...effectively relate their motives to their reader. In 1963, Martin Luther King composed a letter voicing his concerns about the racial injustice occurring in the South. His intentions for writing were clearly stated through his ability to establish himself as a legitimate authority in the eyes of his audience, justify his cause, and argue the necessity of immediate action. In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s use of the rhetorical appeal of ethos provides him with sufficient credibility on the subject of racial discrimination, thus supplying himself with the ability to effectively convey his motives for civil disobedience to the clergymen of the South. King demonstrates his appeal to ethos throughout the course of his argument by considering himself as an equal individual to his audience. At the start of his letter,...
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...The Price of Freedom A better life is found here in America, where many immigrants migrate to search for a better life. Endless opportunities are perceived by America. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was an extraordinary man for leading African Americans fighting for equality. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter from Birmingham Jail, King asks questions, similes, and ethical appeals to provide an intellectual response to the clergymen who have criticized him for his “disturbances.” Freedom is an essence and is a basic right, for example in a “Letter from Birmingham Jail” King wrote about how his fellow clergymen that explained the current events in Birmingham in 1963, as well in the rest of America and also demonstrated the action that King...
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...In those Halcyon Sixties, specifically in April of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his remarkable Letter from Birmingham Jail. In it he explained to his fellow clergy critical of his sit-ins, marches, and direct action why he felt non-violent activism was necessary. He wrote from his cell that he has “almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride towards freedom is not . . . the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice.” He acknowledged that while they truly do agree with the goals he seeks, they choose to avoid the tension of activism. After the long day at the office or chauffeuring the kids around, we need to relax in front of the...
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...Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote the letter from Birmingham jail in 1963. He wrote it while he had been in jail for eleven days. Dr. King at the time had many supporters, but he also had several haters who disagreed with his beliefs and values. Martin Luther King, Jr. received hate from people in leadership position, but he continued to proclaim freedom and racial equality. The purpose of “ Letter from Birmingham Jail” deals with a response from Dr. King to his critics and “ clergymen”. Dr. King desired to make his followers aware of the problems that were occurring in Birmingham, so that they could in some way help him. Dr. King’s letter serves as a historic and well-known document that became part of the Civil Rights Movement. Dr. King begins...
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...After reading Martin Luther King Jr’s Letter From Birmingham Jail we can agree that it’s a great example of the variety of rhetorical devices that he uses that makes his latter so amazing, breathtaking and powerful. The audience for the letter was mainly for the White Birmingham Clergymen, the letter as a response to the claims they had made, and was also targeted towards others who were part of the racial segregation campaign and for those supporting King and other racial civil rights activists. So the letter was made for everyone, which is a pretty big audience, King just wanted people know what he was truly feeling during his time in his jail cell. The King's only purpose in writing the Letter From Birmingham Jail was to explain the terrible...
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...Letter From Birmingham Jail Vs. “I Have a Dream Speech” The first way that a “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and “ I have a Dream” differ are in their intended audience, as one is intended for a group of white clergymen while the other is intended to rally a large group. This difference in audience and how Dr. King chooses to appeal to each of his audiences causes for the choices in language and the purpose of “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and “I have a Dream” to differ. “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is addressed to white clergymen, and the purpose of the letter is to defend the demonstrations that were taking place. As Dr. King is trying to defend the demonstrations to these white clergymen, his language choice is quite interesting. One brilliant way that he chooses to defend the demonstrations is by appealing to the white men through his choice of Anglo terms. For instance, in the letter, Dr. King writes, “Just as the prophets of the eighth century century B.C. left their villages and carried their “thus saint the Lord” far beyond the boundaries of their home towns…I am compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town” (King). This choice of wording makes Dr. King’s argument stronger since as these white men disagree with Dr. King and his form of peaceful protest, the white clergymen will not be able to argue back because he is using religious references that if the white men chose to argue against, it would make them look like hypocrites (Eubank). While...
