So I am here, along with several members of my staff, because we were invited here. I am here because I have basic organizational ties here” (King, Jr., 1963). Thus, in one fell swoop, King demolished the notion that he was an “outsider” with no direct connection or ties to the place or its issues.
King then proceeded to justify his presence on a greater and more transcendental scale—the scale of moral justice: “Beyond this, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here” (King, Jr., 1963). He likened his actions to those actions of Biblical prophets who “left their little villages and carried their ‘thus saith the Lord’ far beyond the boundaries of their hometowns” (King, Jr., 1963). He likened himself to St. Paul the Apostle, who “left his little village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to practically every hamlet and city of the Greco-Roman world” (King, Jr., 1963). By putting himself on the same level as these Old and New Testament heroes of Christian culture, King firmly established himself as one of their righteous descendents, whose mission went beyond that mandated by his role as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. His mission, he implied, came from God Himself.
King’s letter was not hostile by any means. Indeed, he addressed his audience as “men of genuine good will” (King, Jr., 1963). Though they criticized him, he would not do the same in return but would give them the benefit of the doubt by assuming that their criticisms were made sincerely and out of genuine concern for their people. By acknowledging them as men of good will, moreover, King took the sting out of their attack and showed that he was in no wise swayed by their condemnations.
To make his point more persuasively, King took aim at the “white power structure” in Birmingham (King Jr., 1963), showing that had the community taken to the courts they would have lost every time because the courts were in the pockets of the white elites. The only recourse of the unjustly served African-Americans was to take to the streets in protest. King methodically takes his reader through the steps in his thought processes: he shows that before he took any action whatsoever he first determined that there was just cause. He then made certain that negotiations had failed and that the local merchants had failed to keep their end of the bargain that they had made with the community. Then King insists on purifying the process so that those involved are motivated out of a spirit of God rather than a spirit of hate. Finally, demonstrations were ordered. Demonstrations were not emotional but rather logical and that was important for King to show. He did not want to be represented as an agitator or an anarchist.
King’s letter then goes on to show how creating tension in society is a time-honored tactic that even the greatest philosopher of the West—Socrates—practiced and encouraged as a means of getting at the truth. King shows that the campaign in Birmingham was rational. He also shows it was religious in the sense that it aligned with all the campaigns for justice that one could find in the Old Testament, whenever the oppressed people of God needed a leader to save them. King gave the letter a New Testament bump as well by reminding his readers that the African-American community in Birmingham was part of the Body of Christ—that these were Christian people who simply wanted to be treated like Christians by their fellow…
Branch, T. (1988). Parting the waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
Garrow, D. (1989). Birmingham, Alabama, 1956-1963: The black struggle for civil rights. Carlson.
King, Jr., M. L. (1963). Letter from Birmingham Jail. Retrieved from https://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/documents/Letter_Birmingham_Jail.pdf
Thoreau, H. D. (1849). Civil disobedience. Retrieved from http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper2/thoreau/civil.html
Abstract Writing a Letter from Birmingham Jail analysis essay offers the student the gift of going back in time to the courage and ferocity of the Civil Rights Movement to examine one of the most eloquent documents of that era. The Civil Rights Era was one of the uglier periods in American history—and one of the most triumphant and inspiring. No document embodies this dichotomy as fully as King’s Letter from
Well crafted sentence explaining how the two text evidences show your point of analysis: In his use of metaphors, King poetically dramatizes the length of time African-Americans have struggled for full civil equality, in response to the white ministers' demand that he be patient, moderate, and not 'push' Southern whites to change too quickly. Third Point of Analysis: King, to address the specific allegations of the white ministers uses rhetorical questions
Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" Martin Luther King Jr.'s letter from Birmingham Jail, which was written in April 16, 1963, is a passionate letter that addresses and responds to the issue and criticism that a group of white clergymen had thrown at him and his pro- black American organization about his and his organization's non- violent demonstrative actions against racial prejudice and injustice among black Americans in
MLK Letter From Birmingham A Rhetorical Appeal for Justice Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested in 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama as a direct consequence of his participation in demonstrations against segregation. It was during this time that King wrote "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." This letter was a response to the open letter "A Call for Unity" which aimed to promote non-violent protests in the area. In King's response to "A Call
He clarifies his status i.e. A spiritual leader and a learned person by using well chosen ethos of St. Aquinas, Jesus and Paul therefore puts him forth as a trustworthy person. Also being an African-American makes him the right person to participate in this event because he understands the situation properly. By use of logos he explains the reason behind the actions of the black persons of which the
Furthermore the rhetoric here is rich in symbolism. Dr. King draws parallels between the response of violence to his peaceful protests and other great personalities whose commitment to justice, truth, and love also had unintended and unfortunate consequences. Personalities like Socrates and Jesus, for example, could not be expected to deny their truth for fear of public reaction. Dr. King makes this argument even stronger by also drawing the parallel