Letter From Birmingham Jail Rhetorical Analysis

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The fight for civil rights in mid-1900s America wasn’t easy, with advocates facing both discrimination and segregation in their day-to-day lives. This doesn’t mean, however, that the fight for civil rights in America was impossible, One of the most significant figures during the civil rights movement was Martin Luther King, who, in response to a statement made by a group of clergymen that criticized King’s movement, wrote “A Letter from Birmingham Jail” addressing the points made by the clergymen, while making points of his own. With passion and a sense of purpose, Martin Luther King employs credibility, parallelism, and both allusions and anaphora in response to a statement of criticism directed towards King’s civil rights campaign while informing the public of the injustices in Birmingham and persuading them …show more content…

King writes, “I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every Southern State” (1). King understands that the clergymen are a well known group, and by mentioning his position as president of an organization with “some eighty-five affiliate organizations all across the South” (1), King raises his credibility, which counteracts the credibility of the clergymen. This also appeals to the two main groups in his audience: the ones supporting segregation, and those opposing segregation. It appeals to those supporting segregation by mentioning the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, knowing most of the people who support segregation typically come from religious-dominated households. It appeals to those opposing segregation, as he later mentions the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. This lets the people opposing segregation know that he supports movements for civil and human rights. Martin Luther King later uses parallelism in his letter to make the audience feel certain

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