Rhetorical Analysis Of Letter From Birmingham Jail

Martin Luther King Jr. wrote this letter from a jail in Birmingham, Alabama. Dr. King’s wrote this letter for eight white clergymen who unapproved of his nonviolent protests for racial equality and segregation. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Dr. King been arrested and is writing to the clergymen about why he felt the need to be protesting also reasons why the clergymen should care. In this letter, Martin Luther King Jr. uses persuasion to show that the clergymen and the church should be ashamed of themselves for discontinuing his nonviolent protest. Throughout “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King Jr. remains calm, although he is in jail for leading nonviolent protest for equality and ending segregation. King believes that if

       Martin Luther King Jr's “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was written during his 8 day sentence in jail in 1963. He chose to travel and protest in Birmingham due to the fact that it was widely known as one of the most segregated city in the U.S. The letter not only addresses the issues of unjustly being arrested for being an "extremist" of his approach to the protest, and of the incompetence of the church but its also an appeal for things to be seen from his point of view.

Fifty years ago today, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. penned his now famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. On this anniversary, Erin Wilson reflects on what this important document can still teach us today.

King uses logic, emotion and ethos throughout the letter, his use of emotion and logic brings his letter to life as if you're living it and his point of view. The “Letter from Birmingham Jail” written by Martin Luther King Jr, was written in a response towards the eight white clergymen. King is in Birmingham to break

Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his “Letter From a Birmingham Jail,” in response to the white clergy of Birmingham Alabama. Dr. King was arrested for marching without a permit. He couldn’t get one because he was black; so he decided to march against the law and was brought to jail, where he wrote his letter. In the letter Dr. King uses pathos, ethos, and logos to answer the acts of injustice and to criticize the wrongdoings of the moderate white clergy of Birmingham Alabama.

While imprisoned in Birmingham Jail, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. received a letter from the local clergymen that condemned his actions, calling them rash and extreme. In response, Dr. King wrote his own letter back defending his decisions. In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, Dr. King appeals to ethos and pathos as he attempts to convince the clergymen of the need for direct action in Birmingham, by showing the similarities in his own struggles and those faced by countless historical and biblical figures.

“Letter from Birmingham Jail” is addressed to several clergymen who had written an open letter criticizing the actions of Dr. King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) during their protests in Birmingham. Dr. King tells the clergymen that he was upset about their criticisms, and that he wishes to address their concerns.

On April 16, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote an open letter to African-Americans and all Americans who care about the civil right movement. In order to defend the strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism and respond to being called an outsider, King wrote his famous letter “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” So why the King’s letter is so powerful and convincing to the readers? Is it because of his identity of civil-rights leader and his credibility(ethos)? Is it by the reason of the argument “there are just laws and unjust laws" (King) which he exerted numerous theoretical basis with utmost efforts(logos)? Or, It’s due to his passionate writing style and the description of the image of the oppressed black people(pathos). Actually, It’s all of them. These are the rhetorical method King used in his letter.

A Letter from Birmingham Jail was written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on scraps of paper in response to a "public statement of concern and caution from eight white religious leaders of the South" while incarcerated in Birmingham for participating "in nonviolent demonstrations against segregation." In response to the statement King makes a claim of "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. "

King continues on by affecting the reader, on an emotional level, by going through and explaining some of the unending amount of torturous events that the black community had to endure daily. In an essay by an anonymous writer it says, “He uses a dialog that reaches into the pit of your soul and places you on an emotional rollercoaster.” When he says, “when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse,

Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” after an unjust proposal made by eight white clergymen. Their claims were to be that no Negro “outsider” should be allowed to establish or lead any protest and should leave them to their local neighborhoods. King replied directly to the clergymen, but used religious ties to also have his voice heard in the public. In his counter argument, King strategically used logical evidence, emotional aspects and good motives to present his perspective to the clergymen.

Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote a letter called, “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. This letter was written to clergymen who criticized his nonviolent approach. It was written in 1963 during the height of the Civil Rights movement. This letter’s purpose is to show the way that King felt about his movement to create a more equal society than what he was living in and what he thought about his nonviolent acts contrary to the clergyman.

## Considering Dr. King is writing to clergymen, his emotional appeal may not have only been to elicit sympathy or empathy from his detractors, but cause some shame as well, when he expresses his disappointment with them. He indicates that because of their religious beliefs, they should be taking a proactive stance on the side of justice, rather than supporting the status quo because it is orderly (King, 1963).

Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the Letter from Birmingham City Jail to the clergymen, saying that they criticized the actions and how they were targeting him. He explains in the letter how the city of Birmingham has gone through all the nonviolent campaigns and that it proves that their is serious racial injustice.

Luther King sent the letter to Joe C. Higginbotham or Joe Clergymen Higginbotham, but apparently on 1963 the day of his arrest, a group of clergymen wrote an open letter in which they called for the community to renounce protest strategy that was caused by the community and they were able to be unrest. But just because they got unrest they didn’t stop protesting because they still believe in Martin Luther King and they felt accomplished when his powerful letter that moved the movement in the civil rights movement. In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested and sent to jail because he and others were protesting the treatment of “Negroes” in Birmingham, Alabama, and the court had ordered that King could not hold protests in Birmingham, because others were starting to agree with him and think that he was right and something should be done about it.