What Is The Ethos Pathos Logos In Letter From Birmingham Jail

King had a vision that one day all races would be treated equally. Being the educated man that he was, receiving his Doctorate from Boston University, Dr. King never saw failure as an option. King was a third generation Baptist Minister and was the Leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Dr. King was from the South and was very familiar with the city of Birmingham which was known as the most violently segregated city in the United States. An affiliate of Dr. King’s invited him to Birmingham to engage in a nonviolent protest to which he agreed. During the nonviolent protest Dr. King was arrested for protesting without a permit. While in a Birmingham County jail cell Martin Luther King explains issues within the past day’s society that needed to be addressed including the church, the white moderates, and how he had been labeled an extremist.

Trying to recollect the feelings, the officers and others left shattered on the ground. The bruises on his body continued throbbing, as his eyes blurred with warm tears. “What did I do to deserve this?” he prayed. While looking through the bars of his jail cell he sees a man of old age. Watching as the tears stream down the face of the man who has lived a life of pain and anguish. Due to a world that took everything away from him. A man who has many things to say, but is speechless and not able to express himself. As he watched this man, he realized that unlike the man in the other cell, he was able to express himself and others. Picking up his pen, Martin Luther King Jr. started writing. In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King Jr. portrays his attitude toward the white clergymen, while also depicting the everyday tribulations and hardships of many African Americans in the U.S., longing for the voice of equality to be

Martin Luther King Jr. delivered many speeches in his fight for civil rights. One of his works, A Letter From Birmingham Jail, is his response to white clergymen in Birmingham, Alabama, who criticize the civil rights demonstrations he leads. In his letter, MLK uses a mixture of the persuasive techniques ethos, pathos and logos to defend his style of nonviolent protests.

In Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech, Letter from Birmingham Jail, he discussed the extreme brutality against the Negroes. Around the time of the speech’s creation, Birmingham was the most segregated city in the United States. Birmingham had segregated their buses, train station rooms, water fountains, restrooms, theaters, diners, etc. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech used euphemisms, allusions, metaphors, parallelism, and utilized pathos and ethos to express his reasoning why he was in Birmingham in the first place.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail” is a true reflection on the reality of the 1960’s in the United States. This letter is one of the most intelligent pieces of modern literature I have ever read. Dr. King writes this powerful and meaningful letter to his fellow clergymen, acknowledging social injustices existed, which should only be fought in the courts not in the streets. Dr. King was about non-violent actions, during the time of inequality, and use his frustration into writing this letter to speak his mind. Even though Dr. King wrote this letter while he was in jail over a half century ago, it is still painful reminder of how the struggles during the civil right was very real, and what Dr. King had to sacrificed.

Martin Luther King, Jr’s Letter from Birmingham Jail is a powerful and persuasive piece of writing that helped the perception of unjust laws spread to others around the country. He addressed one of the most controversial issues in the United States, especially in the city of Birmingham. The letter was written in a jail cell after King’s arrest in Birmingham, Alabama after a nonviolent protest against segregation. It was written in a peaceful and calm manner with several religious and historical figures to help relate to the readers of his letter, the eight clergyman. He states his disappointment with the white moderate and his concern for our country’s future. Having justice is a crucial factor for living in the United States so the fact that justice wasn’t being fully established for African Americans strongly upset King. In his letter he displays several emotions such as pathos, ethos, and logos which are used throughout his writing to draw his audience to it.

King’s first reference is when he compares himself to the Apostle Paul as he too is “compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home… [and] must constantly respond to the … call for aid” (King para 3). This is King’s response to the clergymen’s disapproval of outsiders taking place in the demonstrations. He then clarifies why he is in Birmingham as “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (4). Namely, there is an obviously large amount of injustice due to the violence and discrimination that the black community has suffered by the all-white police force and citizens. Dr. King is trying to explain that he has a responsibility to be in Birmingham because, as an advocate for freedom, he must help spread it where it doesn’t currently reside, like Paul and the gospel of the Lord. Dr. King goes on to speak of the demonstrations, non-violent pressure, which are supposed to help bring upon justice. These demonstrations are them demanding their rights which the clergymen deem unnecessary and illegal because “a cause should be pressed in the courts and in negotiations among local leaders, and not in the streets” (Carpenter et al.). However, Dr. King illustrates the need of the demonstrations for “freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed” (King para 13).

