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Letter to birmingham jail analysis
Letter From Birmingham Jail Summary
A letter from a Birmingham jail analysis
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We all know that race was the biggest issue in the Civil Rights movement, considering all of the protests were over racial inequality. During the time, white people believed that black people were less deserving than white people, which is the reason for white men being used as a part of the Civil Rights campaign to protest in front of courts as opposed to having black men do it. Like we have covered earlier in the essay, one of the biggest protesters of the time was Martin Luther King Jr. Going more in-depth into the time period, we can see how King’s protests and his Letter from Birmingham jail were significant to his movement and the Civil Rights movement as a whole. King started his method of peaceable protesting to get rid of the unjust Jim Crow laws around 1946 when the Atlanta Constitution published King’s letter that stated black people “are entitled to the basic rights and opportunities of American citizens.” These laws originate back to the end of the Civil War, when Southern states put laws in place to oppress black men and women and keep them separate from …show more content…
the white men and women. The first of the Jim Crow laws passed was in 1870 when Virginia passed a law stating that Black and White children could not attend the same school.
Many laws continued to pass until the time they were taken to court in the case Plessy v. Ferguson, in which the U.S. Supreme Court established the “Separate but Equal Doctrine,” that established racial segregation as being legal and not in violation of the 14th amendment. The Jim Crow laws, having just been declared legal, held their place in law for around 50 years after this act before they started to be revoked and declared “Unconstitutional.” During the 1950’s, Civil Rights activists, such as Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X, began to protest against these laws in varying ways. One of the most common forms of protest was civil disobedience. To the black men and women of the time, this seemed like the best approach to ending these
laws. If enough of them protested something, such as public transportation, the businesses would lose money, causing them to be pressured into changing the laws. To the white men and women of the time, however, the acts of Civil Disobedience seemed criminal, and many black people were arrested or attacked for no reason during these protests. Another way they tried to appeal to the government was by recruiting white moderates that believed in equality to join their cause and protest along with them. These moderates also played a crucial role in the Civil Rights movement, as they helped the black people earn their rights by being white men protesting to the courts for equality, which spoke more to the white jurys than all of the black men that protested to them. During one of King’s protests in Birmingham, he was jailed, and the Letter from Birmingham Jail was written. This letter was later published on a wide scale and became known as the foundation of the Civil Rights movement. Not long after the publication of this letter, the Jim Crow laws were declared unconstitutional, and blacks began their long journey to completely eradicate racism. Although we haven’t gotten there yet as a society, we get closer every day to forgetting the past oppression and ending racism.
In 1963, Martin Luther King wrote a response to clergymen who criticized his actions while he was stuck in the Birmingham city jail. This letter, titled “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, was written on the side of a newspaper and secretly taken out of jail by King’s lawyer. The goal of this letter was to address and confront concerns that were brought up in the clergymen’s letter titled, “A Call for Unity”. In “A Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King asserts a strong emotional appeal on the clergymen who oppose his actions by placing guilt on them when he inserts Biblical references periodically throughout his letter.
While in jail, Martin Luther King wrote “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” one of Dr. King’s longest letters. This letter talked about about why some laws should and be broken and why there was such a need for the Civil Rights Movement. Dr. King wrote “when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize, and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity”. This quote is important to the Civil Rights Movement because it emphasizes how many black brothers and sisters were being drowned, beaten, and hated purely on the color of their skin. They were being segregated, one example being “Funtown”, an amusement park for the white children only, Dr. King demanded this to stop. Alongside writing about the Civil Rights Movement, Dr.
In “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King, Jr. uses a catalogue of personal experiences in order to appeal to the emotions of the reader, also called pathos, by utilizing concrete language, semicolons, and lengthy sentences. He not only entices the emotions of the fellow clergymen he is addressing, but also society in general, attempting to reveal the true situation of the oppressed Negroes during this time in the Civil Rights Movement.
Argumentation has followed humans from the dawn of time as a way for us to express our ideas and for our ideas to be heard. People naturally obtain the knowledge to persuade others, either backing their opinions by fact or touching others emotionally, from growing up and through their own experiences in life. We can be persuaded by a numerous amounts of different factors pertaining to the argument. There are four different types of strategies in which an argument can be presented and make the argument effective. Martin Luther King is a key example of the utilization of the strategies as he wrote, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and Nicholas Carr also portrays the strategies with his essay, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Both authors perfectly
Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail", was written to answer a critical "Call For Unity" by a group of clergymen in Birmingham. The clergymen were critical of King for "interloping" in the activities of their city. Dr. King said that he had every right to fight unfairness in the country that he lived in. The letter he wrote, in response to the "Call for Unity", and a statement that he would battle racial inequality wherever it was. The "Letter from Birmingham Jail" was the main point in his life. In this letter, he perfectly described his reasons why he felt this way, appealing to logic, emotion, and ethics.
