Preview

Analysis Of Letter From Birmingham Jail

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
381 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Analysis Of Letter From Birmingham Jail
In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (King Jr., Martin Luther. Letter From Birmingham Jail: Why We Can't Wait.), Martin Luther King Jr. writes back to the clergy on his actions and his demand for change and negotiation from a cell in Birmingham jail. In his letter, King explains the direct action in the Negro community is a demand for civil change, how he is disappointed in the blind eye in the white community, and how change is gained through love.
King first explains why he is in Birmingham in the first place. He entered Birmingham because he was invited and wanted to change the injustice there. Then, King identifies a nonviolent campaign through four basic steps. First, is to see if injustice is present and not only through believing so, but
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Letter From Birmingham Jail Summary
    • 281 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Letter From Birmingham Jail Summary

    Martin Luther King's "A letter from Birmingham jail" was written in response to a published statement by eight fellow clergymen from Alabama who seriously criticized King for organization and participation in the protest march against segregation in Birmingham. King's letter was an attempt to defend himself from these accusations and to criticize white heads and moderators of the church. In the begging parts of the letter, Martin Luther King tries to reject the accusation of being an outsider in Birmingham. He also goes against the accusations that the protests where “untimely” by stating several reasons why this was appropriate time for…

    • 281 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis Of Martin Luther King's Letter From Birmingham Jail
    • 323 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Rhetorical Analysis Of Martin Luther King's Letter From Birmingham Jail

    Martin Luther King Jr.'s letter from Birmingham Jail was written on April 16, 1963 while he was incarcerated in the Birmingham City Jail. This letter addresses the criticism that a group of white men had thrown at him and his pro-black American organization about their non-violent actions against racial discrimination and injustice among black Americans in Birmingham. He notes that he doesn’t usually respond to letters of criticism but he thought that they were “good willed people and their criticism was sincerely set forth.” King writes this letter to defend his organization's actions. King's letter talks about…

    • 323 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Letter From Birmingham Jail Summary
    • 1226 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Letter From Birmingham Jail Summary

    “Letter from Birmingham Jail: April 16, 1963” was written by Dr. Martin Luther King in response to published statements denouncing his non-violent protest in Birmingham, Alabama. The article, composed on scraps of paper, in the margins of the newspaper and finally on writing pads (King, 1963) by Dr. King as he was incarcerated in Birmingham City Jail for participating in a series of non-violent protests, known as the Birmingham Campaign. “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is considered“the most important written document of the modern civil rights movement and a classic text on civil disobedience”, primarily due to King’s impassioned defense of his confrontational tactics. (Bass, 2001 )…

    • 1226 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Analysis of "The letter from Birmingham Jail"
    • 1000 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Analysis of "The letter from Birmingham Jail"

    On April 3rd, 1963, the Birmingham campaign began and people were protesting against racism and injustice. The non-violent campaign was coordinated by King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. However, King was roughly arrested with other main leaders of the campaign on April 12th for disobeying the rules of “no parading, demonstrating, boycotting, trespassing and picketing”. While jailed, King read a letter (“A call for unity”) written by eight white Alabama clergymen against King and his methods from the newspaper. In the letter, the clergymen stated that the campaign were "directed and led in part by outsiders," urging activists to use the courts if rights were being denied rather than to protest. The letter provoked King and “the Letter from Birmingham jail” was a written response to the white clergy men and to defend the strategy of non-violent protesting. Throughout the letter, King used many stylistic writing elements and effective emotional appealing to make people want to join his case.…

    • 1000 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    An Analysis Of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter From Birmingham Jail
    • 254 Words
    • 2 Pages

    An Analysis Of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter From Birmingham Jail

    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
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Letter From Birmingham Jail Analysis Essay
    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Letter From Birmingham Jail Analysis Essay

    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,…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Letter From Birmingham Jail Summary
    • 541 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Letter From Birmingham Jail Summary

    In a "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" written by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963, King addresses the issue of inequality of citizens in existence in American society and the need for moral responsibility regarding human dignity. The issues of inequality addressed by King in his letter are still prominent in American society today; no longer mandated by law, but by the mere existence of custom and racism.…

    • 541 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    An Analysis Of Martin Luther King's Letter From Birmingham Jail
    • 1896 Words
    • 8 Pages

    An Analysis Of Martin Luther King's Letter From Birmingham Jail

    “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther king is a response letter written to the eight clergyman who had criticized King for the method of protest he uses. King was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama in April 1963 and wrote the letter in his small cell after reading a newspaper in which the clergyman had themselves published criticize king’s method of protesting since he was not from the state of Alabama. King replies to the clergymen and call them “men of genuine good will”, to show his peaceful manner. The clergy man feel that king is not and should not interfere with what is happening in the south. King however, answers them by arguing why African Americans in Birmingham will and should participate in the movement, famously quoting that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (233). He explains that he doesn’t need to be from…

