Dr. King’s Letter Analysis While trapped in a jail cell Dr. King wrote an extremely long letter stating his argument using ethos, pathos, and logos to the clergymen of Birmingham. The brilliance of his letter details the facts and the emotional civil issues that are still happening during his time of fame. In this essay I will break his letter, or book, by extracting the ethos, pathos and logos from beginning to end. In the title of the letter our civil rights hero uses ethos to show that he is equal to the clergymen and they are equal to him. He does this because he does not want the men to see him as a person on a lower standard or lower level than they are.
Letter From Birmingham Jail The background of this speech is MLK Jr. has been imprisoned in the Birmingham jail after participating in a nonviolent protest in the streets of Birmingham. As a result of this protest eight white Alabama clergymen made a statement titled “A Call for Unity,” in which they criticize MLK Jr.’s involvement in Birmingham, viewing him as an “outsider” who causes trouble. Their view is that the battle for racial integration should be fought solely in the courts, not in the streets. The speaker’s (Martin Luther King’s) goal is to educate his fellow clergymen as to why he has come to Birmingham when he receives criticism from them calling his “present activities ‘unwise and untimely.’” His goal is to also persuade the clergymen that his non-violent protests are necessary. He begins by establishing rapport between himself and his audience by stating that he receives many criticisms and that he has personally decided to respond to this one because he believes the clergymen are “of genuine good will” and that their criticisms “are sincerely set forth.” The argument that the clergymen have used against King is that “outsiders [should not be] coming in” to Birmingham.
This reveals the way in which the African Americans are being oppressed even in their own religion. In this context the white man had little respect for the colored man’s ways of worshiping the Lord, and thus made the black man feel inferior in every aspect of life. This prayer also asks in triplicate, “Great God deliver us” (15)! DuBois wished to be delivered from lust of body, blood, power and gold. He desired for the African American race to transcend hate and become closer to the Lord in doing so.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s letter “A Letter from Birmingham,” was a good example of a counter argument from “A Call to Unity” by eight white clergymen. His inspiration for writing the letter came from clergymen’s unjust proposals affecting African-Americans. Dr. King effectively created his argument by using logos, pathos and ethos. What also helped his case were his personal experiences. He lived during the time where segregation was everywhere in the United States, not as a white man, but as an African-American.
The similarities between Martin Luther King Jr and Louis Riel Martin Luther King Jr (African-American) and Louis Riel (Métis) are both famous men in history, mainly based on their actions and attitude towards racism and discrimination. Despite a few of their differences, both men had very much in common. Martin Luther King and Louis Riel both fought for the rights of their people. They became threatened by other people/groups and so decided to stand up for their people and do what was right. Martin Luther King was angered by the signs all over the streets that he lived near which said “Whites only”.
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. In “Public Statement by Eight Alabama Clergymen,” the clergymen state that the action that King Jr. has taken is unwise and untimely and he explains in two different ways why
Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail", was written by King in response to a critical "Call For Unity" by a group of white Alabama clergymen in Birmingham. The clergymen were critical of King for meddling in the affairs of their town. King's response was that he had every right to fight injustice in the country that he lived in. Martin Luther King wrote this letter in 1963 from his jail cell. In this letter King proclaims that the laws of the government against blacks are intolerable and that civil disobedience should be used as a tool of freedom.
This letter appeared in the Birmingham Newspaper. In response, Martin Luther King drafted a document that would mark the turning point of the Civil Rights movement and provide enduring inspiration to the struggle for racial equality. King's “Letter from Birmingham Jail” strives to justify the desperate need for nonviolent direct action, the absolute immorality of unjust laws together with what a just law is, as well as, the increasing probability of the “Negro” resorting to extreme disorder and bloodshed, in addition to his utter disappointment with the Church who, in his opinion, had not lived up to their responsibilities as people of God. King's justification to the eight clergymen for protesting segregation begins with a profound explanation of their actions, “Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue”. The actions of the African American people are overdue and very well planned as King had explained in the letter.
As “elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), he was often seen as a rival to the NAACP. (Royson)” Martin Luther later became part of the NAACP. It was an organization that would help colored people earn their civil rights. His protests were anti-violent, because he believed there was no win through a physical war. The only way to win was with the help of God, because he created man as equal.
King established a tone of rational dialogue as he addressed the eight clergymen. He did not want to provoke them or anger them in anyway; rather he wished to clear any misunderstandings that acted as a wall of segregation and hate. At the opening of his letter, he explained that he rarely responds to critics, but since they are “men of genuine good will” who are sincere in their criticism, he was making an exception. He hoped that they would find his remarks “patient and reasonable.” Because they had questioned his presence in Birmingham, he calmly related that he was invited there by the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. A more compelling reason for his visit, however, was the pervasive racial oppression in Birmingham.