“…When you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters…” –Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Over the years, many groups of people have been denied basic human rights just based on simple things such as gender or race. These acts go against the UDHR, or the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The UDHR is a document of the equal and inalienable rights/freedoms all people are born with. One statement from the UDHR that was disregarded is the right to an equal education. An example from not too long ago is the story of Malala Yousafzai who was shot for trying to get an education because she is a girl. Article 26 of the UDHR states: “Everyone has the right to an education…”
Dr. Martin Luther King addressed many topics in, “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. He answered all the issues that were aimed towards him in a very skillful and well thought out manner. These issues came from, “A Call For Unity”, which was a letter published by eight local clergymen expressing their feelings about what Dr. King was doing. One concern in particular that King did an outstanding job of confronting was that of the clergymen’s anxiety about him breaking the law. King addresses the question of, “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” by clarifying that there are just and unjust laws. He also goes on to explain the difference between the two, the effect of unjust laws on the people that they are aimed towards, as
"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 Birmingham.
On April 4th, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, an event that would change history forever occurred. That was the day James Earl Ray assassinated the driving force of the Civil Rights movement, Martin Luther King Jr. It shook the nation, as the man who was planning on bringing peace and racial harmony in the United States was killed in an instant. He was probably the most influential scapegoat in American history, setting out to create equality for all races in America. There were many extremist white-based groups which detested the idea of equality, believing that whites were superior over all, groups like the Ku Klux Klan. Martin Luther King did not back down when groups like the KKK harassed him; he used their hate against them and allowed it to thrust him forward for the sake of bettering his cause and pushing towards racial equality. In the end, Martin Luther King was assassinated for his passion and beliefs; his hard work paid off because after his death, there was at least legal racial equality in the U.S. His bravery and strength
Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote an argumentative persuasive essay, the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” on April 16, 1963. King had written this letter to address and respond to the criticism made by the white clergymen. The letter was an approach to end racism and hatred in a non-violent manner. The non-violent movement was organized by King and his pro-black organization called “The Southern Christian Leadership Conference”.
The Civil Rights Movement is one of the most important events of the history of the United States. Although many people contributed to this movement, Martin Luther King, Jr., is widely regarded as the leader of the movement for racial equality. Growing up in the Deep South, King saw the injustices of segregation first hand. King’s studies of Mahatma Ghandi teachings influenced his views on effective ways of protesting and achieving equality. Martin Luther King’s view on nonviolence and equality and his enormous effect on the citizens of America makes him the most influential person of the twentieth century.
Before the Black Panthers, slavery just ended, and there was a civil rights movement going on. Many African Americans were involved in the movement to end racial segregation and get their freedom and equality. Martin Luther King, Jr., involved in this movement and instead of violent protest, he used Mahatma Gandhi’s style of nonviolent protest. Gandhi was indian and Hindu but believed Muslims and Hindus should be together and not against. At the time Britain ruled India but Gandhi leaded his fellow indians to independence and their own rights. Martin Luther King Jr was born in January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. He graduated Booker T. Washington High at age 15. In his later life he motivated civil rights after marrying Coretta Scott and had four children. He became a peace activist but was thrown into prison twice for his peace protests. He was sent to prison for nonviolence. That does not seem right. It looks like people were against giving African American their equality out of their racism. They had freedom too but were living in poverty and racial segregation. Martin Luther wanted to help these people and it finally came from his famous “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963. He starts with the introduction “I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history o...
Martin Luther King was a civil rights leader, he was born in Alabama in 1929. He atteneded to Segreagated schools and got his doctarate degree in theology from Boston University. In 1957, King had orginized the SCLC which meant Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The SCLC protested non violence. They did marches, demonstrations and boycotts. They disrupted segregated businesses and wanted them to grant more rights to African Americans.
Kirk, J. (2007). Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement: controversies and debates. Basingstoke New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
The Civil Rights Movement brought to light the immorality of segregationist laws, and much in part to the methods of civil disobedience that they used, these laws were eventually removed. Since legal methods proved to be ineffective, peaceful resistance was seen as the only solution to the racial issues that plagued the U.S during this time. As Martin Luther King said in Letter from Birmingham Jail, “The purpose of our direct-action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation.” When negotiations had not lead to action, Martin Luther King realized that civil disobedience would be the only route to justice. The direct-action used in the Civil Rights Movement was routed in peaceful resistance and nonviolent tensions, which created the right amount of constructive tension necessary to spark growth. Where there was growth, there was change. This change and equality would simply not have been reached -- at least not timely -- without peaceful