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Civil rights movement in america
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On April 12, 1963 Dr. King wrote one of his famous literatures to address his biggest issues in Birmingham and the United States at the time. After being criticized by his fellow clergymen MLK decided to respond to the churches. In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Dr. King, He explains his experience and the racial injustice he has acquired from Birmingham. While in jail he describes the stores in Birmingham having racial signs and clear hate towards blacks. In addition to this, he talks about the inequality towards the African American community by describing the power of the oppressor and the clear signs of racism in the city as well as the inequality the leaders perform. In his letter Dr. King talks about his beliefs that blacks belong …show more content…
Although both of these activists have different solutions and deliver things differently, they both address racism and the injustice the U.S. government performs on daily basis. In addition to this, they are both African Americans who persuading different audiences but are delivering the same content. In MLK’s letter he responds to his clergymen’s criticisms by addressing the racial injustices in Birmingham; while Malcolm X is delivery the same content but his audiences are blacks and whites. Even though they are both striving to declare freedom and are willing to fight for their human rights, MLK is more effective than Malcolm X in fighting against racial …show more content…
He inspires his audiences differently. Because he is a true believer of getting what you want through aggressiveness, Malcolm X encourages the African American community that “it’s time to stop singing and start swinging.” (X 214) In other words it’s time to stop being peaceful and nonviolent and start being aggressive and physical to fight for justice. In fact, in his speech Malcolm X shows that peaceful marching, and protesting will not bring justice to blacks and peaceful words will also not guarantee justice. To continue convey his message through aggressive tone he uses Hitler’s example from WW11. He explains how the United States and other countries used violence to take Hitler from power. Because of that, he encourage blacks to stop being friendly to the oppressor and start being aggressive and violence towards them. To add to that, Malcolm X also inspires blacks to control the economy of their community and not let a white men lead the
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.
Ashley Sanchez 29659103 Analysis Essay Oppression is defined by the act of subjugating a people and state through means of force- a universal theme explored in both Hobson’s Choice by Harold Brighouse and Letter from Birmingham Jail written by Martin Luther King Jr (Webster). How can one achieve what they term as the ‘good life’ under oppression and is it necessarily worth the consequences that can result from said search? Hobson’s Choice explores the difficulty of finding a good life under the oppression of a father, and how that quest can result in a happier life. Letter from Birmingham Jail tackles a more defined term of subjugation and the danger of finding a ‘good life’ compared to safety and unhappiness under oppression. Ultimately, the search for a good life is derived from the struggle of rising above one’s oppressor, with the personal satisfaction of searching for the good life outweighing the consequences that may arise.
In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Dr. Martin Luther King brings attention to the reality of racial inequality in the 1960s. King writes this letter in response to clergymen addressing their apprehensions regarding the timing of the nonviolence demonstrations. The letter addressees specific arguments presented in the clergymen’s letter and his direct response. King’s goal in writing this letter is to convince the clergymen that his strategies are right and just. In this section, King rebuts the allegation made by the clergymen that his actions were untimely. In his counter argument, King uses repetition, metaphors, emotional appeals in order to persuade the audience to support his cause.
Each speaker, Martin Luther King Jr, Stokely Carmichael, and Malcolm X, has different opinions and practices on the matter of Human Rights or in others terms, black power. Dr. King is precise in demonstrating non-violence and peaceful protests. Carmichael, after seeing the personal way many white officers and those against him were, as well as what they did to those like him, he did not necessarily advocate violence, but said it was sometimes essential in terms of self-defense. Malcolm X was one of the polar opposite characters. In my eyes and through my readings, Malcolm X incited violence and persuaded the black people that followed him to “hate the white man”. Unlike Dr. King and somewhat Carmichael, Malcolm did not preach peace, but by any means to get their way, which was usually violence.
Martin Luther King Jr. was a civil rights leader who grew up in a middle class family and was well educated. King was always against violence, even thru his entire ministry. He believed in an integrated society between blacks and whites in one American society based upon the promises of the founding fathers of American that all men were created equal and had the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Even though, he was physically and verbally attacked he always stood his ground and never fought with violence. While in jail for 8 days Martin Luther King Jr. compose “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” The letter was evidently a response to a letter that recently ran in the local newspapers by the Birmingham Clergy. Which had claimed that the protesters were “unwise and untimely”. However, Dr. King chose to express himself in writing instead of violence, by replying “Seldom, ...
