...Imagine living in a world defined by race, or the color of your skin, This dystopian reality was America in 1963, In 1963 Martin Luther King was put in jail for protesting the mistreatment of african americans in Birmingham, Alabama. During his time in jail he wrote a letter to some Clergymen. In this letter he shows the injustice that was thriving in America. The unfair segregation and why they should espouse their rights. In 1963 Martin Luther King was held captive in the Birmingham city jail for protesting about the mistreatment of african americans. He wrote a letter responding to his fellow clergymen because they called his actions “unwise and untimely” In this letter explaining his actions in paragraph 7 it states “explain to your six year old daughter why she can't...
Words: 456 - Pages: 2
...Effective (adjective) : Adequate to accomplish a purpose. In analyzing Martin Luther King Jr’s Letter To Birmingham Jail and Sinners in the Hands of an Angry god by Jonathan Edwards,the task at hand was to analyze their techniques they used in order to see how the author is able to efficitvely send their messege to the readers.It was also to then determine who was more effective.To most readers,their effect of allusion towards the bible and complex sentences work more effectively on the audience of Letter to Birmingham,causing the readers to not only feel guilty,but also overwhelmed. Jonathan Edwards was a man of god.Growing up, he was the son of the pasture and he spent his days reading the bible.His belief was pure puritanical.Jonathan...
Words: 904 - Pages: 4
...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...
Words: 272 - Pages: 2
...atheist background. In Beyond Good and Evil, the ethical model he promotes is one that is driven by power. The other writing I will look at is Martin Luther King, Jr's Letter from Birmingham Jail. Like Nietzsche, King was also very sophisticated....
Words: 869 - Pages: 4
...Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his “Letter to Birmingham Jail” in a complicated time for African Americans and other ethnic groups. Due to not having the same opportunities as whites and being segregated, African Americans experienced an intense backlash to the promises once guaranteed by the Union’s victory in the Civil War. This lead to several individuals, like Martin Luther King Jr., to stand up for their Civil Rights through civil disobedience. This ultimately lead King into jail where he would write this letter. Overall, Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter to Birmingham Jail” served to show the white church leaders, as well as the public, why his actions are just and why they should avoid criticizing what he’s trying to accomplish through...
Words: 686 - Pages: 3
...English 100 March 17th, 2014 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. Question 6 on page 177 Have you ever thought about integrity? We all have at some point in our lives. The Miriam-Webster Dictionary defines integrity as “the quality of being honest or fair and the state of being complete or whole.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Stephen L. Carter spoke about this and defined it in their own ways. Stephen L. Carter wrote in “The Rules about the Rules” that “integrity requires 3 steps: (1) discerning what is right and what is wrong; (2) acting on what you have discerned, even at personal cost; and (3) saying openly that you are acting on your understanding of right from wrong.” During a major protest of unfair business practices in Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. King was arrested and put into jail for his actions. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” he gave evidence of Stephen L. Carter’s definition of integrity. “Discerning what is right and what is wrong.” In 1954, the Supreme Court came to the decision to outlaw segregation in public schools. Even though this was Federal Law, the community still chose to obey the city ordinances of segregation. Dr. King stated that for the African-American people there was “grossly unjust treatment in the courts, and there were more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than any other city in the nation.” Despite strong efforts made from the leaders in the African-American community...
Words: 522 - Pages: 3
...Two Influential and Morally Different African Americans Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. are both household names of men who fought diligently for African American rights in the postmodernism 1960’s. The 1954 Supreme Court ruling favored that segregated educational structure left blacks at a disadvantage. This was the spark that triggered uprising in the following years. Malcolm X and King Jr’s emphasis on their beliefs is evident in the works and actions that they have done through their lives. Their philosophies do differ from one another, as we will see in “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” and with “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. Both men had different approaches and desires for the black community as well as different upbringings that influenced them. We will see how such differences are reflected throughout their work to get a better understanding on how they compare and contrast. Known as Malcolm Little, the Omaha-born future activist suffered an impoverished start in life due to his father’s early demise. Prior to his death, Malcolm’s father was a “follower of Marcus Garvey, who instilled racial pride among the masses of African Americans” (Lauter 3088). To make end’s meet, Malcolm became a drug dealer and thief while living in Harlem, which landed him time in jail. His experience in jail and childhood shaped him and encouraged him in to becoming the activists that he was known for. Malcolm “replaced his own last name with “X” which stands for the African name...
Words: 1327 - Pages: 6
...A Little Jail-Bird Told Me The pen is mightier than the sword. This saying emphasizes that words are stronger than violent actions. Martin Luther King Jr. believed strongly in this saying. Being a leader of the civil rights movement, King believed in peaceful protests over violent protests. He was a kind hearted man peacefully fighting for equal rights of black and white people. At one point, his focus was Birmingham. Birmingham was thoroughly segregated and treated blacks worse than most areas. While in Birmingham, King was arrested. While in jail, King wrote a letter in response to criticism he received from white clergymen. In this letter, Martin Luther King Jr. uses a friendly, non-hostile tone mixed with a list of undisputable facts to calmly, yet assertively point out his issues with racial dilemmas. Right in the intro of the letter, King starts with a friendly and hospitable tone. He respectfully states, “…since I feel you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statements in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.” (King 1). Here, he keeps a calm tone, but his use of the word “hope” can be inferred to show that his letter may at some points become stern and serious, showing that he isn’t going to easily budge on his stance on the civil rights movement. Right away he makes it clear he is not hostile at all. He speaks respectably in order to be respected, which is not exactly common for a black...
