Letter From Birmingham Jail Analysis

Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the “Letter From Birmingham Jail” on April 16, 1963 and it began a huge transformation for the Civil Rights Movement. In his letter he is basically responding to an advertisement from the Birmingham news. He was extremely reasonable and modest all throughout his letter. He goes into great detail about how even though the protestors at the movement were breaking federal laws but, their actions obeyed the moral law. When he said this in his letter he was referring to St. Augustine because he says “An unjust law is no law at all”. (King Jr., para.14). It was a nonviolent campaign and there were 4 basic steps being followed, “collection of facts to determine whether injustices

Example, quote, detail, or fact from the text:Kings notions that a person who breaks an unjust law that restricts people of their said rights is in fact respecting the law and providing justice.

Many barriers can evolve from people who grow up with no formal education, who only speaking their local dialect, and who have little exposure to people who are different from them. Ethnic people who can acquire a formal education, practice biculturalism, and code switch are able to be much more successful in life. It is a well-known fact that having a formal education has a major impact on a person’s earning potential and life success. Needing to understand and navigate cultures other than one’s own culture is another critical life skill. This is common thread of Dr. King, Fredrick Douglas, Amy Tan’s and myself.

As more people are exposed to the arguments of these protesters, pressure mounds onto the government to see the problem and respond to it. In fact, in the Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. stated that “not … a single gain in civil rights [was made] without determined legal and nonviolent pressure.” Additionally, these individuals are not negatively affecting society because they express the utmost respect for the law and advocate for change peacefully while fully accepting the consequences of their actions. They risk enduring denunciation by the media and being labeled as radicals by others. King describes the process of a nonviolent campaign in his Letter from Birmingham Jail: “collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action.” The self-purification aspect of the nonviolent campaign emphasized an acceptance of the consequences that come with breaking the law such as “[accepting] blows without retaliating” and “[enduring] the ordeals of jail.” The right to peaceful protest respectfully allows these individuals to express their concerns and influence other people with their ideas.

In the early 1960s, Birmingham was, culturally and forced by police, one of the most racially divided cities in the United States. Blacks did not have the same legal and economic rights as their white brethren. When attention was drawn to this issue, they were faced with violent responses. It was conceivably the most segregated city in the country. Protests began to form to fight for equal chance of employment at businesses and to end segregation in public places such as stores and schools. Sit-ins were soon organized after the failed protests to produce a copious amount of arrests and draw the country's attention towards Birmingham. Shortly after, the amount of adults to take part in the sit-ins fell harshly and there were new volunteers. High school and college students rose to the occasion and took part in passively fighting for their rights. With the addition of the students also came many of the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference). Among those who came with the SCLC was a very important guest. One who was jailed, had an article criticizing himself and his methods, and was able to produce a letter in which he responded to the writers of the article while incarcerated. This man

For over a century, the topic of racial equality has been one that has resulted in much discord, and even a war. The African Americans, one of the most persecuted races in America, were forced to work as slaves and were repeatedly separated from the white people because they had a different skin color. After much effort, slavery was outlawed after the Civil War by the Emancipation Proclamation, but segregation still lived on. Blacks continued to be singled out and given unequal rights, such as not being allowed to attend the same school or drink from the same water fountain as a white person. This was soon prohibited, but not completely abolished, after Martin Luther King Jr. led non violent direct action, such as marches and protests, to demonstrate to the government

“Letter from Birmingham Jail” are a noteworthy and rare series of Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter addressing the negative responses towards the Good Friday demonstration led by King and over fifty other civil rights protestors and leaders. Martin Luther King Jr. has never to be known to respond to criticism about his beliefs, teachings, and actions, however in this letter he approaches the clergymen in a Birmingham newspaper that address his peaceful walk through Birmingham, Alabama as “unwise and untimely.” King is known for his powerful and moving speeches that have motivated thousands to stand up for justice and their rights, which does not fail to come across in this letter. Even with his lack of materials and constant smuggling from in

My mind begins to think crazy. Heart beats fast as if I was running. I started to wonder is this really what life is about ? Will people stand up for what's right? When I read Martin Luther Kings, Jr. “Letter from Birmingham Jail” , I started to realize you have to stand up for what you believe is right. King was standing up for what's right and for justice and was put in jail for it. He stated that “ I came across your recent statement calling my present activity “unwise and untimely”,” (King, 2017, p. 411). King (2017) responded “Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas” (p. 411). The clergymen did not feel that King was supposed to be in this town saying that “ However, we are now confronted by a series of demonstrations by some of our Negro citizens, directed and led in part by outsiders” (Alabama, 1963). King was a clergyman himself, he didn’t think that he was wrong and he felt like it need to be done. King stated he was in Birmingham because “ injustice was here” (King, 2017, p. 412). Many people don’t believe that justice should be served. Totally opposite to Martin Luther King’s Jr. leadership, President Trump is not a leader of equality nor non - violence.

