Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, author of “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (1963), suggests that people have the control to follow just laws and have the responsibility to break laws that are clearly unjust. Dr. King supports this by giving personal anecdotes, bringing up past evidence of unjust laws, and uses an assertive tone by highlighting his disappointment with the white church and leadership. His purpose is to explain why peaceful protests and actions are more effective than the use of violence in order to protect not only African Americans, but other minority groups. He establishes an informal relationship with the white religious leaders, specifically the eight who tried to end protests for civil rights. First, he gives personal events showing how he experienced unjust laws. He was arrested for parading without a permit (17). There is not anything …show more content…
King brings up other instances where laws have been considered unjust. For instance, in Nazi Germany, everything Hitler did was technically “legal”, and helping and aiding the Jews was “illegal” (19). He states that if he lived in a Communist country, he would have advocated for Christianity and supported the disobedience of anti-religious laws (19). He gives an example in the Bible where Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are caught breaking a Roman law by worshiping and praising God (18). All of these examples he gives suggest illustrations of laws that do not define morally acceptable behavior, or social more, like not giving them their human rights, as in worshiping the god they want. Ultimately, Dr. King uses an assertive, frustrated tone when expressing his disappointment with the white church, leadership, and community. First, he explains what an unjust law versus a just law is: an unjust law is when the majority is greater than the minority, meaning that the law does not apply to the majority, and on the opposite side, a just law is when the majority and minority are equal, meaning the law applies to both
segregation in Birmingham, Alabama Martin Luther king Jr. wrote a lengthy letter while confined behind bars. He titled it “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Kings letter was specifically addressed to clergymen due to their criticism of his demonstration, calling his works “unwise and untimely” (566). In his letter, he carefully focuses on why he has been placed in jail and explains why it is necessary that humans stand up for they believe and what is consider right. Most importantly, this letter gives insight
Thoughts on Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr. During the first quarter of 1963, a series of correspondence from white clergymen in Alabama, directed at both White and Black citizens of Alabama and Birmingham in particular were circulated. The culmination of this dialogue resulted in Dr. Martin Luther King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail. To summarize the possible thoughts of Dr. King, it’s relevant to review some events that led up to the authoring of the letter. The first
In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” written by Martin Luther King Jr. and published on 1963 of April 16th in response to the Alabama clergymen’s criticism towards King’s actions upon entering Birmingham. King was proclaimed as an outsider by the clergymen, stirring up trouble and causing commotion, but King counters back that anybody who lives in the United States should be in no way consider an outsider especially in the city present in the same country. King—a minister, an activist, and a doctor—argues
Plato and King: Crito and a Letter from Birmingham Jail Making a comparison of Dr. King’s letter from Birmingham with the woks of Plato particularly in the apology is just like comparing two statements regarding moral theory which in most cases do overlap. Each of the two texts makes a discussion of the nature of justice plus the kinds of injustices not forgetting what challenging justice implies. The two pieces of work are in one way or the other, from the political standpoint, that is, in Socrates’
While incarcerated in the Birmingham jail in Alabama, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a leading civil rights activist, took it upon himself to conduct a letter that explains the motivation behind his actions. King has been imprisoned due to civil disobedience, and heard about a letter from clergyman criticizing his work. King then writes the letter addressing the clergyman, the letter is sent to the clergyman making them the audience. The letter subtly shows that he is aggravated by the figurative destruction
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
In this letter he goes into talking about how he basically doesn’t care what others opinions are about what he’s doing. “In your statement you assert that our actions, even though peaceful, must be condemned because they precipitate violence. But is this a logical
In April and May of 1963, Birmingham, Alabama was a focal point for the civil rights movement. Birmingham was home to one of the most violent cells of the KKK and violence against black people was so commonplace (especially in the form of explosives) that it was referred to as “Bombingham.” It was these conditions that lead Martin Luther King to arrive and organize a series of non-violent protests in the city. These protests were relatively low key and weren’t very well attended. This was due
Letter from Birmingham Jail is a letter that explains the controversy that occurred when the clergymen purportedly criticized Luther’s entrance into Birmingham. Luther King Jr writes this letter to the clergymen who had insinuated that the situation of racial discrimination was in control by the law administrators and was not to be intervened by King and his group, the outsiders. The letter is published by the program of Teaching American History - Ashland University and dated on the day and date
Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr. “Hence, segregation is not only politically, economically, and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful.”… Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the greatest speakers in all of history wrote these words in his letter from Birmingham Jail (King 48). His great use of rhetoric affected largely the freeing of an entire race. During his work in the Civil Rights Movement, he visited a small town called Birmingham in Alabama, and wrote
will like you in fact many will hate you for no reason because they don’t know anything about you other than what you look like. This is the case in many stories like Graduation by Maya Angelou, Myth of a Latin Woman by Judith Cofer and Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther king Jr. To any reasonable person these stories would seem very depressing because of the way these people are treated and most of the time they get this treatment because they are too afraid to speak up. Although some people
influential are the best adjectives to explain Letter from Birmingham Jail. Martin Luther King Jr's astuteness is enhanced by the astonishing capability to show the unkind and heartless attitude against black community. Throughout the whole writing to the eight clergymen Jr. never get too far from the clash for fairness in Birmingham. As head of the South Christians Leadership Conferences (SCLC), Martin L. King, Junior., in the year 1963 acknowledged Birmingham, Alabama, as "possibly the most carefully
contributions have had on religious assemblies have been pivotal in guiding religious discourse on subjects such as ethics, morality, and social transformation. It is for this reason, that in this essay an attempt will be made to analyze three essays from three world-renowned theologians of the 20th century. The theologians are Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Walter Wink, all of which have produced the essays used for this analysis, and have written works that have completely
Martin Luther King, Jr. defines “civil disobedience” as a way to show others what to do when a law is unjust and unreasonable. As King stated in the letter from Birmingham, “Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.” When Negros were being treated unfairly, Martin Luther King, Jr. stepped in to show people how to peacefully protest and not be violent. The dictionary definition of civil disobedience is the refusal to comply with certain laws
cursory analysis of "Letter From Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr. and "A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift reveals glaring differences between the two essays. Surprisingly, a side-by-side comparison also yields many similarities between the two works. The most obvious similarity between the two essays is the overarching theme of the subject matter. In both essays, the writers address deeply-entrenched social injustices. For example, in "Letter From Birmingham Jail", King, in his highly-impassioned