Rhetorical Strategies In Letter From Birmingham Jail

In 1963 Civil rights leaders, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his letter to the men of the clergy, entitled “ Letters from Birmingham Jail” while stuck in the confines of Birmingham jail. King was thrown into prison on accounts of violence after a peaceful protest. As many of his fellow clergyman reported negative things in regards to king and his cause, he refuted with writing an open letter, in which he states his beliefs on equality for all as well as stating why he needed to stay in Birmingham to stop all the injustice. Throughout the essay, he uses many examples of rhetorical devices (i.e. Rhetorical question, redefinition, etc.) to illustrate that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Being a pastor, it is easy for Dr. King to allude to the Bible and draw parallelism between his situation of being in Birmingham to support the non-violent demonstration. He rejects the allegation that he is an outsider. “…and just as Apostle Paul left his little village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to practically every hamlet and city of the Greco-Roman world, I too am compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my particular hometown. I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.” Since Dr. King was writing this letter to the clergymen, the reference to events in the Bible would be very convincing to

During the 1960’s, racism was still a prominent problem in America. The Civil Rights Movement was under way. African Americans were fighting for their basic human rights. One of the most notable figures of the Civil Rights Movement was Martin Luther King Jr. He fought for African American’s rights using nonviolent resistance; however, during a protest in Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. King was thrown into jail. While in his jail cell, Dr. King wrote a letter to clergymen from the Birmingham jail claiming his stance on peaceful confrontation on defending African American’s human rights. In his letter, Dr. King uses rhetorical devices to strengthen his argument in his letter to the clergymen. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham

Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King Jr in his persuasive letter, “letter from Birmingham jail” argues against segregation by using rhetorical devices. Martin Luther King Jr’s purpose is to express his struggles through segregation, he adopts an aggressive tone to get his point across to people in power.

In his second paragraph, King addresses the concern of being called an “outsider.” He explains why he is in Birmingham by giving insight on the role he holds in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He speaks on how they have organizations in many southern states. He says, “I am here because I have basic organizational ties here.” (King 1) Dr. King was invited there along with several members of his staff. To me, this makes the men look bad, because they made assumptions before knowing the actual situation.

Martin Luther King Jr., the author of “Letter to Birmingham Jail,” that was written in 1963, uses many rhetorical strategies throughout his letter;. Additionallyconsequently, he uses these strategies to get his points across. For example,The rhetorical devices he employsuses are repetition, he uses ethos, and he uses rhetorical questions. During the time he gave his speech, was during the time of the Civil Rights Movement. Furthermore, segregation was happening, and racial discrimination between blacks and whites is commonplace.were not treated equally. King uses d rhetorical strategies in order to emphasize what he was most passionate about; he was his passionate about - equality and nonviolent protestings, for he was a black himself. He usesd his letter in order to bring about make a change. Therefore, he needed to really get the listeners’ attention.

When the Alabama clergymen posted their public statement attacking the actions taken by African Americans who participated in peaceful speakings and demonstrations to spread equality, Martin Luther King reached out with his Letter from Birmingham Jail. In this piece, King expresses his respect, although ultimate disapproval of the clergymen’s encouragement for all to stand down and stop fighting against racism. King conveys the justifiability of his use of peaceful spokesmanship through rhetorical devices that build an appeal to ethos to convince the Alabama clergymen of the necessity for the battle against racism.

Injustice is a big problem in today’s society. Martin Luther King wrote the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in which he addressed many forms of injustices that was present then and continue to be present in today’s world. Martin Luther King did a lot of things that still effect today. He got in trouble for some things as well; such as like protesting how blacks were treated. He was arrested and was sent to Birmingham City Jail. He wrote a letter to defend the strategies of nonviolent resistance to racism. He employs the use of pathos, ethos, and logos to support his argument that nonviolence resistance is definitive. Based on the pathos, ethos, and logos present in this letter, the article is overall effective to this argument.

Dr. King was an educated black man who had a dream to change the world. He used his intelligence and power of his words to make the world how it is today. In the passage “Letter from Birmingham Jail” he uses Logos, Ethos, and Pathos to show his emotion and make it easy for the people to understand what he was trying to say. Pathos is the strongest part of an essay because it shows the emotion, show the power of his words, and show what the people did to fight back. He proves to the people that they do not need violence to scare people or to change their minds.

Martin Luther King, Jr, a nonviolent and orderly protestor, was imprisioned for twenty four hours for disobeying what he believed to be an unjust law which forbade public demonstrations. In his writing, Letter From Birmingham Jail, he adresses local clergyman's claims about how civil rights activism should be carried out, breaks down their claims, and refutes them. King explains that white moderates are more devoted to order than to justice, and although he typically respects the law, it was unjust, discriminotory laws similar to the ones he opposed that made aiding a Jew in any way illegal under Hitler's rule. King's letter is excellently written, easily understandable, and uses strong rhetorical devices to discuss his beliefs and justify his actions. It is important to remember to be critical of laws that may be unjust, and not to follow them simply because they are laws bestowed upon us by an authority.

Martin Luther King Jr. led a nonviolent protest against segregation that led to equality for African-Americans; however, not everyone agreed that King conducted his actions in a “timely manner.” After eight Alabaman clergyman criticized King for making the situation in Alabama worse, King writes the “Letter from Birmingham Jail as a response to the clergyman and a justification for his actions. King uses pathos, ethos, and logos to prove his claim that his actions occurred in a timely manner.

“I am in Birmingham because injustice is here.” Dr. Martin Luther king Jr. wrote a long letter to some criticizing clergymen within the walls of the birmingham jail, The letter, Letter from Birmingham Jail, was written about unjust laws, segregation, protests, church, and equal rights. Through his passionate need to change the minds of people and to gain support, martin uses persuasive strategies to get his message across.

One of the rhetorical strategies is comparison, and comparison comes in the letter of “"Letter from a Birmingham Jail” when Dr.King compared between the old church and the modern church, and he showed his disappointment when he said “In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society… So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an arch defender of the status quo.”

In a letter by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights leader uses various rhetorical

A legacy of a lifetime, and the working goal of changing America’s long established view of African-Americans as illiterate slaves. These accomplishments describe civil rights activist and Baptist minister Martin Luther King Jr. When arrested in Birmingham for protesting, he made sure to come across as non-violent. Peace was his goal and he wasn’t going to stray. To establish this idea into his fellow clergymen he wrote an open letter defending the actions of the civil rights movement as a whole. Claiming that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” (insert citation here). These words contain emotion of the failed promise of the constitution; pathos. The first-hand account of a man who has been jailed due to the injustice justice