Martin Luther King And The White House

On April 16, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a compelling letter from a Birmingham jail cell. This letter was to his peers, fellow religious leaders of the local churches who had felt his direct action tactic in their city were of poor taste. He was written a letter from these leaders and King felt a need to respond. Dr. King was a man who was used to being criticized and usually turned the other cheek. In this particular moment, he felt the need to respond to his peers and he did a successful job of addressing their concerns. King was proficient in using descriptive adjectives that provoke emotion and forces the reader to empathize with his points. Most successful was his use of biblical and philosophical reference to support his argument and remind the clergymen of their role and responsibility. King uses a plethora of non-basic words which stresses his level of education, ability to be well-versed and worldly knowledge. His sophisticated use of words definitely makes him a leader to his peers or any adversary that dares question him.

In this book, King is clearly speaking to a contemporary and mostly white audience. And the bulk of the book is devoted to answering the titular question. Time and again he steps out of the narrative to rebut various criticisms from contemporaries who said that his movement was too militant, too extreme, too impractical, too disorganized, too out-of-touch with ordinary people, too disengaged from the political process. The year 1963 marked the 100-year anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and Martin Luther King asks two questions: why should we wait for emancipation? And aware of what White Americans were doing to Black Americans, "What is the Negro doing for himself?  (King p. 8) Martin Luther King concludes by pointing out the importance of expanding on the current campaign, what his hopes are for the future, why he wrote Letter from Birmingham Jail, why the campaign was the right thing to do, why America was a better place in January of 1964 than it was in January of 1963, and why America can't wait any longer to be wholly free. King examines the history of the civil rights struggle, noting tasks

King begins the letter formal in his diction, using language such as “sincerely” and “reasonably.” This diction creates a respectful tone and atmosphere for the reader. King remains neutral in his argument and by doing so, he allows himself to get a foot in the door. During this time most people didn’t enjoy these demonstrations against segregation. Due to this, MLK needed to have people listen instead of rejecting his argument. King knows that, and he uses a kind and respectful tone to get his way. This foot in the door is very important because it makes people listen instead of tuning out his argument completely. Without this approach, King would not be able to get people to listen to his more heavy hitting points.

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

As a well respected preacher and advocate for nonviolence, Dr. King focused on freedom signifying being seen as an equal, but he was patient and forgiving in achieving this, which ultimately hurt his cause as he continually faced the same challenges after seeing no results followed by no change in his course of action. The overall tone of his letter from the Birmingham Jail is apologetic as if he needs to explain his actions because their purpose is unclear and he is at fault. He relates and reasons with the clergymen whom he addressed his letter to, “I feel that you are men of genuine good will and your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I would like to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms”(p. 24). Within the first paragraph he has submitted to their

The focus of this investigation will be “To what extent did the assassination of John. F Kennedy affect the civil right movement?” The years from 1963-1964 will be the focus of this investigation, to allow for the analysis from the year of Kennedy’s assassination and to the end of the civil rights movement. This investigation will mainly focus on Lyndon B. Johnson participation during the civil rights movement but also other outside factors. This includes Martin Luther King. Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society and Legacies of the 1964 Civil Rights Act are the two main sources used.

King wants them to know that he is not really an outsider but the president of The Southern Christian Leadership Conference with an affiliation in Birmingham. He wants to point out that he not only has organizational ties but also was invited to participate in the direct action program in Birmingham in support of desegregation. In the course of the letter, King uses philosophical, religious and historical examples to get his points across. In order to gain control of the reader Martin Luther King Jr. includes vivid images of cruel acts that African Americans in Birmingham endured. Concerning this unsettling time in society King could have described many of the immoral and unjust acts that he encountered on a

    The intent of Dr. King was to address his reasoning for being in Birmingham and to expound upon what the clergyman called unwise and untimely. In the initiation of the letter he explains his position in society. He was the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, and a civil rights activist who fought for equality of all regardless of ethnicity. His main focus was to induce equality into Birmingham instead of segregation. His position was the voice of the black community and he was known by many, including the president of the United States. He was also a pastor who had political and biblical knowledge and understanding like his “fellow clergyman.” In the

King’s purposeful use of appealing to reason gave him an upper hand throughout his piece, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and established security in his statements. Taking ethos into consideration from Martin Luther King’s text, we saw why he presented himself in such a formal manner. “I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia” (Paragraph 2, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”). By using this appeal to credibility, King earned his audience’s respect and varnished his message. Connecting to his readers, Martin Luther King also utilized pathos throughout his letter to add just another foothold on his audience. “But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and

     Martin Luther King Jr. writes the Clergymen that have written him a letter disputing his actions in Birmingham. King is disturbed and offended by the Clergymen disagreeing with his purpose in Birmingham. King say he normally does not respond to criticism because it would waste to much precious time, but since these were men of good will he wanted to give his answers to their statements. In King's letter he appeals to many emotions as pathos, ethos, and logos to appeal to his audience.

Credibility and ethics are one of the first things noted in King’s letter, and the presentation of it helps the reader to carry on reading the letter with open-mindedness and trust that King will continue to sincerely explain the reasons for the letter and the protest. Also, he establishes his credibility in the second paragraph by responding to the clergymen’s view that he was an outsider coming in. Similarly, King institutes his credibility by revealing that he is the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference which was an organization working in every southern state. Martin Luther King Jr. also appeals to ethos by even stating the clergymen’s views throughout his letter, which, of course embodies the alternative to his views. People have respect and trust for King which is proof of his reliability, as one man writes, “I believe Luther's actions truly reflect his belief that all people should be equal. His actions also show his commitment to the movement and the fact that this man was a leader” (Akerman 1).

Martin Luther King Jr. was an American civil rights activists and leader in the 50’s and 60's. As the face of the civil rights movement, King was a source of hope for African Americans and a target for many white people. He was arrested many times as a result of his fight for equality, although the most notably in Birmingham, AL.. Here, he wrote a now famous letter known as Martin Luther King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail. In his letter, written on April 16, 1963, he uses the rhetorical strategies of rhetorical questions, pathos, and metaphors, as a response to explain and bring to life what is happening.

In Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, he responds to a letter entitled Statement by Alabama Clergymen. In King’s letter, he makes it clear that he does not usually answer letters of criticism, but because this one came from educated men he felt the need to clarify his purposes, actions, and goals of this civil rights campaign.

At the beginning of the letter, (from paragraph 1 to paragraph 3) King successfully reverts his passive position as prisoner to a busy leader minister, who had little time to respond to criticism. In the first paragraph, he kept his polite tone, and made the statement in such a way that he was not forced to answer but willing to reply because he respected those clergymen's good will and sincere. Then, in the following paragraphs, he answers the question:" Why is Martin Luther King is here in Birmingham?" In this section, the words "more basically", "moreover" show a logical organization. He mentions his president position in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, to indicate his responsibility of the situation of Birmingham. Here, he emphasizes the invitation and organization ties to imply that he should be respected as a guest. In the coming paragraph, he compared himself as a minister with those Christian saints in the history to gain trust and more respect. Then he focuses on the duty of a human being and an American citizen, who should show more concern to those injustices no matter where they are. Here, he refutes the clergymen's statement about "outsiders coming in" by saying:" Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial 'outside agitator' idea"(King 404). By the end of the first section of the letter, King has perfectly got the trust and respect he deserved as a man, a minister, a civil rights leader, even a prisoner. We can see

The way Martin Luther King Jr.’s (MLK) letter relates to the Civil Rights Timeline is that MLK’s letter was written during the time of the Civil Rights Timeline and it influenced some of the events of the timeline. The two past events from the timeline that MLK refers to are in 1954 when, “The Supreme Court declares school segregation unconstitutional; in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas “ and in 1955 when, “ Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus.” When MLK refers to 1954 he uses it as an example of a law in which he states, “it may seem rather paradoxical for us to consciously to break laws”. In addition, when MLK refers to 1955 he states that, “One day the South will recognize its real heroes… They will