Rhetorical Analysis Of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter To Birmingham Jail

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Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” is a piece of great historical importance as it encapsulates the tumultuous era of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Martin Luther King begins his letter by clearly outlining his audience, who are eight prominent white clergymen in Birmingham, Alabama. He is writing this letter in response to their disapproval of his methods of non-violent protest. King’s goal is to justify the non-violent direct action taken by the civil rights movement against segregation and call for immediate change in the fight against racial injustice. To accomplish this goal, he appeals mainly to pathos in his vivid description of the harsh realities of segregation and racial injustice. In his letter, King …show more content…

Despite the letter’s hurried origins, King effectively addresses multiple problems surrounding racial injustice and civil rights reform. First, King pressures the moderate white clergy about their reluctance to support the civil rights movement and their preference to gradually desegregate. The constant delays by the clergymen to wait for a time of less tension to allow protests caused even greater outrage amongst the African American community. This outrage sparked a series of pickets and sit-ins, known as the Birmingham Campaign, aimed to bring an end to the segregation ordinances in Birmingham. The article “Birmingham Campaign” gives the backstory to the events leading up to King’s arrest and how he eventually was freed. April 10, 1963, the state government granted city officials an injunction banning all anti-segregation protests in Birmingham. April 12, 1963, Dr. King and Rev. Abernathy led a march in defiance of the injunction and as a result were arrested and brought to Birmingham Jail. King knew they had little bail money remaining and that failure to submit to an arrest would undermine his credibility. Given King’s lack of bail funds and his being denied a phone call, it wasn’t until eight days later when the bail money was made available, and he was released. During his time in jail King wrote the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” He started his letter by writing in the margins of the Birmingham Newspaper, in reaction to the statement by the eight white clergymen condemning his protest. He continued his letter on bits of paper given to him by a friend, until his attorneys were able to supply him with paper pads (“Birmingham Campaign”). Dr. King’s resilience and impeccable timing are what make this letter so effective. His sense of urgency in the problems he addresses makes for a strong call to

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