    • 1896 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Injustice In Letter From Birmingham Jail
    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Injustice In Letter From Birmingham Jail

    Throughout the first 21 paragraphs of King’s letter from Birmingham jail he develops the central claim of injustice in Birmingham. He justifies his claim by describing unjust laws and how the white moderate is hurting their cause and how the oppression that African-America’s faced in Birmingham. Creating these central claims, King emphasizes Birmingham’s cry for help to release them from the injustices.…

    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Letter from Birmingham Jail Analysis
    • 765 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Letter from Birmingham Jail Analysis

    Martin Luther King wrote the letter on the 16th of April in 1963. He was responding to his fellow clergymen after they called him unwise and untimely. King was arrested for his civil disobedience in the protests and marches that he led. Martin Luther King's audience in the letter were the clergymen who are men of religion. Therefore King alludes to religious figures in order to appeal to the clergymen. He speaks in a respectful tone so they believe that he is a civil man and does not mean to offend them. In response to the clergymen's first claim that King is a an extremist, he uses allusions that appeal to the clergymen as well as anaphora and a rhetorical question. He refutes the claim that he is a lawbreaker by allding to religious figures and human rights. The clergymen also claim that King's actions are untimely. Martin Luther King responds to this with charged words and anaphora that are meant to refute their claim.…

    • 765 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Letter From Birmingham Jail Quote Analysis
    • 1088 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Letter From Birmingham Jail Quote Analysis

    All throughout American history, various cultures such as Native Americans and African Americans have arguably been inferior to the dominant white culture. Both Native Americans and African Americans share their own rich values and ways of living that have at some point in history been ignored or disregarded upon by a society of superiority. In "Letter From Birmingham Jail" written by Martin Luther King Jr., and "Team Names and Mascots" written by Robert Schmidt, both King and Schmidt argue the concept that society has dehumanized these cultures, leaving them to fight for their rights within a just society. Both King and Schmidt present their ideas and thoughts on the topic through persuasion and analogies. Although in "Letter From Birmingham…

    • 1088 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Tone Of Letter From Birmingham Jail
    • 144 Words
    • 1 Page

    Tone Of Letter From Birmingham Jail

    In the written document, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Dr. King recognizes the injustice his fellow African Americans and himself have been suffering over the years. He was…

    • 144 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Letters from Birmingham Jail
    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Letters from Birmingham Jail

    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.…

    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Letter from Birmingham Jail
    • 344 Words
    • 1 Page

    Letter from Birmingham Jail

    In “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, author Martin Luther King Jr. confirms the fact that human rights must take precedence over unjust laws. His expressive language and use of argumentation make his case strong and convincing. King uses pathos to invoke anger, sympathy and empathy, his impeccable use of logos makes his argument rational to everyone, and his use of ethos, especially the use of biblical references, makes his opinions more reliable. King’s arguments induce an emotional response in his readers. Although the letter was addressed to the eight clergymen, the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” speaks to a national audience. King’s use of pathos gives him the ability to encourage his fellow civil rights activists, evoke empathy in white conservatives, and allow the eight clergymen and the rest of his national audience to feel compassion towards the issue. King intended for the entire nation to read it and react to it. He “had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress” (King 267). He uses parallelism by repeating “I had hoped” to ironically accuse his attackers. By stating the obvious point and implying that moderates act as though this was not true, he accuses them of both hypocrisy and injustice. King is not speaking only of racism; he is speaking of injustice in general. He is a firm believer that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (262). King is saying that if we allow injustice to happen in some places, we risk it happening to everyone. We allow people to think that it is okay to act unjustly towards some individuals. The problem is that this kind of thinking can spread and infect other people to believe this is acceptable. This comes to endanger our entire society. Overall, King is saying that we need to fight against injustice anywhere we see it,…

    • 344 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Letter From Birmingham Jail
    • 561 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Essay On Letter From Birmingham Jail

    While incarcerated in a Birmingham jail for leading a peaceful march in Birmingham against racial segregation, King begins this letter acknowledging the recent criticism of white clergymen in Birmingham calling his actions "unwise and untimely." King uses logical appeal to make his case. In an unemotional straightforward tone, he explains that he is president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the organization had been invited to Birmingham, the most segregated city in America, to help battle injustice; thus, he has a right to be there and he is not merely an “outsider” causing trouble. He defends his teaching of nonviolent means to fight injustice. With a personal and emotional tone, he illustrates the oppression of African-Americans and stresses that now is time for the victims to demand the end of prejudice. He clarifies that "justice too long delayed is justice denied;” therefore, his actions are not untimely. Martin Luther King…

    • 561 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More