Copyright 2023 IPL.org All rights reserved. Who was he truly writing for? He hopes that this letter will stop this injustice matter, and show what the African American desire. The main argument Dr. King is making in the letter is the protest being done in Birmingham is "wise" and most important "timely". similes, metaphors, and imagery are all used to make the letter more appealing to the audiences they make the letter more descriptive while making you focus on one issue at a time. The clergymen along with others are addressed in an assertive tone allowing them to fully understand why his actions are justified. One example of parallelism he uses is, But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize, and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity (Barnet and Bedau 741). Dr. This helps King focus on the differences between them. In response to Kings peaceful protesting, the white community viewed [his] nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist, and subsequently imprisoned the pastor (para 27). In this way, King juxtaposes his perspective with that of the clergy to demonstrate the depravity of his oppressors. Metaphors, allusions, and rhetorical questions are used in the most skillful way to support his argument and ultimately convince his audience of the credibility behind his emotional, yet factual, claims. This period of quiet speculation over the law illuminates the national divide in opinion over the matter, one which King helped persuade positively. He wanted this letter to encourage and bring up a people that will start a revolution. In A Letter From A Birmingham Jail Martin Luther King Jr defends his use of nonviolent protest in order to accomplish racial equality. If your first two elements are verbs, the third element is usually a verb, too. Martin Luther King Jr. was an American baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the Civil Rights Movement in 1954. Magnifying the differences between two things and repeating statements with similar structure brings about emotion to realize the wrongness of the injustice of civil. To get a high-quality original essay, click here. Both lincolns Gettysburg Address and Martin Luther King's I have a dream speech are similar in that they both express the concept of freedom to achieve their purpose. Martin Luther King Jr. uses both logical and emotional appeals in order for all his listeners to be able to relate and contemplate his speeches. King establishes his position supported by historical and biblical allusions, counterarguments, and the use of rhetorical devices such as ethos, pathos, and logos. Prior to the mid 20th century, social injustice, by means of the Jim Crow laws, gave way to a disparity in the treatment of minorities, especially African Americans, when compared to Caucasians. Macbeth) in the essay title portion of your citation. These two techniques played a crucial role in furthering his purpose and in provoking a powerful response from the audience that made this speech memorable and awe-inspiring. This audience is rhetorical as the social and political ideologies of the American people fuel democracy and are able to change the system around them through collective effort. On the other hand, logical appeals helps to grasp the concept better and provides facts that prove it to be true. Kings goes on to say how racial equality can not be achieved until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream (King). Martin Luther King Jr., with the Rev. This evidence, revealing MLKs use of pathos, was used to reach out to the emotional citizens who have either experienced or watched police brutality. Lastly, King is constrained by his medium. He approaches his argument with logic and appealing to the people of Birminghams emotions. Dr. King brought people up and gave them hope that one day everything will be taken care of and we 'll all be happy, he said that one day we 'll have peace and love among each other. To this day, Kings speech remains one of the most famous and influential speeches in. King does this in an effective and logical way. Dr. King repeats the same starting words when you have seen with different examples of injustices. Using emotional appeals captures an audience's attention and makes them think about what the narrator is saying. I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. In the Gettysburg Address Lincoln talks about how people fought the war and how people should honor their soldiers. While in jail, King received a letter from eight Alabama clergyman explaining their concern and opposition to King and his non-violent actions. 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. In the same manner, King believed that people could unite to combat oppression. King writes the letter to defend his organization's actions and the letter is also an appeal to the people, both the white and black American society, the social, political, and religious community, and the whole of American society to encourage desegregation and encourage solidarity and equality among all Americans, with no stratifications according to racial differences. " A just law is man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of the god. The Letter from Birmingham Jail addresses many problems, including the slow action occuring to stop racial discrimination. Dr. King wrote, This wait has almost always meant never. This is why Dr. king addresses this matter in a letter about the battle of segregation. "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." - Martin Luther King Jr., "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" "United there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Here, King offers disparate hypotheticals to illustrate the necessity for brevity in his acts. There may have been advantages to broadcasting this message similarly to his I Have a Dream speech, which touched America deeply, due potentially to the accessible, instantaneous, and widespread coverage in American media. Lloyd Bitzer describes rhetorical situation as, a complex of persons, events, objects, and relations presenting an actual or potential exigence which can be completely or partially removed if discourse, introduced into the situation, can so constrain human decision or action to bring about the significant modification of the exigence (6). It elucidated the exigence behind his letter as his presented rationale behind his arrest only made unjust laws appear more asinine and questionable by relation. In Martin Luther Kings Jr, Letter from Birmingham Jail the letter was a persuasive attempt to get Americans to finally see the inequality in the United States of America. In Letter from Birmingham Jail, King implements antithesis -- along with his background as a minister -- to demonstrate the hypocrisy of the Southern clergymen, as he attempts to further diverge the two diametric rationales; thus, he creates logos as he appeals to the audiences logical side and urges African-Americans to act punctual in their fight against injustice, prompted by the imprudent words of the clergy. While this fight had been raging for nearly 10 years, the release in 1963 was shortly followed by the Civil Rights Act in 1964. This protest, his subsequent arrest, and the clergymens public statement ostensibly make up the rhetorical exigence, but it truly stems from a much larger and dangerous situation