We must be careful not to mistake for civil disobedience what is actually all too often these days, rather uncivil disobedience, in the forms of riots and looting and other forms of criminal conduct that sometimes takes place in the course of large-scale protests and demonstrations that get out of hand. The modern fathers of civil disobedience as a method of political expression and change are, of course, Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King, in the 1950s and 1960s, convinced hundreds and thousands of black Americans to peacefully agitate towards full legal and political equality in the United States. Both men -- and their followers -- faced police and military might and ruthlessness, and both suffered imprisonment, and worse, for their efforts. His followers and supporters, endured tremendous brutality and degradation, but instead of responding in the way they were being treated, they reacted peacefully, offering themselves as living sacrifices for the causes in which they believed.

From Cherokee Indians refusing to abandon their homes in 1838 to the Sit-ins of the civil rIghts movement in the early 1960s, people have been using acts of civil disobedience to stand against injustice they saw in their communities. Although there are many examples of people abusing this benefit and causing more grief and shame than progress, many have used it to their advantage to bring about positive change for the greater good of society, therefore acts of civil disobedience can positively impact a free society if they remain peaceful, respectful, and justified.

Place yourself in the shoes of someone who is not allowed to sit down on a public bus,; who is not permitted to stay in certain motels,; who is not tolerated in the “white only” family amusement park,; that was the painful impediment that African Americans of the 1960’s faced solely due to the melanin in their skin (King 2). Among these African Americans was the reverend, doctor, humanist, husband, and Civil Rights activist, Mr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King was a middle class, black man with a life-long devotion of implementing ethnic equality to African Americans nationwide. Following one of Rev. King’s peaceful protests in Birmingham, Alabama, he was jailed on accounts of “parading without a permit” (King

On the eve of Martin Luther King day, the topic of civil disobedience seems particularly relevant. Civil disobedience is the method in which we, in the words of Dr. King, from his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, “present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the local and the national community”.

Martin Luther King Jr to devote their life’s to practice civil disobedience to achieve their goal. Practicing such act can costs its leader their life’s (M.LK), imprisonment (Nelson Mandela), or exile (Martin Luther). In addition, it takes generation after generation to feel the progress their ancestors have started. Without the great minds that stand up for us, we would all be slaves today. Nowadays, the powerful that rule us are getting weaker and weaker thanks to historical figures who stood against them. Civil disobedience is in a man’s natural instinct, when unalienable rights become violated/removed, then individuals will stand up and fight for them. Disobedience has the greatest effect when it is done in peaceful terms, rather than by the sword. Gandhi is a perfect example for this practice. He led millions of Hindus to peacefully resist against the all mighty British army. He simply sat down and waited for the results to happen, which they did, India received its independence. In today’s society, disobedience is approached the improper way and instead of progressing, these so called leaders are losing its followers and diminishing the value of disobedience.

Another prominent user of civil disobedience was Mahatma Gandhi, who protested the British Raj in India. Gandhi led a policy of “non-cooperation” with British officials from 1920 until early 1922, which landed him in jail for sedition. He later led his famous Salt March and was arrested several more times for leading non-violent movements against the oppressive British rule before India gained its independence. In both cases positive change occurred from resistance to establish laws, in one case helping a group gain equal status in society and the other creating a new, free

The famous Montgomery bus boycott was established in December 5, 1955 by Martin Luther King, along with other black leaders. The boycott was a very accurate representation of civil disobedience. They ran protest which refused to obey certain laws, but doing it peacefully. Martin broke the law by marching against segregation, and because of this he was thrown in jail. (Freedman 71) Segregation was invading the 14th amendment which did not give blacks as much of a privilege as whites had. Rosa