King 's Letter From Birmingham Jail

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a key figure in the civil rights movements that took place in the 1950s and 1960s. The “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” is an open letter written by King defending nonviolent resistance against racism. The letter argued that people have a moral responsibility to break unjust and unethical laws. The letter also stresses themes of unity among brothers in order to overcome racism. I will argue in support of King’s stance that citizens are morally justified in breaking unjust laws and that openly and responsibly opposing unjust laws is itself a duty of every citizen.

Martin Luther King Jr. skillfully uses ethos throughout his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” In paragraph two, he establishes credibility by writing, “I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference." The SCLC is a legitimate organization that has organized nonviolent resistance against racism in the south, and by saying that he leads this group King is implying that he is in a position to where he can be trusted. Throughout the letter King repeatedly establishes his ethos to his target audience, the white clergymen from “A Call for Unity”, by referencing to important biblical figures such as Jesus Christ and Apostle Paul. In paragraph three, King compares his work on the Civil Rights Movement with the

Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” is directed towards the clergymen, although America is his audience, King had come to Birmingham to address the segregation problem in the United States. He refuses to stay silent, even though people told him to wait for the change to happen. King is a part of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference that has many organizations across the South. He felt that he has a right to be in Birmingham because his organizations have connections with it. King believes in peaceful and nonviolent protests although policemen and many other people used violent and brutal tactics against him and his people. Martin Luther King Jr. argues that people of other races should be more accepting of him

As an African American growing up in a multi-generational household I appreciated the stories my grandparents told me about the Civil Rights Movement through their eyes. They acknowledged that Martin Luther King was not just for people of color; but all human beings who were being treated unjustly. He is known for many speeches, but The Letter from a Birmingham Jail” written in 1963 was phenomenal in my opinion; this letter, written in response to “A Call for Unity,”(Carpenter et. el, 1963 ) an article written by eight, white, Alabama clergymen, was to serve as a response to those who believed that King acted inappropriately for coming to Birmingham, Alabama, as an outsider, for creating immense tension with his demonstrations, and for the inopportune timing of his marches. Even though, the clergymen agreed that social injustice did exist, it was their opinion that these types of matter should be handled in the judicial system rather than in the streets.

In Martin Luther King Jr.’s , “ Letter from Birmingham Jail”, King responds to the judgments of a group of clergymen , after King 's arrest, by writing a letter explaining why the clergymen 's judgments were wrong. In his letter, king brings very reasonable and valid points that challenge the judgments of the ministers. The main arguments that king makes would be the reason of his existence in Birmingham, white power structure and its racial injustice, and finally why negotiation has brought up impatience and little to no solutions. The overall structure of King’s letter was well organized and the letter delivered valid explanations as to why the clergymen 's judgments were wrong and why it is that action had to be taken in order to grasp the attention needed to settle the conflicts of racial injustice the black community in Birmingham was facing.

Civil disobedience as identified by Martin Luther King is a form of direct action, and an outright refusal to conform to laws as a form of protest. Martin Luther King addresses this method of resistance in his text, “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. Martin Luther King Jr personally drafted the text as a response to criticisms made in a statement by clergymen whom apposed King’s nonviolent methods of resistance to continuous issues of racism occurring in Birmingham, Alabama. As expressed by King and described in his text, civil disobedience should meet certain criteria to be considered so. One of these criteria is that the law being disobeyed should be unjust. Also, according to King, this direct action should be non-violent, as this was the basis of his teachings. Furthermore, the individual should be aware of consequences, and willingly accept them as he/she performs this act of civil disobedience. Finally, there must be no alternative to this act, meaning that some form of protest must have been attempted in the past, to no avail. Consequently, the only alternative would be to break the unjust law at hand. Martin Luther King executed this form of action in his efforts to challenge racism in Birmingham Alabama. Similarly, famous fighter Muhammad Ali used the same tactic in order to achieve justice decades later. Muhammad Ali bravely refused to be drafted during the Vietnam war because of his religious beliefs and was therefore convicted of violating the selective service laws.

1.In the letter “Letter From Birmingham Jail” Dr.King is making the charge. The charge that he is making is that if the church does not get it together, no one is going to take the church seriously.

In King's Letter from Birmingham Jail, he states he was lead to ponder on the question "All Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but is it possible that you are in too great of a religious hurry?" Support in obtaining equal rights for the cause of peace and brotherhood is the role King believes the church should play regarding social justice issues due to the essence of time. I agree with King’s perspective.

“The letters from birmingham jail” is a very inspiring piece, it inspired me to want to know more about my roots and learn what actually happened to black people and why. Martin luther King states that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” by that i think he means that black people are a threat to justice any and everywhere and white people often diminished black people’s importance because of their skin color. " the letter from Birmingham Jail" is an emotional letter addressing the issues and critics of white clergymen thrown at him and his black American staff about his non-violent demonstration actions against injustice and racial discrimination among black Americans in Birmingham. King addresses those that were discriminative

In the year of 1963, when racial discrimination was evident in the community, Dr. King delivered two of his most noted works called the “I have a Dream” speech and “Letter from Birmingham Jail” to the public. These two pieces, quickly following each other in succession, were literary works of Dr. King devoted to the cause of racial equality and used eclectic devices and appeals to achieve that goal. King’s purpose bolstered in his “Letter” and “Dream” speech by key rhetorical devices are supported by audience oriented diction and appeals.

In both the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luthor King Jr. and “Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria” by Beverly Daniel Tatum, race relations are a main topic. While King writes about the effects and injustices of segregation, Beverly writes about the causes of self-segregation. These two works have a few things in common that is discussed, such as the inferiority complex that may stem from the segregation, racism and segregation cause mistrust and contempt, and racism is the cause for segregation. These three things are common between the two works, while King writes about the injustice’s taking place, and the urgency to take action in order to fix the problem. Beverly shows that while minor compared to the past, racism still effects the way black kids act and grow.

All three works by Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. narrow their purpose of their piece on fighting against social injustice by using the rhetorical skills contained in They say, I say to provide legitimate, persuasive, and well thought out arguments.

A way King tried to convey the end of inequality was through direct actions. In "Letter from Birmingham Jail," King states: "So must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood" (Mandell, 414). This illustrates his concept of direct action in order to communicate to the community the need to end inequality. King’s approach of direct action shows him taking a stance of the inequality of African Americans.

As an African American growing up in a multi-generational household I appreciated the stories my grandparents told about Martin Luther King fight for civil rights for human being; regardless of the color of your color. He is known for many speeches but one of his most profound letter called “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” was written while he was sitting in solitary confinement jail cell. The foundation for the letter is to address statements made by eight white Alabama clergymen against King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) during their protesting in Birmingham. The clergymen agreed that that social injustice existed and should be handled in the judicial system rather than the streets. King took the time to address

While in jail, King wrote the famous Letter From Birmingham Jail. In this letter he addressed the criticisms people had about the Civil Rights movement and what was taking place. He sheds light on the “nonviolent action” that created tension, but that needed to be done in order for change to happen. He stated that nonviolent action would create necessary tension that would make the oppressors notice. King explains that tension isn’t necessarily a bad thing and it doesn’t have to be violent; instead he believed that there was a kind of “nonviolent tension” necessary for the growth of the nation. There was already tension but it was not talked about or brought up. King explained that the way to bring this tension to the surface was through the