Subba-1 Hari Subba Ms. Nicole, Stanbury English 2010 Literary Analysis Response “Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.]” “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter” (Dr. King) In 1963 Alabama, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. saw injustice and segregation for black people. His nonviolent campaign convinced his people that you have to fight for your rights and your freedom. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter describes many injustices that the black community endured. Unfortunately, inequality still exists all over the world in many forms. The struggle for civil rights is a familiar story(Moore 2) After I read the first paragraph of second page, I was very uncomfortable.
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.
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
On Good Friday in 1963, 53 blacks, led by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., marched into downtown Birmingham to protest the existing segregation laws. All were arrested. This caused the clergymen of this Southern town to compose a letter appealing to the black population to stop their demonstrations. This letter appeared in the Birmingham Newspaper.
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.
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.
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.
Martin Luther King spoke over 2,500 times and led marches and nonviolent demonstrations for black people to vote, desegregation, labor and other basic civil rights for all. In his famous speech “ I have a dream” he shared his vision of equal rights all around the world. In his later days He kept fighting for what he believed in even after being threatened constantly, arrested, and having his house bombed. He kept fighting for human rights up to April 4th 1968, when he was assassinated on his hotel balcony. Martin Luther King has become an inspiration to many around the world; he is the global citizen of the
Martin Luther King’s Jailhouse Call for Unity On April 16, 1963, Martin Luther King along with other civil rights activists marched on downtown Birmingham, Alabama as pat of a program of direct action campaigns aimed at fighting the “disease of segregation” as it existed there. He was subsequently arrested on charges of parading without a permit during which time he wrote a letter to a group of clergymen who had written him expressing their opinion that his demonstrations were unwise and untimely. His letter from the Birmingham Jail is an impassioned plea for the opposing members of society to come to a better understanding of why the time to push for the end of racial segregation in the name of social progress cannot wait any longer. King does an excellent job of effectively employing pathos in his speech in order to relate to his readers regardless of race, religion or social status. For every argument he makes, King backs it with irrefutable analogies in hopes of moving past the issue of race and getting to an understanding of humanity.
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.