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...Writing 1010 Analysis 6 The Issue of Racial Prejudice In “Letter to Birmingham Jail”, written by Martin Luther King Jr., King Jr. shares the deep concern for the ever growing and desperate need for resolve in the area of racism. Racism was a “deep fog of misunderstanding” (A-59) in the 1960’s when the Civil Rights Movement was happening. People were scared to accept others due to their different skin color. Because of this fear, the lives of African American were made unbearable. M.L. King Jr. wrote this letter to explain the growing problem of segregation and racism on our country. Racial prejudice is “prejudice against, or hostility toward, people of another race or color or of an alien culture” (Webster-Dictionary) and during the 1960s, African Americans were ostracized and alienated from society. Martin Luther King Jr. stated, “Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever” (A-55). African Americans collectively strived towards change and King Jr. was no different. He hoped that “love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation” (A-59). In times of harsh judgment, the nation was too scared to accept someone whose skin color was different, therefore African Americans were denied basic rights that should be available to anyone and everyone. Racial issues are a growing problem everywhere. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote “Letter to Birmingham Jail” to share his opinion on the matter. Prejudice is an issue that needed to be resolved and prevented. King’s letter is a bold...
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...Nick Genaris Professor Ngoh Protest Literature 21th October 2015 Letter from Birmingham Jail-Rhetorical Analysis Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in order to address the biggest issue in Birmingham and the United States at the time (racism) and to also address the critics he received from the clergymen. The letter discusses the great injustices happening toward the Black community in Birmingham and although it is primarily aimed at the clergymen King writes the letter for all to read. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. uses logos, alliteration/repetition, and ethos to back up his belief that nonviolent protesting and disobedience is the most effective means to protest anything that needs to be changed, in this case segregation. After reading King’s letter I, and almost anyone, would come to the conclusion that King is deeply motivated to help against any injustice in the US. Who else would go to such lengths if they didn’t? He knows how persuasive he can be by using his knowledge of the English language, and he uses this to speak out against people who doubt him (clergymen) and to incite a different way of thinking into the people in hopes of change. Dr. King’s letter is extremely effective because it provides an enormous amount of evidence to the reader that he and his company are being treated unjustly and also that King truly cares about making a change for the good of the city. It also re-directs attention...
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...Martin Luther King Jr. speaks from the Birmingham Jail to the “new administration” about his nonviolent protests as a result of the violence towards blacks and to secure civil rights. King used the rhetorical devices ethos, logos and allusion to reach the clergymen. Martin Luther King Jr. uses ethos to influence his audience to trust him and believe that he knows what he’s talking about. King states “I am in Birmingham because there is injustice here ”pg.1 paragraph 3. In this quote King is telling the audience that he is in Birmingham for them, so he can stop the injustice. If he is there to stop injustice, then he is there for the people and their safety. That is how he uses ethos in this quote, it makes the people believe he...
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...Rhetorical Analysis of "Letter from Birmingham Jail" “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly” quoted by Martin Luther King Jr. He was an American Baptist minister, activist, humanitarian, and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience based on his Christian beliefs. During the civil rights protests, he was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama because for protesting without a permit. Some realized arresting Dr. King is the best idea. However, Dr. King did not let jail block his...
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...Rhetorical Analysis of The Letter from Birmingham Jail Influential leader of the Civil Rights Movement and active agitator for justice, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. in his letter, “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, argues passionately that injustice anywhere automatically creates the timely situation for organized retaliation in seeking freedom for the oppressed. King was arrested and placed in Birmingham Jail after a peaceful protest in downtown Birmingham. King was “the foremost civil rights leader in America in the 1950s and 1960s” (Kirszner and Mandell 799). “An ordained minister who held a doctorate in theology, King was the head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference” (799). “King and his followers met opposition not only from white moderates but also from some African-American clergymen who thought King was a troublemaker.” King’s opposition labeled his demonstrations and acts against segregation as “untimely”, “unwise”, and...
