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dr martin luther king jr's letter from the birmingham jail eassy
summary on martin luther king jr letter from birmingham jail
summary on martin luther king jr letter from birmingham jail
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A Response to “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther King Jr. was an American baptist minister. He most famous for his dedicated work on the Civil Rights Movement. The letter I am responding to today is his world renown “Letter from the Birmingham Jail”. He wrote this letter during the peak of segregation in 1963. He had spent his entire life watching the world discriminate against colored men and women, and Martin Luther King Jr. finally had enough. Martin Luther King Jr was a participant in a non violent protest group, that would soon turn his life completely upside down. While in jail he felt the need to share his experience to the world, even if no one read it. That is when the “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” was born. Martin Luther King Jr. emphasized in his letter that he never once had any anger towards the clergymen, he just wanted to see change in the world. In the “Letter from the Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King Jr. responds to the allegation the clergymen stated in their letter titled “Letter from the Eight Clergymen”. In his letter, Martin Luther King Jr. …show more content…
did a great job at stating the concept of law breaking, and just and unjust laws. The clergyman start off by asking Martin Luther King Jr., why he promotes rule breaking. In my opinion the answer to this is simple. If you are encouraging the benefit of the country and lives, you may have to break some laws along the way. Martin Luther King Jr. states, “The answer is found in the fact that there are two types of laws: there are just laws, and there are unjust laws” (Paragraph 13). I strongly agree with this statement. If a law is threatening the life of a human being, no matter what the color of their skin may be, then it is unjust. On the other hand if the law benefits the human being, then the law is just . Overall I believe the reason why Martin Luther King Jr. was sent to Birmingham Jail was
In 1963, Martin Luther King wrote a response to clergymen who criticized his actions while he was stuck in the Birmingham city jail. This letter, titled “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, was written on the side of a newspaper and secretly taken out of jail by King’s lawyer. The goal of this letter was to address and confront concerns that were brought up in the clergymen’s letter titled, “A Call for Unity”. In “A Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King asserts a strong emotional appeal on the clergymen who oppose his actions by placing guilt on them when he inserts Biblical references periodically throughout his letter.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Wrote “Letter from Birmingham Jail” during 1963, in this time frame African Americans were fighting the rest of the population for civil rights. We can see this from the vocabulary MLK uses, like “Negro”, which was majority used when African Americans were not seen as equals. We can also see this through the context of the letter; that he wants freedom for African Americans. The purpose of the letter he wrote in jail, is to convince the clergyman that he and his "people" acted out because their actions were necessary at that time. When doing this, he used condemnatory and persuasive tones to try to persuade the reader to his point of view. Martin Luther King uses Logos, Pathos, and Ethos throughout his piece to provide his argument.
When reading historical letters and or other types of reading materials, one cannot bear to become intrigued when reading these didactic and informative pieces of art. For example, one of the most known and most important pieces of historical masterpieces’ would have to be Martin Luther King’s “ Letter From Birmingham Jail.” This letter was written in response to the published statement that was written by eight fellow clergymen from Alabama. Those eight fellow Alabama clergymen were Bishop C.C.J. Carpenter, Bishop Joseph A. Durick, Rabbi Hilton L. Grafman, Bishop Paul Hardin, Bishop Holan B. Harmon, the Reverend George M. Murray, the Reverend Edward V. Ramage, and the Reverend Earl Stallings.
The Letter from Birmingham Jail was written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in April of 1963. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of several civil rights activists who were arrested in Birmingham Alabama, after protesting against racial injustices in Alabama. Dr. King wrote this letter in response to a statement titled A Call for Unity, which was published on Good Friday by eight of his fellow clergymen from Alabama. Dr. King uses his letter to eloquently refute the article. In the letter dr. king uses many vivid logos, ethos, and pathos to get his point across. Dr. King writes things in his letter that if any other person even dared to write the people would consider them crazy.
In the touching, influential letter, Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. responds to the white, Alabama clergymen who condemned his movement as “unwise and untimely” (1) and delineates his motives for traveling to Birmingham, where whites consider him an “outsider” (1). Hoping to express his ambition of nonviolent protest in a sympathetic, deferential manner, he implores the white clergy to join the struggle for Civil Rights. Throughout the letter, he addresses and disputes against each negative argument by the whites, testifying his position unpretentiously, yet confidently. With aptitude, poise, and humility, King establishes his motives for coming to such an unwelcoming environment. In his heart-rending letter, King’s coherent logos, stimulating rhetorical questions, and accentuating parallel structure express to the white moderates who criticized his actions that nonviolent, direct protest is not only essential, but also inevitable to contain agitated hostility and to assume relative peace.
After being arrested in downtown Birmingham on a Good Friday, Reverend Martian Luther King Jr. wrote his famous letter, “A Letter From Birmingham Jail” responding to the criticism demonstrated by eight prominent white clergymen. This letter has been found important through out history because it expresses King’s feelings towards the un-just event and it is an example of a well-written argument.
