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The letter written by Dr. King from the Birmingham Jail was addressed to his fellow clergyman, however when taken as a whole this writer beings to understand his audience is not limited to such a small ecclesiastic circle. In the letter from Birmingham Jail, Dr. King addressed multiple groups he felt contributed to the racial divide in Birmingham, namely the white majority, the Religious groups and the Moderate whites. Each group contributed to the racist climate through direct action, inaction or quiet consent.…
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“Letter from Birmingham Jail” is written to the audience of clergymen. Martin Luther King Jr., wrote this letter to respond to clergymen who had questions for him. Paragraphs 12-14 are the most persuasive and thorough. King uses many rhetoric mechanism and appeals. Throughout those paragraphs, there is an excessive use of: pathos, logos, ethos, metaphors, symbolism, direct addressment and parallel structure.…
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Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” was written in 1963; during the time African Americans were fighting for equality among races. We can tell this by the vocabulary used in his writing such as “Negro,” which was used at one time, and is no longer considered, “politically correct. “ The purpose for the letter is that Martin Luther King Jr. was trying to convince the white clergymen that him and his “People’s” actions were completely unnecessary for the situation. When doing this, he uses critical and persuasive tones to try to influence the reader to agree with him. Martin Luther King Jr. provides a valid argument using logos, pathos, and ethos throughout his letter.…
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Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was written in April 1963, during the African Americans fight for equality. Martin Luther King Jr.’s claim was not just to reply to the eight clergyman who had called his demonstrations “untimely and unwise”, but also aim his justifications at a bigger audience of religious and secular beliefs. An audience that is black and white; therefore King is able to justify his reasons and tactics of beginning immediate action using nonviolent protest to everyone. Throughout his letter Martin Luther King Jr. demonstrates the use of ethos, pathos, and logos to help support his claim while also consistently referring…
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In the excerpt from Martin Luther King Jr.’s open letter, “A Letter From a Birmingham Jail” (1963), the author accosts his fellow black clergymen to cease their acts of apathy towards the social injustices against the African American community. The intended purpose of the text is to assemble powerful religious leaders to act upon society’s unjust treatment towards African Americans. Through the use of empathetic and hypothetical examples, imagery, and parallel structure, King composes a passionate, zealous persona in order to illustrate the urgency to rise above segregation, discrimination, and prejudice.…
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The early 1960s was an era of change in the United States. African-Americans led a campaign, known as the civil rights movement, to gain the freedoms and rights they had been unjustly denied. One of the leaders of the movement was Martin Luther King Jr., a Georgian minister and president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He traveled the nation to help lead nonviolent protests and fight discrimination. King's toughest challenge came in Birmingham, Alabama, where the movement was forcefully put down by the local government. In April 1963, King was arrested in Birmingham for leading the protests. While serving his sentence, he responded to a local letter published by Alabama clergymen in the newspaper. In his "Letter from Birmingham Jail," King explains what the civil rights movement stands for, what injustices African-Americans face, and why their actions are justified. To achieve his purpose, King eloquently organizes his letter, employs numerous rhetorical devices, and uses logos, pathos, and ethos. King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" is an incredible literary and historical work,…
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In Dr. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” he shows that nonviolence is the way to get the positive attention that his plight deserved. He believed that to use violence was negative on a couple of points. First, violence always gets negative attention. Second, violence was the way the Klu Klux Klan went about their business. He wanted to expose unjust laws and do it in a fashion that conveyed his beliefs without causing other problems. In Dr. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” he is trying to convince his “fellow clergymen” (566) that his fight for the civil liberties is a just one, and that the march was a nonviolent one and one that was surely needed. Dr. King stated, “we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny” (566). King is saying that it’s something that can no longer be ignored, that he can no longer sit on the sideline and be an idle observer. The black man has to take it to the streets. In this letter, Dr. King showed that nonviolence, direct action, and the ability to stand by one’s convictions are the right path.…
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In "Letter from Birmingham Jail", Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. discusses whether or not African Americans have the same opportunities and equal rights as whites do. Then, King further explains the daily struggles and dilemmas that African Americans have been going through for such a long time and that change is essential. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. uses appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos. King also uses historical, biblical, and literary allusions to support and further his argument. Dr. King begins with ethos and logos by discussing how nonviolent protests are perfectly legal and are lawful acts. He states that he is imprisoned in Birmingham because, "injustice is here," (King 332). This appeals to ethos because it is morally and ethically…
