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Letter From Birmingham Jail Rhetorical Analysis Essay

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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 …show more content…
King’s fiery desire to end the issue of inequality and segregation is specifically highlighted in paragraph 14. Being an African American meant King’s “fight” for racial equality was driven harder because it was personal. Consequently, King’s passionate response within the entire letter, but more specifically paragraph 14, has a great influence particularly within the southern states, and the American people as a whole. King’s arrival in Birmingham Jail was not incidental. King wanted to be thrown in jail to display his passion and prove that he would stop at nothing to end the injustice being served to himself, his people, and his nation. On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. However, King’s dream for an end to racial inequality was not ended. In the same year, the Civil Rights Act was passed; thus, King’s work was

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