...1963, Martin Luther King Jr. was imprisoned in Birmingham, Alabama for leading the non-violent demonstration against racial segregation and injustice. As Kind read the letter written by the eight local Clergymen, he then wrote his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, in order to defend his action nonviolent actions. King uses many varieties of rhetoric strategies to exemplify his argument. He uses three Aristolean means of persuasion Ethos, Pathos, and Logos to establish his argument on the nonviolent protest movement. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter, written from the Birmingham Jail, he uses ethos to establish the credibility on the subject of racial discrimination and injustice. King states in the letter “I have the honor of serving as president of Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. We have some eighty-five affiliated...
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...Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote the letter from Birmingham jail in 1963. He wrote it while he had been in jail for eleven days. Dr. King at the time had many supporters, but he also had several haters who disagreed with his beliefs and values. Martin Luther King, Jr. received hate from people in leadership position, but he continued to proclaim freedom and racial equality. The purpose of “ Letter from Birmingham Jail” deals with a response from Dr. King to his critics and “ clergymen”. Dr. King desired to make his followers aware of the problems that were occurring in Birmingham, so that they could in some way help him. Dr. King’s letter serves as a historic and well-known document that became part of the Civil Rights Movement. Dr. King begins...
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...In those Halcyon Sixties, specifically in April of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his remarkable Letter from Birmingham Jail. In it he explained to his fellow clergy critical of his sit-ins, marches, and direct action why he felt non-violent activism was necessary. He wrote from his cell that he has “almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride towards freedom is not . . . the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice.” He acknowledged that while they truly do agree with the goals he seeks, they choose to avoid the tension of activism. After the long day at the office or chauffeuring the kids around, we need to relax in front of the...
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...After reading Martin Luther King Jr’s Letter From Birmingham Jail we can agree that it’s a great example of the variety of rhetorical devices that he uses that makes his latter so amazing, breathtaking and powerful. The audience for the letter was mainly for the White Birmingham Clergymen, the letter as a response to the claims they had made, and was also targeted towards others who were part of the racial segregation campaign and for those supporting King and other racial civil rights activists. So the letter was made for everyone, which is a pretty big audience, King just wanted people know what he was truly feeling during his time in his jail cell. The King's only purpose in writing the Letter From Birmingham Jail was to explain the terrible...
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...“Letter from Birmingham Jail” In the 1950’s and well through the 1960’s, Martin Luther King Jr. was the main leader of the civil rights movements. There was violence in innocent protesting, cruel bombings, and soul poured speeches. The Civil Right movements, involving people of both skin colors, measured up to a very large sum of events, both implementing segregation and the fight against the segregation. King had experienced many events, both eye opening and cruel, both strong and solid with morals. Yet throughout the turmoil between the differences of both races King did not fail to speak his word. MLK did not fail to make know that what segregation stood for was wrong and treacherous. King did not underestimate his ability to be unwavering...
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...Mariah is also sixteen years old and of caucasian ethnic background. They have all already read “Letter From Birmingham Jail” and very good background information on the topic. They all know Martin Luther King pushed for equality in a nonviolent way. Kanny and Mariah are both writing their own essays over the selected core reading. They too will be summarizing...
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...October 2013 A Letter From a Birmingham Jail Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15 in the year 1929. He was born in Atlanta, Georgia. Martin Luther King Jr. had a tremendous impact on the desegregation of the United States, primarily the South, in the ‘60's. Many people believe that he in fact had one of if not the greatest and most influential impact of any civil rights leader in history. King Jr. began his civil rights activities in 1955 when he protested in Montgomery, Alabama against their horribly segregated public bus system. The protest was started after an African American lady on a bus by the name of Rosa Parks was arrested after she decided not to give up her seat to a white male passenger longing for a place to sit. After the arrest, African Americans gathered and encouraged others to boycott the Montgomery bus system. An underground society called the Montgomery Improvement Association was formed and with no surprise Martin Luther King Jr. was elected the president. The group’s methods were efficient and most importantly non violent. The group’s protests had success and soon after, the bus lines abandoned their segregated rules and African Americans no longer had to boycott the bus system. King dedicated his life to being a civil rights activist. Today he is most famously remembered for his non-violent protests in working toward racial equality. King was such an important figure and served as inspiration in so many people’s lives. The Birmingham Campaign began...
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...Written by Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 16, 1963 “Letter From Birmingham Jail” was written to eight clergymen responding to their previous letter. Born in 1929, Martin Luther King, Jr. grew up to become one of the most influential civil rights leaders in the 1950’s and 1960’s. He was a preacher who along side with teaching God’s word, was also a leader in civil rights. He founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and later led numerous protests against segregation. In 1963, King had led a march in Birmingham, Alabama and got improper treatment and was thrown in jail. While residing in jail, Martin Luther King, Jr. received a letter written by eight clergymen criticizing King’s actions. King responded to the letter with honesty, knowledge, and also a sense of power he had. Martin Luther King, Jr. used ethos, logos, and pathos to show where claims of the clergymen were faulty and to give a sense of understanding to what it is like on the black side of segregation. Ethos is ethical appeal or appeals based on the writer’s authority and credibility. Martin Luther King, Jr. uses ethos to portray that just because he is a colored man, does not mean he is not important. He uses it to show the clergymen that he did belong in Birmingham. He is credible in the sense that he has honor “serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference” where he leads groups of people for Movement of Human Rights. King cares about the people, he states “injustice anywhere...