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During the Spring of 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led about a thousand African-Americans through non-violent protests in the business district in Birmingham. Unfortunately, he and other top activists were thrown into jail by Birmingham police in retaliation and were treated under harsh conditions, as did all African-Americans. On the day of his arrest, the Birmingham, Alabama newspaper published The Public Statement by Eight Alabama Clergymen called King’s activities “unwise and untimely,” calling for the community to renounce protest tactics that caused unrest in the community, to do so in court and “not in the streets.” King wrote back from jail arguing each point the clergymen wrote in their “public statement”. In the Letter from Birmingham Jail, King writes point by point his reasons for coming to Birmingham and the actions he had committed and why he wishes to continue his fight for equality. King successfully employed the use of Logos, Pathos, and Ethos by arguing back on legal, historical, and political grounds.…
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On April 16th, 1963, during the peak of the Civil Rights movement, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote to a collection of clergymen in regards to his beliefs and protests. In his “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” King aptly wrote to the clergymen about their concerns in a respectful manner, while maintaining his dignity and explaining his purpose. In order to validate his points, he first built his credibility, and from there flowed into a plethora of other strategies. His emotional anecdotes and insight are strong points in his letter, appealing to the clergymen’s sense of compassion and justice. The imagery that accompanies his writing creates vivid and horrifying scenes meant to encourage the reader to join King in his civil rights endeavors. Logically, King presents his values in a manner that becomes inarguable against, which furthers the persuasive value of his writing. His…
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Violent racist terror against African Americans was at its peak when Dr. King was arrested in 1963. In the open letter “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference makes an effort to convince his fellow white clergymen that it is time to take immediate actions towards injustice and the increase violence among the people. By appealing to ethos, logos, and pathos, Dr. King convinces his audiences of the unfairness of the law by which is effectively demonstrated by his legalistic and persuasive tone.…
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Henry David Thoreau once said " If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer;Let him step to the music he hears, however measured or far away". I think the meaning of this quote is that every individul has his own " drummer" or in better words his own calling and that own should let those indivuduals follow there callings no matter how difficult or obserd it may seem. An embodyment of this quote is the piece of literature known as "Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King Jr.…
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Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr. mentions the atrocities of racism and describes his endless battles against it. King does this in an effective and logical way. King establishes his position supported by historical and biblical allusions, counterarguments, and the use of rhetorical devices such as ethos, pathos, and logos. With the use of King's rhetorical devices, he described the ways of the Birmingham community and their beliefs, connected to the reader on an emotional level, and brought to light the overall issues dealing with segregation.…
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Howard Zinn, American historian, playwright, and social activist, once said, “Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy; it is absolutely essential to it.” He was talking about civil disobedience. Civil disobedience is the refusal to obey certain laws or government demands for the purpose of influencing legislation or government policy, characterized by the employment of such nonviolent techniques as boycotting, picketing, and nonpayment of taxes according to dictionary.com. Two authors write about civil disobedience in their pieces. Martin Luther King Jr., who was a civil rights activist and minister, according to biography.com, wrote Letter to Birmingham Jail. He writes this letter to fellow clergymen while he is in jail about why he is sent to the jail. Henry David Thoreau, who was a philosopher, journalist, and poet, wrote his essay, Civil Disobedience. Thoreau writes this while in jail because he refuses to pay taxes and accepts that he will go to jail for it. At times, civil disobedience is indeed appropriate and justified, given the right circumstances based on morality.…
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In 1963, strong opinions on black civil rights were being brought forth in Birmingham, Alabama and other southern states. Some of those strong opinions was from 8 clergymen, who spoke out against King and his ideas on desegregation and equality for all. King felt the need to defend his ideas of the men he thought were supportive of the civil rights cause. In King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, he uses rhetorical strategies such as appeals to ethos, logos, and pathos, as well as diction, syntax, allusions and imagery to strengthen his argument that equality for all should be fought for, and segregation should be hindered. These strategies also promote the purpose, which is to correct the misconceptions held by the clergy and to justify the…
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