Is Martin Luther King's Response To Letter From Birmingham Jail

Letter from Birmingham Jail Critical Thinking Questions

Directions: Martin Luther King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail is the document in which he most clearly articulates his nonviolent direct action strategy.

Note- for many of these questions, answers that receive full credit will be those that contain multiple sentences. These are not questions that should be answered with quick and easy responses.

King faced criticism for being in Birmingham as an outsider. Explain this criticism, and his response to it (his rationale for being there).

King faced criticism for being in Birmingham as an outsider because he was an African American. Calmly and eloquently, King responds to this criticism by describing his purpose for being there, that being his important role in many of the human rights organization. He describes how he is not an outsider by stating “…I was invited here. I am here because I have organizational ties here.”(Lines 25-26). Although he lives

Describe the four basic steps for a nonviolent

In lines 144-145, King uses the quote “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”to explain how to “wait” means never and he knows that waiting would only delay the obtention of the rights that they have been fighting tirelessly for. King notes that those saying to “wait” have not dealt with the pain and struggles associated with segregation and racism. He uses pathos, which inflicts emotion upon the reader, to describe why the movement simply cannot “wait” any longer. He tells of how he needs to explain to his children why they are treated differently from the white children, how he sees innocent African Americans being lynched, and how places would not provide them service simply because they were not white. This use of pathos, or emotional appeal, exemplifies their need to take direct action and waste no time on