It was change created by a human for the human, a change which made the life of others livable. During the civil rights movement in America in 1960’s various techniques were used to gain the civil rights for the black people in a series of which came the “Letter form Birmingham jail” written by Martin Luther King himself. King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" was a profound and persuasive written argument which captured the emotions of many people encompassing rigid life experiences, educated observances, and deeply rooted spiritual beliefs. In this letter King freely expressed his position concerning the injustice that black people faced in America. This injustice was segregation for the system of laws and customs separating blacks and whites that whites used to control blacks after slavery that was abolished in 1860’s in the American Civil Rights. While imprisoned in April of 1963 King directly responded to "Letter from Eight White Clergymen" using a variety of argumentative techniques.
Morality derives from the Latin moralitas meaning, “manner, character, or proper behavior.” In light of this translation, the definition invites the question of what composes “proper behavior” and who defines morality through these behaviors, whether that be God, humanity, or Martin Luther King in “A Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Socrates confronted the moral dilemma in his discourses millennia ago, Plato refined his concepts in his Republic, and leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi would commit their life work to defining and applying the term to political reform. Finally, after so many years, King reaches a consensus on the definition of morality, one that weighs the concepts of justice and injustice to describe morality
During the 1950s and 1960s, violence and protests wreaked havoc in cities, because at this time, segregation was the main focus for a divided America. Advocating for himself and followers, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. makes appealing arguments in response to a public statement sent to him by eight Alabama clergymen. In a letter from Dr. Martin King Jr., the iconic civil rights leader, King uses emotional appeals to defend the nonviolent resistance effort. To enumerate, when King addressed the clergymen, he used “my dear fellow clergymen,” rather than addressing them formally, which would allow a separation of conversing individuals. The significance of this statement is meant to invoke a sense of common ground between the clergymen and himself in order to establish a sense of unity. The effect of this specific appeal is that King grasped the attention of people with conflicting viewpoints
Martin Luther King Jr. is widely regarded as one of the most influential and greatest leaders in history, a title he is very deserving of. In “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. displays his compassionate character and inspiring ethics by making references to religion, being respectful to his audience, and showing his thirst for justice. His demonstration of superb character makes King much more respectable and worthy of listening to.
“Letter from Birmingham Jail” as an incongruous text in that it is never one thing. Dr. King refuses to be either a lecturer or preacher, student or teacher, hero or victim, yet all of the above mentioned at once. He accepts the refutations innate in himself, his cause, and his oppressors, well understanding that by addressing tension he and mankind will proceed to
One of the more notable points that Martin Luther King’s “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” regarding the state of individual civil rights is there it requires, on the individual level, the need and ability to be impatient if attaining those civil rights proves to be much more difficult than is required. As King comments on frequently throughout the letter, the ministers often criticized his civil protests to be unwise and untimely, wherein the new city administration should have been given the opportunity to react first. Despite this, King argues that not a single gain of civil rights has ever been attained without “determined legal and nonviolent pressure.” It is evident through his letter then that individual civil rights cannot be attained if any semblance of passivism is present, as those with power and authority who also possess privilege only suggest a gradual implementation of what King was requesting to be done. To continue, King also asserted that when individual civil rights are involved, individuals
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.
Thesis: Racial injustice, inhumane treatment and segregation of African Americans had been fostered and traditionalized by the powers that be, politically and religiously. MLK writes this letter in form of a response to his “fellow Clergymen” whom are non-Negro, about his present activities which they deemed “ unwise and untimely”, disapproving of the non-violent demonstrations for human rights, justice and equality-- “but your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations” (MLK 2004, 1) Injustice existed in Birmingham needing a course of action—“In any non-violent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of facts to determine whether
Malcolm X and Martin Luther King both knew that the white man is the enemy, the slave owner, the oppressor. Both, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, had similar, but different experiences with the white man. The target of the privileged white Americans has been always the African Americans in America to be looked down upon and tormented. Although Malcolm X refused to bring religion in order to fight for what he believed in, him believing the Islam religion is what made Malcolm X more intolerable from the Caucasians. His belief in the Islam religion is a reason why he chose to become an activist. His father was threatened by the Ku Klux Klan, and that is what truly driven him to stand up and take action for civil rights. Martin Luther King shared an experience “...in Birmingham, Alabama when we were in that majestic struggle, there we would move out of the 16th Street Baptist Church day after day… Bull Connor would tell them to send the dogs forth and they did come; but we just went before the dogs singing, "Ain't gonna let nobody turn me round.”” this story shares the faith, the belief and the strength he had about chasing that freedom, even if it was in the back of a paddy wagon singing their hearts out not knowing the outcome. It deeply represents the character of who Martin Luther King was a citizen and human being.