Words: 1134 - Pages: 5
...Rhetorical Analysis of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail The nonviolent approach remains supreme as a way to achieve a peaceful resolution to conflict arising as a result of social, economical and political change in a contemporary society that has faced many of those challenges as a result of the fight for equality and social vices. This is because non-violent actions tend to create an atmosphere for peaceful negotiations and dialogue. In the case of Martin Luther King Jr in his letter from the Birmingham Jail, his idea was to create an atmosphere to frame the minds of his readers and clergymen of the situation in Birmingham caused by injustice and inequality. Martin Luther King Jr’s letter from Birmingham Jail was an icebreaker. The Letter intended to break the chains of segregation and injustice. The letter was written in the 1960s when African Americans were facing a series of injustices in the South as a result of racial segregation. This social injustice was seen in his letter when he used words such as “Negros,” to support his point. He said “ Negros have experienced grossly unjust treatment in the court. They have been more bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in the nation. These are the hard brutal facts of the case. On the basis of these conditions, Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the latter consistently refused to engage in good faith negations.”(Lee 215) These citations reiterate...
Words: 1590 - Pages: 7
...In Martin Luther King Jr’s The Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Dr. King outlines four basic steps to any nonviolent campaign: “collection of facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action”. The direct action he calls for falls in line with Dr. King’s assertion of “We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right”. This is a call to action as much as a philosophical musing. An American diplomat working in the field of International Relations would undoubtedly benefit by adopting Martin Luther King’s steps and perspective. First, comes a collection of facts, which may seem like an obvious step, but should not be undervalued. Billions of dollars are assigned to help carry out U.S. foreign policy, so even a small percentage that is lost to fraud can account for substantially large losses. By following up on the contracts negotiated, allocations of resources and measuring the outcomes for specific projects, a...
Words: 571 - Pages: 3
...In Martin Luther King Jr's popular Letter from Birmingham Jail, he uses tactics to persuade and inform all readers of what is wrong with the world from the view point of a denomination that is unfortunately, under appreciated. His letter is formally toward eight while religious leaders of the South, and his action of going to jail was where he had a peaceful protest but without a permit. He first opens up explaining his career of being a successful business man and sharing common work actions with the religious leaders. With this, King used ethos, showing his credibility that he can relate to the readers of his letter, in a respectable way. King (1963) stated "when you take a cross-country drive and find I necessary to sleep night after night...
Words: 397 - Pages: 2
...Rhetorical Analysis Paper Martin Luther King Jr.: I Have a Dream According to Aristotle, there are three ways for a speaker to persuade his audience: ethos, logos, and pathos ("American rhetoric: Aristotle's rhetoric - selected moments," n.d.). Aristotle noted that a speech should “engage both the rational and non-rational elements of the listener's soul” (Wardy, 1996, p. 63). The speaker must have credibility with their audience and appear fair, open-minded, honest, and knowledgeable (ethos). He/she must also have logical appeal with strong, valid arguments based on facts and, perhaps, with personal experience and observations (logos). And, finally, the speaker must emotionally appeal to the audience and create a personal connection to draw and hold their attention (pathos). Of the three, Aristotle believed that ideally arguments should be made with reason, or logic, alone (McKay & McKay, 2010). However, it is often a speaker’s emotional appeal that creates the personal connection, as well as captivates and motivates the audience … and few have done that better than the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. If you say the words “I have a dream”, Americans from age 18 to 80 immediately think of Martin Luther King Jr. They may not know the words achieved notoriety from a speech given at an equal rights march on Washington, DC in August 1963. They may not know that 250,000 blacks gathered at the National Mall to demand "jobs and freedom" (Hampson, 2013). Additionally, they...
Words: 1178 - Pages: 5
...Martin Luther King Jr and Gene Sharp Martin Luther King Jr. once said "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." From where King stood during the Civil Rights Movement show that he was a great man who preached nonviolence and made the ultimate sacrifice for it. By being persistent in his nonviolence discipline, he was able to show the world the violence of their opponents' repression for what it really was. Gene Sharp's book, Power and Struggle Part One examines the nature and control of political power. Sharp believes that social sources of political power include socially recognized authority, human cooperation and obedience, and the skills and knowledge of the population. All these sources rely on the support, cooperation, and obedience of the population. Therefore by withdrawing support, the population holds an effective means of resistance to political power. Nonviolent action works to control political power by affecting the sources of that political power. Sharp mentions that the three major categories of nonviolent action are: protest, noncooperation, and nonviolent intervention. These actions work to change the opponents' behavior either by conversion, accommodation, or coercion. Conversion involves a change of heart in the opponent to the point where the goals of the protestors are now their own. With accommodation, the opponent...
Words: 1350 - Pages: 6
...Many people know Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for his “I Have a Dream Speech”, or his involvement in fighting for racial equality for African- Americans, or simply that there is a day observed on behalf of him in January. This may be a few of his most popular achievements, but is not all that he is known for. Dr. King wrote, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” whilst jailed to explain to his fellow clergymen of “good will” the reason behind why he thought he was jailed and to further call out their hypocrisy dealing with prejudice regarding the African Americans. King uses a strong appeal to feelings or pathos in order for the audience to sympathize with the ridiculous morals of his fellow clergymen. He further develops his appeal through devices...
Words: 1054 - Pages: 5
