Preview

Martin Luther King's Letter From Birmingham Jail

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
856 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Martin Luther King's Letter From Birmingham Jail
The Life and words of Martin Luther King Jr

Martin Luther King, Jr was a great person of his era. His birthday was first created as a national holiday in 1986 because of his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” stands out as a part one of the great change in African American’s history by used a very persuasive way of examples. He invokes empathy from his readers in order to persuade white people to change the circumstances. When white people reads about this letter they will finally understands by treating them unequal how much the African Americans suffers and pains during that horrible time. In this letter Martin Luther King Jr used a lot of examples to express his feelings and thoughts
…show more content…
Jacobus’s example of how his people got tortured by the policemen when he says “But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, and even kill your black brothers and sisters…” (217). Here King uses some emotional word to express his feelings such as “curse”, “kick”, and even “kill” he was trying to show his emotion by full of pain and suffering (218). Generally, when reader reads this letter they will feel the same way he feels, all the fears and worry come from his letter by uses the words to illustrate his people. As a result King states how waiting is no longer a …show more content…
About 600 years before, King Nebuchadnezzar was king in Israel. King want his people listen whatever he says and wisdom him. King said Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego these three people who believe that there is only one true god to obey to, and because of their disobedience, they must be set by fired; but when the fire starts burned, they were not got hurt because they have their God to protect them. When King using this example, he wants African Americans to take actions because they will not follow the unjust law anymore, they need their freedom, and also have the equal

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    King views emphasizes the points of all these great people. First, let’s take Plato for instance, Plato teaches people to doubt and ask questions in order to justify the claim. If there are no concrete evidence then there is a reason to doubt. Also if there is one reason to doubt a claim, then it can be doubted as a whole too. Therefore with that said, king at some point in the “Letter from Birmingham jail” says that he was disappointed when the leaders of the church said that freedom will definitely come at some point eventually. Meaning they really did not take their bible studies as they should, in the bible there is no type of racial segregation. Therefore no believing man or woman should be part of an injustice. However, the church members should be the ones that doubt the laws of the nation, if they are true believers. That is the disappointment King spoke about. The he said he hope that one day there will be true…

    • 1468 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Written by Martin Luther King Jr., the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is a paragon of persuasive writing that takes advantage of ethos, pathos, and logos in order to convince its readers to take MLK’s side during the American civil rights movement. The use of ethos defines MLK as a credible writer; the use of pathos appeals to his audience on a personal level; and the use of logos layers his arguments and claims with irrefutable reasoning and logic. By using all three techniques, MLK is able to hold the attention of his readers and persuade them to take his side in the battle against segregation.…

    • 1184 Words
    • 34 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail is a response to eight of his fellow clergymen. He wrote this letter while the government arrested him and other protesters who were demonstrating in Birmingham, and he dedicated his whole life to the civil rights of the Blacks. In this letter, he response to the clergymen that questions his methods of protest. Different from Thomas Jefferson’s pure logic argument, he still adds his passionate sense of the injustice African Americans has suffered to his cool logic argument. Also, he uses first person perspective in this letter, which makes it more personal. Anyway, these two writings own different properties, so it is obvious that they would have different writing techniques. However, Martin…

    • 155 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    When answering the question does peaceful resistance to laws positively of negatively impact a free society, one word takes precedence - peaceful. Too many times we overlook that word and the result is just resistance to laws. In recent days, something that was titled peaceful demonstration turned into violent protest. The violence is often the intention of the "resistance" groups from the onset. The latest example comes from those who protested the outcome of the presidential election of Donald Trump. Their intention was violence and destruction in the name of protest. Egged on by media corporations with political leanings, these enraged individuals are given a free pass. This gives actual civil disobedience no chance to create positive change. The majority of protestors have no idea what cause they are associated with, just looking for their shot to get on television. The next "protest" must outdo the last and so on and so on. It is now commonplace to destroy property, set fires and attack innocent bystanders to get your point across.…

    • 526 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Martin Luther King’s letter, “letters from Birmingham Jail” he uses ethos and allusion to advocate for civil disobedience. He uses ethos by stating “I would agree with Saint Augustine that an unjust law is no law at all.” (Page 7) This shows ethos because it uses the credible source, Saint Augustine. By him being credible because he’s famous/well known, more people are able to understand and believe in what Martin was trying to suggest. He was trying to say by using this quote that that some laws are unreasonable and should not be followed if they are not fair or equal and do not help or protect the people. Another way Martin is able to advocate civil disobedience is his use of allusions. In the text it says “To put in the terms of saint…