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...Issue of Racial Prejudice In “Letter to Birmingham Jail”, written by Martin Luther King Jr., King Jr. shares the deep concern for the ever growing and desperate need for resolve in the area of racism. Racism was a “deep fog of misunderstanding” (A-59) in the 1960’s when the Civil Rights Movement was happening. People were scared to accept others due to their different skin color. Because of this fear, the lives of African American were made unbearable. M.L. King Jr. wrote this letter to explain the growing problem of segregation and racism on our country. Racial prejudice is “prejudice against, or hostility toward, people of another race or color or of an alien culture” (Webster-Dictionary) and during the 1960s, African Americans were ostracized and alienated from society. Martin Luther King Jr. stated, “Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever” (A-55). African Americans collectively strived towards change and King Jr. was no different. He hoped that “love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation” (A-59). In times of harsh judgment, the nation was too scared to accept someone whose skin color was different, therefore African Americans were denied basic rights that should be available to anyone and everyone. Racial issues are a growing problem everywhere. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote “Letter to Birmingham Jail” to share his opinion on the matter. Prejudice is an issue that needed to be resolved and prevented. King’s letter is a bold statement of how no form...
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...Prison within the Prejudice Prejudice has polluted the world for centuries. From homophobia to nationalism to religious prejudices, the differences between human beings permeated society and twisted it with the hands of time. The most prominent example of such social diseases is segregation. The events that led up to the Civil Rights Movement of 1954-1968 were conducted by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. King, in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, utilizes devices such as metaphorical language, diction, and antitheses to convey a sense of urgency, to toy with the emotions of his audience, and to break the chains of inequity. Metaphors throughout Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter urge the audience of the clergymen to act against the racial prejudices...
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...His first chapter, “The Politics of Slavery”, contains the writings of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., revolving around Holmes’ experience with racial prejudice as a white man. Holmes believed in equality, which developed his central argument that the misallocation of black individual’s rights should be not be allowed. Being a strong abolitionist, he did not agree with the Fugitive Slave Act. It declared that all escaped slaves must return to their masters, taking away the “good life” and personal rights of escaped slaves. William Lloyd Garrison, a renowned journalist and social reformer, took part in a peaceful protest of the Fugitive Slave Act by writing in his newspaper The Liberator, demanding the immediate emancipation of all slaves (Menand 11). His non-violent retaliation caught the attention of...
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...Civil disobedience is the act of refusal against laws, taxes, or demands by a government usually staying peaceful in nature. Martin Luther King Jr. and Antigone implement civil disobedience to defy unjust law; however, both approaches used to go against the wrong laws are different. Martin Luther King Jr. became the leader for the civil rights movement to put an end to segregation through civil disobedience by stressing the importance of peacefully protesting; while Antigone purposely went against the law, knowing the consequences, to follow God’s law instead of man-made law in a holy effort to bury her late brother Polyneices. Martin Luther King Jr. goes against unjust laws through civil disobedience by initiating peaceful protests. He believed that using nonviolent tactics are better at showing the immorality the unjust laws’ and calls for black people to fight the long battle against segregation. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, he reveals the unjust treatment going on in Birmingham and why it is important for him to be there helping, “Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already...
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...I find it ironic how Patrick Henry speaks about being slaves to the british and standing up for colonist’s beliefs in the late 1700’s. However Martin Luther King Jr. writes in his letter about being free from the same americans who have locked him up for his own beliefs. As skilled orators who have shaped America, Patrick Henry and Martin Luther King Jr. use similar and different rhetorical devices to convey the message they would like to get across. Patrick Henry and Martin Luther King both use rhetorical strategies like, repetition to make their words and the meaning behind them more effective, yet Patrick Henry seems to use more of an abundance of rhetorical questions to enforce his ideas than MLK. Henry and King have used rhetorical strategies...
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...content is more important than style. In the case of “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and “I Have a Dream”, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s prominent style creates a platform for the development of the context of his opinions. A stylistic device King uses in both essays in order to convey his message is the allusion. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, King references the Boston tea party, destruction that was then deemed gallant by the American public. King references this occurrence from the past to clarify that when he was arrested he was in fact doing the ethical thing, but it just happened to be illegal. Doing the moral thing, in Kings opinion, and doing the legal thing do not constantly have to correlate. This allusion also showcases that civil disobedience is not...
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...is my paper from English 101 on MLK Jr.'s letter from Birmingham Jail Tammy Marston Dr. Sychterz ENG 101 27 October 2015 Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther King Jr. composed an open letter “Letter from Birmingham Jail” on April 16, 1963 in response to the statement “A Call for Unity.” This statement was written by eight white Alabama clergymen, which recognize that social in justices were taking place but expressed the belief that the battle against racial segregation should be fought in the courts not in the streets. King reply that “This ‘Wait” has almost always meant ‘Never.” He put out there that direct actions were necessary to achieve true civil rights and, and that not only is civil disobedience justified in the face of unjust laws, but also that “one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” Martin Luther King Jr. thought if he could get the middle class on his side that he would have the majority he needed to forward the movement for civil rights and achieve its goals of removing the illegal segregation practices that were still in place in the nineteen sixties. King addressed the white clergymen that were putting him to task for the non-violent protests in what they considered to be “their” city. Even though King was invited as the President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to speak to the local affiliate in Birmingham, where he believed that they have basic organizational ties. King then explains...
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