Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter From Birmingham City Jail

Letter from the Birmingham City Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr argues about how defending the use of nonviolent civil disobedience brings out legal change. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led a boycott defending racism and later on becoming the prime spokesman for the American civil rights movement. However, during the 1960s, many public businesses were segregated and blacks experienced acts of discrimination and violence. In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested and sent to jail for practicing nonviolent disobedience acts that blacks encountered. While Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was in jail, he wrote an open letter that was intentionally meant to his clergymen using a pen that was smuggled in by his lawyers along with sheets of paper that was lying around. After time past, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in the year of 1968. Surprisingly, his letter became the most famous document during the movement and printed nearly a million copies.

Dr. Martin Luther King wrote a letter from Birmingham jail on April 16, 1963. The letter was written in response to his “fellow clergymen,” stating that Dr. King’s present activities was “unwise and untimely.” The peaceful protest in Birmingham was perceived as being extreme. The letter from Birmingham Jail was a letter of grievance to the white clergy, and their lack of support in the civil rights movement. Dr. King explained in his letter the difference between what is just and what is unjust and his reasons being in jail at Birmingham. He believed clergymen are men of genuine good will and that they deserve a response, so Martin Luther king wrote a letter from Birmingham Jail.

The similarities between these two are most evident in their desire for freedom. Martin Luther King Jr. wanted freedom from segregation and Plato wanted freedom from ignorance. They both wanted justice, and knew that it was immoral to take deny another being justice. For example, Plato has said,

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” emphasizes the need for civil disobedience when faced with unjust laws. This idea contradicts Socrates’ claim made in Crito, that one must follow the law under all circumstances. In this paper, I will argue that Socrates is not a proponent of civil disobedience based on King’s definition of civil disobedience and Socrates’ charges. Moreover, I will argue that both Socrates and King disagree with one another based on the concept of civil disobedience—breaking the law and rejecting certain ideals.

Aristotle, a famous philosopher once said: “ It is absurd to hold that a man ought to be ashamed of being unable to defend himself with his limbs but not of being unable to defend himself with speech and reason, when the use of reason is more distinctive of a human being than the use of his limbs” (Aristotle). He believed that rhetoric was more powerful than fists would ever be. Another man, a very influential social activist, shared the same ideals, preaching to his people to fight for their freedom with words and not their fists. Martin Luther King Jr. used the power of rhetoric during the civil rights movement to gain equality for the black community. MLK was a master of rhetoric and used his knowledge of proper arguments to sway 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

Before defining an individual as a great leader, one must first understand the definition of leadership and the qualities that make a leader. According to businessdictionary.com, “leadership involves establishing a clear vision, sharing that vision with others so that they will follow willingly, providing the information, knowledge and methods to realize that vision, and coordinating and balancing the conflicting interests of all members and stakeholders.” The website goes on to say that “a leader is the one who steps up in times of crisis, and is able to think and act creatively in difficult situations. Unlike management, leadership cannot be taught, although it may be learned and enhanced through coaching or mentoring” (Leadership).

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.

In his letter, “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, Dr. Martin Luther King Junior uses a didactic tone to inform his audience, eight critical clergy members, that direct action and peaceful protests are the only solution to racial segregation-a moral dilemma. This letter comes after Martin Luther was apprehended by police and confined in a jail cell due to an “extreme” peaceful protest against racist ideals. The didactic tone utilized in the letter can be characterized by Luther’s diction, language, and imagery.

Dr. King’s earnest “Letter from Birmingham Jail” seeks to both justify the past and forthcoming actions being taken within the Civil Rights Movement as well as create an understanding of the importance and urgency of what was considered to most at the time a disruption of the public peace.

In the middle of a civil rights movement, Martin Luther King Jr. sat in a jail cell and wrote a letter on the margins of a newspaper. King writes to the eight other clergymen about his bittersweet, but optimistic views on this topic. The letter “Letters from Birmingham City Jail” explains how his actions that had him condemned and put in jail were justified and why they were the right things to do. King demonstrates that his peaceful protests were just and fair through his tone, logos and pathos.

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.

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.

If one was treated unfairly would one want to speak up? The following essays express the right to take action upon unjust treatment in different time periods. In "Letter from Birmingham Jail," Martin Luther King took a stance about the inequality towards African Americans by protesting in different cities of the South. Similarly, in the article "The Whitewashing of #TakeAKnee," Chanda Prescod-Weinstein wrote about how a famous NFL player who kneeled on one knee during the national anthem to make people cognizant of police brutality in the United States. Also, “The Strength of My Rebellion," Gloria Anzaldua communicated how she as a lesbian Latina escaped from her culture to be herself. People should take a stand on what they believe is moral