    • 235 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote “Letter from Birmingham Jail” from jail in Birmingham, Alabama in response to a public statement issued by eight white clergyman calling his actions “ unwise and untimely”. African Americans have been waiting to have there civil rights of freedom, but the social courts has requested them not protest on the street but to take it to court. Dr. King wrote, “This wait has almost always meant never.” This is why Dr. king addresses this matter in a letter about the battle of segregation. He hopes that this letter will stop this injustice matter, and show what the African American desire. Furthermore, Dr. King had four steps to achieve his goals by collecting facts, negotiation, self-purification, and direct…

    • 254 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Martin Luther King Jr Prominent leader for the African American Civil Rights Movement was imprisoned on April 12th, 1963, for the actions he committed against the law, purposefully breaking the laws at the time through acts of non-violence to propose a future of a non-segregated United States of America. Following Dr. Kings imprisonment, a group of eight clergymen had sent an open letter out, formally known as “A Call for Unity” to criticize whether his actions were suitable for others and himself to follow and urging others to halt their demonstrations. He constructed his response through a letter which he had written on April 16th, 1963, within the Birmingham jail which, was later publicly titled “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. Dr. King discusses…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 94 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Martin Luther King Jr., born on January 15, 1929, fought for the injustices of his brothers and sisters throughout his life. While being an active activist, Martin Luther King was imprisoned to Birmingham jail due to his participation in a nonviolent demonstration against segregation and discrimination in Alabama. During his sentence, he wrote a letter, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” to counter the criticisms of his actions from the clergymen by claiming that “An unjust law is no law at all”(par. 12), “Injustice everywhere is a threat to justice…

    • 1359 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 668 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In a “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King, Jr. said “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” This means that if we let injustice happen, then this injustice will grow and start to affect good people. We cannot afford to ignore something bad happening in one place. If injustice occurs and no action is taken against this injustice, then people who hear about what happened might think this injustice is acceptable, and continue being unfair.…

    • 330 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Martin Luther King’s letter from Birmingham Jail was written to respond to white religious leaders who criticized his organization’s actions against racial prejudice and injustice among black society in Birmingham. The letter is a plea to both white and black Americans to encourage desegregation and to encourage equality among all Americans, both black and white, along all social, political and religious ranks, clearly stating that there should be no levels of equality based upon racial differences.…

    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In a land that promises life, liberty, and prosperity, the spirit of the African American people had been ridiculed and relentlessly robbed of these freedoms as exposed in Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter From Birmingham Jail. Even though our Founding Fathers established these rights to all of the people in 1787 and slavery had been abolished in 1865, a negro’s life did not fall under this covenant of freedom. Hostility and intolerance plagued these times, and someone needed to put an end to the oppression. Too much scarlet red had oozed out of the lives of innocent negro men, women, and children. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of those individuals who rose up and fought for justice and freedom. His letter, Letter From Birmingham Jail, paints…

    • 922 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Martin Luther King 's use of figurative language in "Letter from Birmingham Jail"� is an effective way for him to reinforce his thesis about non-violent protest and race discrimination. The figurative language in the letter enhances the letters persuasive qualities of pathos, ethos, and logos to evoke emotion and sway readers toward King 's point of view. King is the President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which was formed in 1957. He was arrested for protests of a non-violent nature against racial injustices in Birmingham, Alabama and wrote this letter to the eight Alabama clergymen while in jail. Through the figurative language in his letter he creates a bridge between his letter and white moderates, so that all readers can see his point of view.…

    • 1213 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote this letter in the Birmingham City Jail. He was a clergyman, however his activity in demonstrating against racial discrimination became his legacy. In this letter, which he wrote on April 16th, 1963, he appealed to other clergy against injustice for black people and he explained why he chose a nonviolent demonstration campaign. Actions of the nonviolent demonstration at first seemed ineffective and powerless, however people began to notice that the status quo of racial discrimination was very strong, unjust and immoral. He wrote that not taking action against discrimination, even if one’s opinion was against it, amounted to supporting it. He wrote about the prospect of having to explain to a child why she can’t go to a white amusement park in a TV commercial, and how terrible that was to the adult and the child. He wrote about the importance of resisting or even breaking unjust laws, and about how law enforcement in the south was a big part of the problem. Police, politicians and the courts were biased against black people. And if he sued against racial discrimination formally, he could not win in court due to the racially biased laws in the south at the time. Also, he mentioned that black people cannot wait to change the world. He said everyone, not only black people, needed to appeal to abolish racial discrimination as soon as possible rather than to the accept status quo of racial injustice over the previous three centuries. In this letter, I felt King’s enthusiasm for equality winning against discrimination. I thought that staging protests and demonstration were very effective for appeal his opinion to people…

    • 279 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays