A Comparison of Letter From Birmingham City Jail and I Have a Dream by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Martin Luther King Jr., one of the greatest speakers for the Black

civil rights movement, had written many great works in his time. Two of his

pieces stand out as his greatest works, Letter from Birmingham City Jail; a

letter written from a jail in Birmingham where he was arrested for

demonstrating peacefully, to clergymen who didn't agree with his views, and

I Have a Dream; a speech given by King in front of the Washington Memorial

at a huge civil rights tea party. Both works convey the same message: the

time has come where Black Americans will not stand for civil injustices any

longer. The way in which the works are written, however, are different, for

one is a letter, to be read by a few, and the other is a speech, to be

heard by many.

A Letter from Birmingham City Jail is exactly that; it is a letter

King wrote to a group of clergy members who disapproved of his actions in

Birmingham City. The fact that this is a letter is blatantly apparent right

from the beginning, King's use of first person clearly defines it as him

talking to the clergy members, not a convention, or a rally, nothing

general.

In his first paragraph, King establishes why he is in Birmingham,

however, he is not clear, as he states, ". . . [he], along with several

members of [his] staff, [are] [there] because [he] was invited [there].

[He] is here because [he] has organizational ties [there].". In other words,

he was there because what he does brought him here, kind of like a job.

In the second paragraph, he becomes crystal clear, by stating that

he is " . . . in Birmingham because injustice is [there].". Not only does

he present why he is there...

... middle of paper ...

...evotees of civil rights,

'when will you be satisfied?'

We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the

victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.

We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with

fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of

the highways and the cities.

Carson, Clayborne. ""I Have a Dream" Speech." The American Mosaic: The African American Experience. ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 26 Sept. 2014.

Luker, Ralph E. "Quoting, merging, and sampling the dream: Martin Luther King and Vernon Johns." Southern Cultures 9.2 (2003): 28+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 28 Sep. 2014.

Lischer, Richard The Preacher King: Martin Luther King Jr. and the word that moved America Oxford University Press: 1995. Print

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