Throughout Letter From Birmingham Jail, King uses several metaphors to describe the harmful effects of inequity and motivate his followers to work towards “transforming the] pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood.” For example, to promote immediate action, King proclaims that “now is the time to lift national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice.” By placing the abstract consequences of discrimination next to the perceivable discomfort of being stuck in quicksand, King helps his readers understand the severe ramifications of injustice. More importantly, the harmful outcomes that King described motivate his readers to take action in order to soothe the wounds of their neighbors and fellow citizens.…
The book you wrote about your life The Other Side of the Sky I thought was very intense and suspenseful overall an amazing story. I just can’t get over the fact that not only against all odds, seeing that you were two women in the Middle East and all but also you had to pretty much take care of your mom through your journey to America. I also loved how you really kept the faith and stayed strong, that must have been hard when at some points like after 911 it seemed like you weren’t going to America at all, I really do admire your determination. Now how was it that you knew America would be like Germany, when you were trying to convince your mom to apply for the world relief program you always used your trip to Germany as a comparison…
As sure as the pendulum swings one way, it must swing the other. As sure as people yearn for freedom, they will rise against any obstacle to obtain freedom. In a world which subjectively denies the liberties granted in the constitution to a negro and oppresses a him for having a darker hue of skin, a unique individual who yearns for freedom like no other, Martin Luther King Jr., arrives by birth on January 15th, 1929 in the towering city of Atlanta, Georgia. At the age of twenty-five, King finds himself as a minister at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Not only does King establish a crucial rank as a minister, but he is also well known to be a humanitarian, activist, and above all, a robust leader in the American Civil Rights Movement.…
This letter might be the last time you ever hear from me. I’m writing this letter to you to inform you that I entered this war with confidence and a true heart, knowing that I’m fighting for an honorable and true cause.…
In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a letter to the eight Alabama clergymen under the confines of a jail cell in a Birmingham, Alabama prison. The letter stated his thoughts and opinions on the racial tension between the white and the black communities of Alabama. Martin Luther King’s letter was written as a rebuttal to the letter he received from the Alabama clergymen that stated the demonstrations, protests, and acts of civil disobedience of the Negro community were unlawful and should be put to a stop immediately. Martin Luther King replied by indicating that the blacks had a right to peaceful protests; they were simply trying to educate the community about the prejudices present in Alabama and to motivate a change. King incorporated the tree rhetorical strategies of ethos, logos, and pathos throughout his letter. In Martin Luther…
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,…
Martin Luther King uses rhetorical strategies in his speech in order to do many things. These rhetorical strategies can be seen throughout the Letter from Birmingham City Jail by Dr. Marin Luther King Jr. The main purpose of this letter is to fight for freedom and end segregation between the Whites and the African Americans.King utilizes pronouns to include the audience to persuade his audience that as a nation we are all in this together. King says, “We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands” (1). The purpose of this sentence is to make everyone come together. King claims that they will win because God is on their side. If they work hard enough they will also achieve what they are striving for. “We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation” (1) Kings purpose of this quote is to give his readers hope that change will come eventually. He will not just reach the goal of freedom, but the nation will reach the goal of freedom. Using pronouns to include the audience brings king and the readers together. Together they take a stand and become one. King utilizes repetition, which ingrains the problem in your head while making…
Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the most influential civil rights activists and paved a path for many African-Americans in his lifetime. In “A Letter from Birmingham City Jail”, Minister and Civil Rights activist, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. conveys the unequal treatments of African-Americans and how he and the African-American community are trying to change it. King Jr.’s Purpose is to explain how the African-Americans are working towards racial equality and to explain the racial inequality that is happening. He adopts a didactic tone in order to describe how poorly African-Americans are treated and how it needs to end. He uses a didactic and disgruntled tone, pathos and ethos, and repetition and listing.…
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.…
Have you ever had to make a difficult decision that would change people’s lives everywhere? This was Martin Luther King Jr.’s decision when deciding whether or not to travel to Birmingham to preach his beliefs. In a Letter From Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr., tries to convince the clergymen that it is necessary to go to Birmingham by appealing to their reason and emotion.…
On April 12, 1963, eight white clergymen from Alabama wrote to the citizens of this state to urge them to stop the demonstrations and protests that were occurring during the civil rights movement. The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. who many consider the leader of the Civil Rights Movement wrote his own letter in response. On April 16, 1963 he wrote the letter that is now known to all as the “Letter From Birmingham Jail.” This letter was directed towards the clergyman and basically all Christian people, I believe it is safe to say that this letter would be considered hostile to many in the Christian community during the time it was written.…
In Martin Luther King Jr.’s "Letter from Birmingham Jail," He’s responding to a statement made by clergymen in Alabama about his dealings in Birmingham, Alabama. In this letter King uses rational ideas, moral values, and emotion to establish to the clergymen as well as the "white moderate" why civil rights should be granted to African Americans. In his letter King uses powerful literary tools that strongly match his views. He uses similes to help the audience understand not only the historical foundation of why segregation is immoral, but the awful emotional effects that segregation and discrimination has on the African American people who are experiencing it. King uses realistic imagery to give the reader an idea about how segregation harms a person’s character. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" had a great effect on the audiences because of his skilled use of pathos throughout the essay.…
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.…
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,…
The Letter from Birmingham Jail or Letter from Birmingham City Jail, is an open letter written on April 16, 1963, by Martin Luther King, Jr. King wrote the letter from the city jail in Birmingham, Alabama, where he was confined after being arrested for his part in the Birmingham campaign, a planned non-violent protest conducted by the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights and King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference against racial segregation by Birmingham's city government and downtown retailers.…
