Arguments In Letter From Birmingham Jail

Martin Luther King’s inspiration for writing his, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was mainly to appeal to an undeniable injustice that occurred during his time. His letter was in response tos eight white clergymen, who objected to King protesting in Birmingham. Dr. King effectively crafted his counterargument after analyzing the clergymen’s unjust proposals and then he was able to present his rebuttal. Dr. King effectively formed his counterargument by first directly addressing his audience, the clergymen and then using logos, pathos and egos to present his own perspective on his opponent’s statements.

King uses this similarity between himself and great leaders to show that even though the clergymen believe King’s beliefs are

In the introductory paragraph, King introduces his reason for writing the letter and details who the audience is to be. He explains that he rarely answers criticisms and gives his reasons for answering this particular one. This grabs the reader's attention in the first three sentences of the letter and establishes the importance of the document, intriguing the reader to keep reading what becomes a gripping

He is not simply a hypocrite who wished to complain about all that is being done wrong; he is speaking as one who truly has a care and concern for the church and is involved in it. Furthermore, King portrays his use of ethos when he expresses, “We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom.” The majority of Americans will respond greatly to this statement because of how proud they are of America’s freedom, and it will appeal to their pride. Altogether, King builds trust in his readers and continually convinces them of his worthiness to speak on behalf of this issue because of the ethos he intermingled throughout his letter.

King ends his letter apologizing if anything he has said is not in truth or peace. He also says that he would like to meet the clergymen as Christian brothers and prays their

King uses ethos in the “LFBJ” to support his claim. One example of ethos that he uses is Apostle Paul. “Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ… so I am compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town” . This shows that Apostle Paul believes in king’s plan and wants to help. Apostle also wants freedom and he is ready to do whatever he can to help. Another example of ethos is “Paul Tillich said that sin is separation” . This quote states that Paul thinks that separation is a sin and there should be no separation. Even though king uses ethos to support his claims, he also uses logos in the letter.

In paragraph 1, the King tells a story of how he operates in his office and what kind of job his secretaries does in relation to issues linked to criticisms. This is a way of addressing the emotions of the audience, the clergy for he gives further reasons as to why he would respond to the clergy’s statement in the letter. This also gives the clergy a mere reason to be responded to as expected. He thought his statement on the King’s presence was provocative enough to gain special interest, while the King did that as a norm in his life (The Atlantic Monthly, 81). This is a disclosure of how his operations and activities have been criticized in the past and was to inform the clergymen that they were not the first people to

Furthermore he demands a Christian morality throughout the letter, something that would perhaps be less helpful without the pretense of an address for the clergymen. Dr. king writes about how theres a moral law, a just law is in harmony with this and an unjust law is not. Example; “ we can never forget that everything hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did Hungary was “

In “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King Jr. utilizes several rhetorical devices such as ethos, logos, and pathos, while addressing the clergymen that disagreed with his methods of nonviolent protest. King wrote with an air of rationality, personal experience, and appeal. He drew on the sympathies of a multitude of audiences all while including logic. King’s effective and persuasive address to the topic of racial injustice in the 1960’s can be correlated to today’s societal movement Black Lives Matter.

Dr. King wrote “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” when he was in jail for holding a desegregation protest in Birmingham, Alabama in April, 1963. As a leader of the civil-right movement, Dr. King found that it was an urgent need to take action in Birmingham where the worse segregation and racism brutality happened. However, Dr. King was criticized by eight clergymen that the protest was an extreme action. The letter was the response from Dr. King to their criticism. This essay will briefly summarizes what the letter was about, then discusses about the main arguments in the letter and why Dr. King’s fighting process was remarkably a great lesson to learn from.

During a period of high racial tension and civil disorder, a hero emerged to lead the fight to equal right. That hero was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the writer of the iconic “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” In the letter, Dr. King responds to concerns about his leading nonviolent protest to create civil disobedience and spark litigation for equality. However, this was not an easy task. While writing the letter in jail, Dr. King knew that not only did he have to just answer the concerns of the officials that questioned him, but he also had to use various appeals to establish credibility, show his reasoning, and raise an emotional response. While Dr. King already has a large amount of credibility, he cunningly convinces readers that he is an intelligent force to be reckoned with, using clear logic and emotional wording in order to form his argument and sway opposing viewpoints. An analysis of his essay will reveal the intelligence and ability of Dr. King as a writer and speaker.

In order to achieve true freedom society must find a peaceful solution. In the articles “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and “Speech at the March on Washington” by Josephine Bake. The overall message argues bout equality and the disadvantages of the black community. In order to achieve true freedom society must find a peaceful solution.

King knew clergymen were educated, Christian, and they had a family so they would very well feel guilt for stating Kings Activities “unwise and

For over a century, the topic of racial equality has been one that has resulted in much discord, and even a war. The African Americans, one of the most persecuted races in America, were forced to work as slaves and were repeatedly separated from the white people because they had a different skin color. After much effort, slavery was outlawed after the Civil War by the Emancipation Proclamation, but segregation still lived on. Blacks continued to be singled out and given unequal rights, such as not being allowed to attend the same school or drink from the same water fountain as a white person. This was soon prohibited, but not completely abolished, after Martin Luther King Jr. led non violent direct action, such as marches and protests, to demonstrate to the government

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” was compelling enough to make the Clergymen construct a different argument on why his demonstrations aren’t appropriate. 54 years later and King's letter is still exceptional and still being read by the human race. Giving a reason to why African Americans are protesting, King’s letter left a impact to Blacks in the United States. As King states, he wouldn’t “settle for anything less than brotherhood.”