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...Rhetorical Analysis of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail The nonviolent approach remains supreme as a way to achieve a peaceful resolution to conflict arising as a result of social, economical and political change in a contemporary society that has faced many of those challenges as a result of the fight for equality and social vices. This is because non-violent actions tend to create an atmosphere for peaceful negotiations and dialogue. In the case of Martin Luther King Jr in his letter from the Birmingham Jail, his idea was to create an atmosphere to frame the minds of his readers and clergymen of the situation in Birmingham caused by injustice and inequality. Martin Luther King Jr’s letter from Birmingham Jail was an icebreaker. The Letter intended to break the chains of segregation and injustice. The letter was written in the 1960s when African Americans were facing a series of injustices in the South as a result of racial segregation. This social injustice was seen in his letter when he used words such as “Negros,” to support his point. He said “ Negros have experienced grossly unjust treatment in the court. They have been more bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in the nation. These are the hard brutal facts of the case. On the basis of these conditions, Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the latter consistently refused to engage in good faith negations.”(Lee 215) These citations reiterate...
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...Devin Ponder Eng291-001 13 September 2013 Rhetorical Analysis Rhetorical Analysis of “Letter from Birmingham Jail” “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” by Martin Luther King, Jr., is a letter in which King is writing to his “fellow clergymen” in a response to their recent criticism of the actions he was leading in Birmingham at the time. The letter was written in April of 1963, a time when segregation was essentially at a peak in the south. Birmingham, in particular, is described by King as “probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States” (King 7). King goes on to inform the clergymen of the reality of the situation where he is and how waiting isn’t an option anymore. In the letter, King uses a variety of rhetorical strategies to accomplish the task of appealing to the readers from a logical standpoint. King first establishes his credibility to answer the clergymen by naming his personal title and comparing himself to such a higher historical authority as the apostle Paul. King uses repetition of his personal experiences in Birmingham to describe the situation from an emotional standpoint. By stating his credibility and giving his personal experiences, King gives the readers no choice but to listen to what his reasoning is behind his actions taken in Birmingham. He does so by describing how he has dealt with the situation in Birmingham appropriately using the four basic steps of any nonviolent campaign, and defining what those are. By coordinating the rhetorical...
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...Rhetorical Analysis Martin Luther King’s inspiration for writing his, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was mainly to appeal to an undeniable injustice that occurred during his time. His letter was in response tos eight white clergymen, who objected to King protesting in Birmingham. Dr. King effectively crafted his counterargument after analyzing the clergymen’s unjust proposals and then he was able to present his rebuttal. Dr. King effectively formed his counterargument by first directly addressing his audience, the clergymen and then using logos, pathos and egos to present his own perspective on his opponent’s statements. The majority of the sentences in King’s letter can be connected to logos, pathos or ethos and his incorporation of appeals is masterful. On more than one occasion, King uses various strategies to appeal to his audience, in the letter he writes, “I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. We have some eighty-five affiliated organizations across the South, and one of them is the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights.” In this excerpt, King presents his ethos very tactically. The Alabama clergy presents him as an outsider in the letter, but demonstrating his ethos, King presents himself as an insider. He is not just a man who chose to protest in an outside community, but is in fact the president of the Conference. He...
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...of writing that appeal to the seat of emotion, reason and ethnic. The strategy pays dividends to the extent that it calls to these three aspects of life to address issues. Scholars and majority writers in their scholarly and oratorical works have relied so much on the use of the rhetorical style of writing to construct pathos logos and ethos. “Letter from Birmingham Jail," by Martin Luther King Jr (Francisco, 23) is a profound example of this style at play. The three ideologies independently can survive any intellectual argument; they don’t have to work in tandem. This paper seeks to decipher the effect of using the rhetorical strategy to address racial injustice, and diverse religious ideology. Martin Luther employs the use of pathos and logos to create such a strong emotional appeal. To some extent, all human beings are caught in the inescapable network of mutuality. Martin Luther contends that whatever affects one person directly affect another indirectly. Martin Luther King Jr. in a sense achieves a deep sense of pathos by appealing to the logos. The emotional stylistic appeals clearly put the issues on steroids by drawing from particular aspects that cut across geographical location. The racial injustice is a threat to justice everywhere, including and not limited to Asia and Africa. Historically the world was on the verge of intellectual, emotional and radical forces that were about to shape the world economic and political landscape. The interpretation of laws governing...
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