Martin Luther King 's Letter From Birmingham Jail

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.

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.

Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. has once said, “The time is always right to do what is right” (“The Reverend”). Dr. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was written in 1963 to persuade people that it is their duty to fight against unjust laws. Dr. King had dedicated a lot of thought into his letter and clearly explained his beliefs. He is well-known for his leadership in the African-American Civil Rights Movement since he advocated for human rights and nonviolent protests. Dr. King stood up for what he believed in even though it took a toll on him. He never gave up on his philosophies and convinced other African-Americans to fight against discrimination. Dr. King’s letter appeals to the audience’s emotions of determination, righteousness, and hope to end racial segregation.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a well-known advocate for justice and civil liberties. His biggest devotion was for equality of African-American citizens, usually revealed in marches or peaceful demonstrations; in Birmingham, however, one of such protests rendered King and hundreds of his fellow protesters in jail. From that cell, King wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” in which he proposed the idea that “it is a historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture but…groups tend to be more immoral than individuals” (par. 12). Regarding King’s quote, it could be ammended to state that groups are more likely to influence the upkeep of a practice of privilege while individuals hold more power over their own decisions.

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,

Letter from Birmingham Jail was a letter written by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from a solitary confinement cell in Birmingham, Alabama. Some portions of the letter were written and gradually smuggled out by King 's lawyer on scraps of paper including, by some reports, rough jailhouse toilet paper. Violent racist terror against African Americans was so horrible in Birmingham in the summer of 1963 that the city was being referred to by some locals as “Bombingham”. King had been arrested while participating in a peaceful anti-segregation march on the grounds that he did not have a parade permit. He had been called to Birmingham by one of the affiliates of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a group of which King was president, to help in the protests of the extreme racism present in Alabama. Segregation laws and policies were part of the Jim Crow system of separate schools; restaurants, bathrooms, etc. for blacks and whites that existed far beyond the era of slavery, especially in the American South. Several local religious figures Dr. King had counted on for support simultaneously published a letter entitled A Call for Unity, which was critical of King and his supporters. King 's letter, in turn, identified and responded to each of the specific criticisms that he understands are being made by these men, specifically, and by the white church and its leadership, more generally; however, this letter was also deliberately written for a national audience.

The question of whether the law of the land overrides human morality has been a popular topic that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. discusses in his letter titled "The Letter From The Birmingham Jail." King's letter uses both the Rogerian and Classical model to argue that the law of the land can not deem justice or injustice, but rather morality must be the judge.

He commits this nonviolent act to abolish an unjust law (Jim Crow Laws) that resonated out of harmony with his moral truths. In that case, King is a proponent of civil disobedience because he does not comply with what he finds as unjust and seeks action to cause change.

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

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.

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.

The use of just laws was first abided by Dr. King in his “Letter From Birmingham Jail.” In this letter, he mentions the necessity of just laws in society and how individuals are morally obliged to follow them. He also makes a clear distinction between “just” and “unjust” laws, further advocating his beliefs. Dr. King defines the two different laws in his interpretation of what they actually mean in society. A just law is a human-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. In other words, a law that can uplift the personality of an individual is a law that is just. Also, citizens also have their moral responsibility in a constitutional democratic society to obey and abide by the laws of the country. In comparison to just

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.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was imprisoned in Birmingham jail because of his contribution and participation in nonviolent demonstrations opposing the segregation championed by the southern leaders. The essay explores his longhand letter in response to civic statement of alarm and threats from the letter written by white religious leaders.