In Birmingham, Alabama, desegregation was being violently resisted by the white population. The city was dubbed ‘Bombingham’, due to the frequency of attacks on black homes and activists. Imprisoned and held in solitary confinement after defying an injunction against the protests, Martin Luther King wrote his ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’. In response to criticism from local white clergymen, he set out his reasons for action in Birmingham and elsewhere. After his
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.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was imprisoned for breaking a court ruling while leading a nonviolent direct-action protest program against segregation. While imprisoned, King wrote an open response; “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. This letter was addressed to his fellow clergymen, but he wanted the entire world to read it. King elaborately explains; why he was in Birmingham, why he believed change must take place immediately, and what he planned to do to help bring about this change. In his prodigious letter, King creates a vigorous yet respectful response to a criticism made by eight Clergymen from Birmingham, Alabama.
Jacob Martin Mrs. Nguyen English 101 March 5, 2013 Rhetorical Examination of “The Letter from Birmingham Jail” The employment of rhetorical strategies is imperative to effective persuasion. Martin Luther King, Jr. utilizes these methods throughout his dialogue. In April 1963, “The Letter from Birmingham Jail” was written while incarcerated for leading a nonviolent protest against Jim Crow laws. The purpose of the document was to be a reaction to a statement eight white clergymen issued disparaging King’s approach to protesting discrimination. The methods of logos, ethos, and pathos are used to convince his audience.
Victoria Lopez English 1101 December 10, 2012 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. His purpose of the letter is to inform the clergymen of his views and the reasons for his “direct action” on the issue of desegregation. Martin Luther King Jr. was the most important voice of the American civil rights movement, which worked for equal rights for all. He was famous for using nonviolent resistance to overcome injustice, and he never got tired of trying to end segregation laws.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is an example of a rhetorical text that is centered on ethos. King Jr.’s letter is a response to “Public Statement by Eight Alabama Clergymen,” which was written about the civil rights protests that King Jr. had led in Birmingham, Alabama, causing him to be in jail. In his letter, King Jr. addresses the concerns that the clergymen had about his motives and intentions in Birmingham. A rhetorical analysis of “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” shows that through his use of effective logic, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has a way of re-creating the ethos that was taken away from him in “Public Statement by Eight Alabama Clergymen”. Specifically, the arguments that King Jr. uses to defend his untimeliness, his willingness to break laws, and his extreme actions are appropriate for the audience and help him build credibility, which ideally will move his audience to action.
The approach thrives on presenting reasons on a certain subject and then arguing out. In order to comprehensively exhibit each of the three approaches, this paper refers to. " The letter from Birmingham Jail" is an emotional letter addressing the issues and critics of white clergymen thrown at Martin Luther king Jr, about his non-violent demonstration actions against injustice and racial discrimination among black Americans in Birmingham. Injustice is the backbone of all the social evils taking place in Birmingham and Alabama cities. Injustice is the violation of another person's right with the satisfaction of the other individual.
In the second chapter (2-5) he lays out the authority by which his group came to Birmingham. The great breadth of organizations that stand behind his actions overshadow the voices that reject his presence there. In the third paragraph, King makes one of many Biblical associations between the plight of blacks in America and the call of God upon his people to go and act on His behalf. This paragraph begins the preliminary thrust of the wrongness of injustice, and it is capped in the fourth paragraph with the
Analysis about “Letter from Birmingham Jail” The letter from Birmingham Jail is an open letter that was written on April sixteen 1963 by an American civil rights leader, Martin Luther King junior. Dr. King drafted the letter when he was in the city jail in Birmingham, Alabama. In the letter we saw that how Dr. King quoted convictive examples to support his points, especially about the topic “What is the justice”. In his statements he built a strong belief about the call of unity between negros and others. But to analyze the whole paper, in some cases I think Dr. King didn’t go far enough about his theses.
Dominick Bedasse ENC1102 February 22, 2011 “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” In “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” (1963), Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. attempts to validate his actions of demonstrating against segregation in response to criticism by Alabama clergymen. In hopes of reaching out to the clergymen, King argues for desegregation through his use of ethical appeal, emotional appeal, as well as logical reasoning. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. opens his letter by making note of the fact that he is the President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (p. 2). This may be an attempt for King to establish himself as a credible figure; one whose words are legitimate and has an argument deserving of full attention. King also states that he is “compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my (his) home town.