Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was written in the year 1963, a time period where African Americans were fighting for their equality. King’s legacy of devotion to social justice and true peace is manifested in this letter with perfect combinations of confidence and passion throughout. Although the clergymen deplore the activists’ actions, the prudent King uses logos, ethos, and pathos to justify those actions. King uses logos in his letter to be able to back up his counter argument against the clergymen’s accusations. He tries to support the fact that “(they) had no alternative except to prepare for direct action,” However he is able to effectively utilize several logical examples of evidence to help prove his point.
King and his followers strived to do the same with all the protests and marches that they had conducted because they wanted to achieve their ultimate goal of promoting desegregation among both white and black community. King urges that such steps were necessary because “every time the Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers the latter consistently refused to engage in good-faith negotiation (King 799).” According to King urging his people to stand up to their rights and fight for their freedom was not wrong especially when it was done through nonviolent ways. In the “Letter to Birmingham Jail” King uses many argumentative methods to convey his point across his audience and convince them of his
Furthermore, the NAACP supported the case against Milam and Bryant in 1955 for the lynching of 14-year old Emmett Till, the NAACP helped by protecting his uncle Moses Wright. This allowed Mose Wright to give his testimony, drawing media attention in the blatant racism in the Deep South. The NAACP was also responsible for the success of the Civil Rights Campaign through peaceful protests, for example they organised the Montgomery Bus Boycott which led to the desegregation of buses in Alabama in the Bowler v. Gayle case. The Role of Individuals was another factor contributing to the success of the Civil Rights Campaign during 1945-57. Rosa Parks helped as she started the bus boycott of Montgomery by refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger.
The way King wrote this letter truly shows that he is there in Birmingham for his people. In the very beginning of his letter King says, “I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco-Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond
Summary Response-Letter from the Birmingham Jail In this letter, Martin Luther King Jr. describes the current states of injustice and inequality that plague the Negro community during this time as he is writing from his jail cell. He writes to his fellow supporters and brothers and explains the reasons for being in Birmingham in the first place were because he felt it was necessary to protest injustice everywhere. Communities such as Birmingham were known to observe segregation laws that isolated black people from white people and in his opinion were classified as unjust laws. He claims to be a supporter of just laws and a non-violent protestor of unjust laws in which violate human morals and dignity. By citing references of protest such as Jesus Christ, St. Paul, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, he justifies his current actions for the Negro community and states that he is willing to face the consequences when it comes to protesting for equal rights amongst all Americans.
Zack Ketchum Professor Rodgers Essay #2 27 November 2013 “Upbringing as a factor of King and Malcom X’s Political Ideologies” Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X are two of the most well-known American civil rights activists of the 1960’s. Though different, their methods of protest were very important, as both men fought for the end of second-class-citizen treatment of African Americans. Often times, their methods are considered opposites - while King frequently endorsed peaceful methods such as harmless protests and speeches, Malcolm X employed violence in order to demonstrate his discontent and desire for change of the status quo. The issue that arises when one looks to compare the two men and their methods, then, is who was better?
The song “Murder to Excellence” with Kanye west is geared toward expressing their built up emotion on black-on-black crime, therefore I will look to evaluate this song of theirs and Jay-Z upbringing. Malcolm X has many views and always will be subject to a valuable opinion, so from the speech “The Ballot or the Bullet” will help me tie both his ideas and mine together. Black-on-black violence is consequence to the fact of acting out of pure ignorance, and many black Americans should be uniting as one instead of killing one another. By African-Americans constantly taking one another lives, it attests to other races that black people do not typically understand how to act, and that we are honestly oblivious in this world. The sooner we become together and realize that we do not need to kill each other because all we have is each other, and if it continues than we show that brotherly love does not exist
Segregated from the rest of society and suffering emotionally, physically and economically the black community was looking for a leader and found one in Martin Luther King. A minister from Atlanta, King believed in the power peaceful protest, and began to lead public protests and boycotts. As the movement gained momentum King was able to raise public consciousness of the inequalities being suffered. Martin Luther King famously led the March on Washington, campaigning for equal rights and employment; here he delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. Eventually securing equal rights for all Americans Martin Luther King became and still represents the greatest human rights icon in
During the 1963 March on Washington, King delivered perhaps his most famous speech called “I Have a Dream.” This speech called for an end to racism and desegregation in America that was still very prevalent at the time. King discusses his dreams of freedom and equality for all blacks in a land that still was plagued with hatred and prejudice to the African American race. King closes out his speech by saying, “I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.” These words are arguably some of the most famous from his speech because they really resonated with the people listening to him. He is envisioning a healthy future where regardless of skin color all are treated fairly and equally.
Yet again, serious violence developed at the hands of white racists. In response to this, Johnson introduced a further Civil Rights reform. In August 1965, the Voting Rights Act became law, removing all barriers which prevented black Americans from registering as voters. Results The non-violent campaigns of the Civil Rights movement during the 1950s and early to mid-1960s achieved notable successes. With charismatic and intelligent spokesmen such as Martin Luther King, the Civil Rights campaigners had brought the plight of black Americans to the attention of the whole world.