famous “Letter From Birmingham Jail.” First I shall show some of the logical appeals that Martin uses to tell the white clergymen, who criticized him for being “untimely and unwise,” why his acts are not “unwise” and “untimely”. The example being this piece of text, “In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to whether injustices exist; negotiation, self purification, and direct action,” and this, “We have gone through all these steps in Birmingham. There can be no gainsaying the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community. Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Its ugly record of brutality is widely known.” Martin gives the clergymen his reasons for appearing in such area, and even tells them that Birmingham is “widely known for their brutality.” He uses logical appeal to convince the clergymen as to why he is not “untimely” or “unwise.” Martin is known for his acts on the Civil Rights Movement, and his nonviolent protests. But people, including the clergymen, might ask Martin says “Why direct action? Is negotiations not a better option?” He answers with this, “You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue.” Martin has given a logical reason as to why direct action is required. He is saying that if negotiations are not enough, then we must act ourselves and present our own bodies to get what we want and need. The last example to show here is this piece of text that Luther shows, “In your statement you assert that our actions, even though peaceful, must be condemned because they precipitate violence. But is this a logical assertion? Isn’t this like condemning a robbed man because his possession of money precipitated the evil act

In, Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. response to eight white men of the religious leaders in the South, who issued a caution of his appearance in Birmingham, Alabama. For the incompetent people before him, King uses the theme of racism and examples of it. In a city where injustice happened every day to people of color, experiencing this himself, King wrote about the actions taking place. In a jail cell, detained for not having the right “permit” for protesting (King 1). The government announcing, they were in the argument of “outsiders coming in”, but in the actual sense, he was invited by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. (King 1) Also, because of the destruction that the government inflicting and the

In King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail", he writes about how some blacks were so physically and mentally drained by the ways there were poorly treated that they have given in and become accustom to unjust ways of life. He then writes about the other people who have grown so frustrated by the ways they've been treated that is on the edge of promoting violence. From this, he talks about how people like Malcom X has promoted violence and that the white men are the "devil". King stood in the middle of these two stances as he was not going to violently protest, but he was angered by the way African Americans were treated. He wanted to get equality and freedom for all people while doing it peacefully. King continues to express that he will continue to organize non-violent protests as long as African Americans are treated

As a leader in the civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had to confront both the oppression of blacks in America as well as dissenters who objected to the timing and methods King advocated. Deeply involved in the civil rights movement, King rarely had time to respond to his critics. However, while confined to the Birmingham jail after being arrested during a civil rights demonstration, King had time to address several of these widely held criticisms that were the subject of a letter written by eight Birmingham clergymen and published in a local newspaper. In his Letter from Birmingham jail King’s eloquent and persuasive response to each of their arguments supported his belief that it was the right time for a full-scale civil

In “Letter from Birmingham Jail," the leader of the African-American Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr., discusses the injustices and racism of the African-American community in order to address the clergymen's concerns. King’s purpose is to display the racial discrimination of the black in America, to justify his cause, and dispute the requirement of immediate action. He develops an earnest tone throughout the letter to let his readers know that he is not attacking the clergymen but merely trying to get his point across.

In the midst of the civil rights movement, Doctor Martin Luther King found himself in a jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama, one of the most segregated cities in the United States at the time. While in that jail cell, King wrote Letter from Birmingham Jail in response to the city’s religious leaders. Through his use of ethos, pathos, and logos, King made a thought-provoking and powerful argument for the civil rights movement which continues to inspire change in the hearts of his audience, both implied and actual.

“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it. must be demanded by the oppressed” (King). It is clear that during the 60’s, the African Americans were segregated and being trreated with hatred and violence. Which is why the eight Alabama Clergymen wrote a statemen in which he denounces Martin Luther King and his fellow marcehrs of being outsiders and violent with their actions in the events that took place on 1963 in which King led a nonviolent protest about racial segregation in downtown Birmingham that led him to being arrested and jailed. In response to this, Martin Luther King Jr, a social activist responsible for many civil rights movements against racial injustice and a powerfull gifted leader, wrote his famous letter called “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in which he answers the Clergymen’s criticism published in his public statement in a local news paper, as mentioned above, they try to convince the audience that the protest was violent and untimely, and that it was led by outsiders. Throughout the whole letter Martin Luther King uses different types of responses towards the Clergymen criticism such as emotional, logical and ethical appeal. Additionally he uses the Clergymen’s words against them to prove that what they are saying is not the whole truth and that there is more that the readers need to know. Moreover, he uses examples that help the reader connect with what is really happening and convince them to believe that what he is saying needs to be done,

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. authored the pivotal and revolutionary Letter from Birmingham Jail. The letter is addressed to eight white clergymen in the South who have deemed King's nonviolent campaign as "unwise and untimely" (1). King justifies himself for being in Birmingham, and why he could not take on an individualistic attitude. If one part of America is affected directly by segregation, all parts are affected indirectly (4). King illustrates the outcome that which waiting for the right time to stand up for justice will cause (11).