Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter To Birmingham

On April 16, 1963, from a jail in Birmingham, Alabama, Martin Luther King Jr. composed an extensive letter to eight clergymen who condemned the timing of the civil rights movement. Although the letter was addressed to these eight clergymen, the Letter from Birmingham Jail speaks to a national audience, especially King’s “Christian and Jewish brothers”(King, 29). His peaceful but firm letter serves as a remarkably persuasive voice to an immensely chaotic mess, and is seen as a major turning point in the civil rights movement. King believes that without direct action, the full rights for African Americans could never be achieved. He defends the impatience of people in the civil rights movement, upholding that without forceful

In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” King responds to the clergymen’s criticism on his non-violent actions being “unwise and untimely.” In his introduction, King uses front loading to provide a preview and background of what his letter will discuss. As he justifies why his actions were not “unwise or untimely” King addresses the bigger issue of the black community suffering injustices and the need to take action for justice. To convey his arguments King effectively uses quotations, allusions and pathos to support his argument and to refute what his opposition is saying.

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,

One evening in jail, a young man by the name of Martin luther king jr, received a letter outlining the the concerns of eight clergymen in reference to the demonstrations taking place of which he was a clergyman to. Martin was always aware of the criticism and retaliation of other and learn to keep order with it. But for some reason, this letter struck him, and he decided he must write a response to this letter. MLK being one of the most influential people in the world today, wrote a response letter to the right clergymen highlighting the concerns of being an outsider, having untimely and unwise demonstrations, and having extreme ideas.

After being arrested in downtown Birmingham on a Good Friday, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his famous letter, “A Letter From Birmingham Jail” responding to the criticism exhibited by eminent white clergyman, this letters’ direct audience was intended for the critical white clergymen, but was also directed towards the people of Birmingham and attracted a worldwide audience. This letter has been found important throughout history because it expresses King’s feelings toward the unjust events. Most importantly, this letter explains current events in Birmingham in 1963 as well as in the rest of America. Dr. King was a very intelligent

On April 12, 1963, eight clergyman wrote an open letter, “A Call for Unity”. In this published letter, the clergyman expressed their strong disapproval of the civil rights demonstrations taking place in Birmingham, Alabama. Consequently, that same day, civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested for protesting without a permit. In his short eleven day jail sentence, Dr. King directly responded to the clergymen with a letter of his own. In his letter, Dr. King informed his readers about the protests in Birmingham. He explained why the protesters were civilly infringing racist laws and city ordinances; why the protesters had truth and justice; and how he was thwarted with the clergyman and white moderates in the South who said they supported his cause. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Dr. King incorporates biblical and historical allusions to defend the strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism. Dr. King’s allusions gave him credibility with his target audience, the clergymen. Additionally, Dr. King subtly asks rhetorical questions and logical conclusions to force his audience to consider his purpose.

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

In a society where technology is used by almost everyone and the government has access to everything we see, are we really completely free? The constitution of the United States guarantees privacy and our individual will, but it has been proven that maybe that does not matter. The average citizen comes to the United States in an attempt to flee from oppression and get freedom, but this is where the definition of freedom can be contradicted. When the elements such as government control and peer pressure are more than abundant in our society, what freedom are we even getting? The individual is not free inside society; he is trapped.

Martin Luther King Jr. discusses the advantages and purposes for his theory of nonviolent direct action in his Letter From Birmingham City Jail. He shows four basic steps that must be taken to achieve nonviolent action. They include 1) collection of facts to determine whether injustices are alive; 2) negotiation; 3) self-purification; and 4) direct action. Each of these steps will be explained as part of King's argument later in this essay. The main purpose of a nonviolent campaign is to force any community to confront a problem rather than refuse to negotiate or face a specific issue. In the letter, King discusses his group's reasons for coming to Birmingham.

Throughout history speeches have reassured people that everything is fine, or that situations will improve. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used both emotional and logical appeals to raise awareness for the betterment of the lives of African Americans.

By the 1960s, the American Civil Rights movement was at its peak. Years of segregation and discrimination of African Americans led to several outbursts of disobedience. Martin Luther King Jr’s, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” delivered a critical response to Alabama clergymen’s letter and did so by accurately depicting the struggle of African Americans during 1950s-1970s, specifying the cruel segregation of the time and defending his methods of extremism and civil disobedience.

Martin Luther King Jr is one of the most famous Civil Rights leader from the past century, he dedicated his life to achieve racial equality in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s. He also penned the Letter from Birmingham City Jail, which outlined the moral basis for the civil rights movement and talked about some of the fundamental questions of political philosophy. Whether what he did in that put him in the Birmingham City Jail was just or unjust, and if it was morally okay to disobey. If next fall I was invited back to Political Science 105 to give a guest lecture on this topic, I would first start off by giving the students background information on Martin Luther King life and what he has done and achieved until to the point where he writes Letter from the Birmingham City Jail.

It is often believed that for people to feel a sense of worth in their life, there has to be a standard of unhappiness and suffering for them to compare their life to. Many would argue that for the majority to feel privileged, there has to be an underprivileged, unspoken for, minority. The marginalization of certain groups has occurred all throughout history with people being left to feel inferior and being left without access to equal rights. If it was not bad enough that this happens to people, the environment has been marginalized as well. This is where social justice movements and environmental activism come into play.

In Dr. Martin Luther King Junior’s “Letter from Birmingham,” he discusses that there are four basic steps to nonviolent campaigning. There is the “collection of facts to determine whether injustices are alive; negotiation; self purification; and direct action. Civil disobedience and civil rights can be directly related to these steps and the process of a nonviolent campaign. Civil disobedience is defined as “a form of political participation based on a conscious decision to break a law believed to be unjust and to suffer the consequences.” (Edwards 647) Martin Luther King Jr. may be the best example of a civil rights activist.

Throughout history, many significant individuals used civil and violent disobedience to achieve social and cultural liberation. Martin Luther King Junior was one of the most influential civil rights protesters and led to many breakthroughs using his civil disobedience practices. At the same time, some, such as Thomas Paine, would argue that violence and war are necessary for liberation. These two styles of obtaining freedom are practiced throughout history and each yield similar results.