Rhetorical Analysis Of Letter From Birmingham Jail

Segregationist, Martin Luther King, Jr., in his letter “Letter from Birmingham Jail” emphasizes the need for integration and racial equality. After reading text written by clergymen, King felt the responsibility to explain his cause. He adapts a diplomatic tone in order to convince society to integrate and end racial injustice. King begins his letter by introducing the reason for being in Birmingham.

He writes this letter to defend his organization and peaceful protesting, yet also identifies the racial injustices he, and many other citizens received. King’s writing was very effective in accomplishing his goal to get his point across that segregation is a very serious thing. King hopes that his powerful and emotional message in his letter will impact how the clergymen, the whites, and many others approach and take action towards segregation. He hopes that they will see how terrible inequality truly is and make the American Society have less hate and more

King writes, “Any law that degrades human personality is unjust” (259). He illustrates this thought when stating, “All

Letter From Birmingham Jail – A Rhetorical Analysis In April of 1963, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama for protesting the mistreatment of blacks in the American South. During his time in jail, King produced a letter intended for his fellow clergymen, a response to the criticism he received for his work and ideas. One of King’s main arguments in this rhetorical work is that people have a moral responsibility to peacefully reject unjust laws. King’s position is that laws that are out of harmony with the moral law or the law of God are unjust and should be rejected.

Rhetorical Strategy Throughout King's letter, he uses an ethos rhetorical style to refer to the ethical aspects of the situation. The concept of ethos refers to the author's credibility in the subject matter. King was confident that with his knowledge and reputation, he could deliver a persuasive argument to those in authority to end segregation. King emphasized that discrimination harmed many citizens, especially African Americans. In the absence of other options, King became more visible and vocal in his protests in a non-violent manner.

Dr. King appeals to the clergymen by strategically using pathos to trigger an emotional aspect. He also employs ethos and logos to make his position transparent. The combination of pathos, ethos, and logos

These clergymen deemed his organized group activities as “unwise and untimely.” (King, 1963). These men, who at the time had higher power over King due to their race, were unwelcoming and racist, which caused King to need firm and calm but strongly expressed arguments. King’s speech, on the other hand, is positive and powerful with a direct audience to speak to instead of a letter. His speech has an optimistic tone towards his audience as he quickly claims his happiness towards the gathering and his certainty of the impact he would make with “…the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.”

While Martin Luther King was confined in a Birmingham jail, he wrote a gratifying letter of response to a published criticism of eight fellow clergymen from Alabama. In his letter, King explains the injustice happening toward the Black community in Birmingham, which was a big issue in United States at the time. King’s use of the three rhetorical appeals are essential in successfully influencing critics of his views toward civil disobedience. When writing the letter, the Alabama clergy present him as an outsider in the letter; however, he uses ethos, an appeal to ethics, to establish his credibility on the subject of racial discrimination and injustice.

Amidst the intense Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested and put in solitary confinement for peacefully protesting racial discrimination and injustice in Birmingham, Alabama. It was during this time that Dr. King, refusing to sit idly by, wrote his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” one of the most inspiring documents in history. With his respectful nature, humility, compassion, optimism, and determination, King responded to a group of white Alabama clergymen who had condemned the civil rights protests as extreme in their open letter, “A Call for Unity.” Although his letter was directed towards a small group of eight men, his words eventually reached the minds and hearts of the entire country. Throughout the letter, Dr. King does a tremendous job of supporting his argument with the three elements of Aristotle’s rhetorical appeal.

While in solitary confinement for nearly 8 days, reverend and social justice activist, Martin Luther King Jr., wrote his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail in response to the criticism he received for his non-violent protests. Several clergy who negatively critiqued King’s approach of seeking justice, wrote A Call for Unity, arguing that his protests were senseless and improper. Within the article, the clergymen provide nine different critiques that asserted how King’s protest are invalid, uneffective, and simply unintelligent in the fight for obtaining justice and equity for individuals of color. His letter has become one of the most profound pieces of literature of the 20th century, as King uses vivid examples and eloquent rhetorical devices to counter all nine arguments.

King uses strong, powerful language in his letter to analyze how protesting is right in the eyes of him and his fellow men because of the way they are being treated. King says, “All Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually” (paragraph 25). By using the word “Christians” it points out and focuses on the priests because they are Christians. Therefore, they will feel a personal connection between what King is writing and their lives. King explains what is happening to African Americans during this time and the struggles they are going through in their day-to-day life, unlike these fellow clergymen.

In “A Letter From A Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther King Jr defends his use of nonviolent protest in order to accomplish racial equality. In the letter, Dr. King uses ethos, diction, and allusions when defending nonviolent protest which makes his argument really strong. His goal is to make the clergymen help him fight racial equality. He uses ethos to build up credibility.

Looking at this letter from King’s time period, one may seem to not understand where King was coming from because the issue was still fresh, but today his letter has lots of

In paragraphs 33 to 44 of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s response to “A Call for Unity,” a declaration by eight clergymen, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (1963), he expresses that despite his love for the church, he is disappointed with its lack of action regarding the Civil Rights Movement. Through powerful, emotionally-loaded diction, syntax, and figurative language, King adopts a disheartened tone later shifts into a determined tone in order to express and reflect on his disappointment with the church’s inaction and his goals for the future. King begins this section by bluntly stating that he is “greatly disappointed” (33) with the church, though he “will remain true to it as long as the cord of life shall lengthen” (33). By appealing to ethos and informing the audience of his history with the church, he indicates that he is not criticizing the church for his own sake, but for the good of the church.

King uses pathos to tap into his audience’s mind to think about the importance of promoting action now rather than waiting for others to promote it first. He ends his letter by stating that he “hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation”. (King Jr., p. 658) Dr. King is a man of great integrity and love. He wanted to bring his fellow brother and sister together as a nation strong and not divided.