In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther King Jr, responds to various criticisms directed against him by the white Clergymen. King responds to the criticisms in a professional manner but with a twist. He uses a respectable tone since they are men of good will. The white Clergymen publish an open letter about the racial problems in Alabama. The letter was direct to the outsider of their community, which was King. King agrees with some of the main points that the Clergymen said, but he turns what they say around on them. He uses important people and symbols to make his point across. Two criticisms that King uses are “unwise and untimely” and “tension”. For example, the Clergymen show how the police are doing their job as good law enforcers.
Dr. Martin Luther King addressed many topics in, “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. He answered all the issues that were aimed towards him in a very skillful and well thought out manner. These issues came from, “A Call For Unity”, which was a letter published by eight local clergymen expressing their feelings about what Dr. King was doing. One concern in particular that King did an outstanding job of confronting was that of the clergymen’s anxiety about him breaking the law. King addresses the question of, “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” by clarifying that there are just and unjust laws. He also goes on to explain the difference between the two, the effect of unjust laws on the people that they are aimed towards, as
Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was written while he was “confined in the Birmingham city jail.” His letter was a direct response to the eight Alabama clergymen who insisted that King’s use of nonviolent direct action was unlawful. The clergymen questioned his method of protests even though they had similar goals as King. In his letter, King illustrates the hardships and injustices that African Americans in the United States were enduring during the mid-twentieth century; doing so allows King to justify the nonviolent actions of his fellow protestors. King uses the classical appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos, along with his rhetorical situation, to support his claims about the racial discrimination and segregation in the United States.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote his famous “A Letter from the Birmingham Jail” on April 16, 1963 while he was imprisoned in the Birmingham Jail for being involved in nonviolent protests against segregation. The letter is directed at eight white clergymen from Alabama who were very cynical and critical towards African Americans in one of their statements. Throughout the letter, King maintains an understanding yet persistent tone by arguing the points of the clergymen and providing answers to any counterarguments they may have. In the letter, King outlines the goals of his movement and says that he will fight racial inequality wherever it may be. Dr. King uses the appeal three main rhetorical devices – ethos, logos, and pathos – in order to firmly, yet politely, argue the clergymen on the injustices spoken of in their statement.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was a pastor, activist, and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. Mr. King was a man of honor and respect even in the troubling situations of serving jail time. People who were supposed to support him questioned his actions, Dr. King still stood by what he believed in. In Birmingham, Alabama Dr. King hoped that the white religious leaders will come to his aid but instead found reluctance and opposition. In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King, Jr. refutes his critics claims through the use of passionate tones, metaphors, and allusions.
"Martin Luther King Jr.'s letter from Birmingham Jail, which was written in April 16, 1963, is a passionate letter that addresses and responds to the issue and criticism that a group of white clergymen had thrown at him and his pro- black American organization about his and his organization's non- violent demonstrative actions against racial prejudice and injustice among black Americans in Birmingham.
Martin Luther King Jr. is known for his use of religion to justify actions, with this letter as a prime example. He believes that the morality of laws should be put into question to see if they are just, where the measurement of morality comes from an inner scale that is balanced by religion. Martin Luther King Jr. was a revolutionary, inciting nonviolent change in America through government protests, not conforming to the rules and norms has set for him to accept his poor condition in life. He says, “...segregation is not only politically, economically, and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful.” Therefore, he believes that the government’s rule is not legitimate unless it follows his perception of what is just, which is fueled by religious beliefs. This causes independent action because he senses a problem in life, and feels like he must serve a greater purpose to be able to solve
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was written to address the public criticism he and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference received from eight clergymen. In his letter, King shows off his fiery emotion throughout his letter. However, King does not force his beliefs upon his readers. Rather, he hopes that his readers will see his perspective on the situation through an emotional appeal. If the readers are able to recognize the injustice and inequality suffered by the African American community, perhaps they can. The fourteenth and fifteenth paragraphs were a true testament to his passion and ambition for equal rights.
Martin Luther King, Jr. is known to be a civil rights activist, humanitarian, a father, and a clergyman. He is well known for fighting for the equal rights of colored people and ending discrimination. King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail is an important part of history that showed King’s opinion of a letter that he happened to read in the newspaper written by a group of clergyman. In this letter, the group of clergyman report that colored people, also known as black people, are being violent towards Birmingham City. Also, the clergymen believed the time that will allow segregation to be diminished was not happening anytime soon because it is not convenient. King refuted the clergymen’s argument in a variety of ways using tactics of argumentation and persuasion like appeal to emotion through real life examples, appeal to logic, and even articulating certain phrases through metaphors and word choice. Many of these different tactics of argumentation and persuasion made his letter very effective and is now seen as a great piece that is looked upon highly today.