eyes of his audience, to show the inconveniences of black people in America, to justify his cause, and to argue the necessity of the immediate action. In the passage King used both ethos and pathos.

The primary purpose of Dr. King’s eloquent and dramatically delivered speech is that of persuasion. King’s claim is the Negro people are still not free one hundred years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. This warrant is supported by King’s effective emotional appeal to his African American audience. He supports this with the following: "but one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free.” This is emotional because after one hundred years of oppression, the African American community has still not achieved their cultural and economic potential according to King. He is endeavoring to persuade his audience, fellow minorities and

King did not hesitate to declare his distaste for a certain group by stating “the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice” (80). In this statement, King was acknowledging the way many whites who claimed they were in the movement to assist, were really there to shut the noise up and avoid conflict. In so many words King stated, he could not sit idly and allow injustice to be swept under the rug by these so-called peacemakers, and believed the white moderate was hurting more than helping the forwarding of the movement. King was also frustrated with people within the group he so lovingly was fighting for. King spoke about having two upsets when it came to African Americans. “One is a force of complacency… The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously closed on advocating violence” (81). These statements were used to point out that some blacks were accepting the fate placed on them by the superior whites to be impoverished and denied rights while others were so furious with the system in its current state they were willing to go further than the peaceful protests currently held and take justice into their own hands through violence, King was hurt by the current state of his people and felt something needed to

Continuously throughout his speech, King refers to the movement for freedom as a beacon of light. It is something the people of America should follow as it promises hope for the future. Also, King compares the racial injustices to burning fire by saying “seared in the flames of withering injustice”. The use of powerful words such as “seared” and “flames” really stand out to the listeners and gives them a sense of pain and despair, helping them to see the wrongdoings of the people who allowed these injustices. King goes on to say “the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty..” giving listeners a sense that African Americans were cast into this imprisonment of injustice, not through their own faults, but through the oppression of others.

Even though freedom has been our nation’s identity for its entire existence, our nation has suffered “dark ages” when the freedoms of African Americans were repressed. During the period of slavery, African Americans were forced to labor under often cruel and gruesome conditions, for their white masters. Solomon Northup, a free man forcefully made a slave, describes his thoughts on slavery in his 12 Years a Slave:

Negro. When people hear or see this word they often either associate it with slavery, racism, or just another term for African American. The word Negro’s origin came from the Spanish and Portuguese in 1442, used to describe Africans that they encountered during their trip to India. But what makes this word so taboo is the fact that in America the word “Negro” has a long history associated with slavery, segregation, and oppression. Those exact words are also what African American’s history here in America mostly consists of. Through some of these horrible times of injustices African Americans had to go through, some historical rebels stood out, one of them being the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who in response wrote an open letter whilst in a Birmingham jail to eight clergymen’s concerns about a demonstration against racial segregation as printed in a local Birmingham, Alabama newspaper. In the clergymen’s letter they call King’s actions “unwise and untimely.” In response King writes a letter which he has carefully and strongly crafted his arguments specifically concerning why he came to Birmingham, why he resorted to demonstration instead of negotiation, why his actions were not untimely, and how breaking the law can be justified.

Perhaps the most controversial topic in American history has been the enslavement of African Americans. In his Independence Day address in 1852, famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass classified slavery as “barbarity and shameless hypocrisy” (Source C). By utilizing words with strong negative connotations, Douglass hoped to fill his audience with shame and inspire them to action against slavery. As a result of the efforts of Frederick Douglass and others, slavery would be abolished in the next decade, marking a major step forward in the quest to restore civil liberties to all. However, civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr believed that America could not be entirely “saved from itself” until the “shackles” of slavery were completely broken (Source A). Within this quote, King referenced the discrimination and segregation that still