Martin Luther King, Letter from the Birmingham Jail Rhetorical Analysis

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Rhetorical Analysis Martin Luther King’s “Letter from the Birmingham Jail”, published in 1964 in his own book Why We Can’t Wait, addresses and explains his current situation to the clergymen of Alabama. On April 12, 1963 Dr. King was arrested in the streets of Birmingham, Alabama for contempt of court and parading without a permit during a protest. He composed this letter while he sat in the Birmingham Jail. Dr. King begins his letter by addressing the clergymen’s statements of his actions as “unwise and untimely”. He informs the clergymen of his views and the reasons for his “direct action” on the issue of desegregation. King also attacks the “white moderate” on their actions and expresses his disappointment with their unconstitutional measures. Dr. King uses ethos, logos, and pathos to explain to his fellow clergymen about his present actions in Birmingham, and to inform them about his future plans to defy segregation. Dr. King establishes ethos in the second paragraph of his letter by identifying himself as the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He furthers this credibility by noting that the Southern Christian Leadership Conference has some eighty-five affiliated organizations across the South. King’s connection with the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights directly confronts the clergymen of Alabama by including a local, well-respected organization of Alabama, as one of his supporters. The incorporation of this organization in his text intensifies his ethos by signifying that the clergymen’s families, neighbors, and fellow citizens of Birmingham, are supporters of his movement. King begins his letter by informing the clergy men why he is in Birmingham, the concept of nonviolent direct-action, and the sequence of events leading to his “direct action” approach. King recounts his presence in Alabama as an invitation. His fellow

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