at hand: the overwhelming state of anti-black prejudice spread socially, systematically, and legislatively in America since the countrys implementation of slavery in Jamestown, 1619. During a civil resistance campaign in Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. King was arrested. He said that one day we won 't have to worry about our skin color and segregation and that we 'll all come together as one. Although the letter was addressed to the eight clergymen, the Letter from Birmingham Jail speaks to a national audience. However, in the months that followed, Kings powerful words were distributed to the public through civil rights committees, the press, and was even read in testimony before Congress (Letter from Birmingham Jail), taking the country by storm. He points out the irony of America because Black Americans were still not truly free. Constraints bring light to the obstacles this rhetoric may face, whether it be social, political, economical, etc. He uses the rhetorical appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos numerous times throughout his essay to relay his argument about the laws of segregation and the African-Americans that are being cruelly treated.. The constraints surrounding Martin Luther Kings rhetorical situation include the audience, the rhetorical exigence of the situation he is responding to, Dr. King himself, and the medium, all of which are deeply connected. The topic of Dr. Kings letters from a Birmingham prison is the nonviolent protest being done in Birmingham, Alabama in the fight for African Americans civil rights. Later in the letter, parallelism is used to contrast just laws and unjust laws. Letter from a Birmingham Jail AP.GOPO: PRD1.A (LO) , PRD1.A.2 (EK) Google Classroom Full text of "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr. 16 April 1963 My Dear Fellow Clergymen: While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities "unwise and untimely." Civil rights is an emotional subject for those who were affected by it, and MLK is proving his argument on civil disobedience. 100% plagiarism free, Orders: 11 Any subject. The letter goes on to explain his choice to act directly and nonviolently, stating, For years now I have heard the word wait. It rings in the ear of every Negro with a piercing familiarity. the exigence is the continued condemnation, segregation, and prejudice afflicted against African Americans since the emancipation of the slaves in 1863. Kings decision to compare his efforts to those of biblical figures with shared intent was a deliberate attempt to find common ground with his initial readers, the eight religious Birmingham clergymen, through the faith of a shared religion. Dr. King often used repetition and parallel construction to great emotional effect when he spoke. 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. Read these passages aloud, and as you do so, feel their undeniable passion and power. Martin Luther leading peaceful Birmingham protest, AP News. There are people in the white community that are already standing hand-in-hand with them and their dreams. First, King writes that the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. This antithesis makes the audience realize that the Negroes have been left behind and ignored while the rest of modern society has charged forward into prosperity and fortune. It was important for King to address this audience as their support would ultimately make the largest difference in the movement. Dr. King was the foremost civil rights leader in America in the 1950s and 1960s who was ordained minister and held a doctorate in theology. Throughout the text, King utilized the values of his audience to gain sympathy and later on support. In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action. In addressing and confronting the problem of injustices among the black Americans in the American society, particularly the violence that had happened in Birmingham, and, Martin Luther King Jr. faced many challenges during his life. His audience ranged between those who his message empowered, a radical positive force, and those who disagreed, made up of southern states, extremist groups, and the majority of American citizens stuck in their racial prejudices. Analysing a rhetorical situation clarifies why a text was created, the purpose in which it was written, and why the author made specific choices while writing it. Yet his most important method of reaching his audience, and conveying his enduring message of equality and freedom for the whole nation was his appeal to pathos. Identify the parallel structures in the following sentence from Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail," and explain their effect. Firstly, and most daunting, is the constraint of the letters audience. With these devices, King was able to move thousands of hearts and inspire the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s unfolded, Martin Luther King Jr. had, perhaps, the most encompassing and personal rhetorical situation to face in American history. This is the beginning of King's point-by-point rebuttal of the criticisms leveled against him. King is saying that if we allow injustice to happen in some places, we risk it happening to everyone. He needed something, that special something, that would ignite the fire that had somehow died out. His goal is to make the clergymen help him fight racial equality. Martin Luther King Jr. displays pathos by targeting the audiences emotion by talking about his American dream that could also be other peoples too. Fred Shuttlesworth, defied an injunction against protesting on Good Friday in 1963. Read along here: https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.htmlop audio here: https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/lett. He begins strongly by explaining why he is in Birmingham in the first place, stating, So I am herebecause we were invited here. Both influential speeches rely heavily on rhetorical devices to convey their purpose. While the Civil Rights movement superseded the dismantling of Jim Crow, the social ideologies and lackadaisical legislature behind anti-black prejudice continued to rack the country far into the 1960s. Constraints bring light to the obstacles this rhetoric may face, whether it be social, political, economical, etc. Similarly, King uses pathos to trigger the emotional . In response, King emphasized that justice is never timely, and the refusal to acknowledge equal rights was inhumane and regressive. Being nearly symbolic, King being held prisoner in Birmingham, the most polar racial arena of the United States, made his rhetoric more effective. Civil rights leader and social activist Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a world renown correspondence, Letter From Birmingham Jail, in April of 1963, during a time when segregation was at its peak in the South. 1, Penn State University Press, 1968, pp. Martin Luther King Jr. was born to a middle class family and was well educated. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., along with many other civil activist, began a campaign to change the laws and the social attitudes that caused such a disparity. King has explained this through many examples of racial situations, factual and logical reasoning, and . His audience ranged between those who his message empowered, a radical positive force, and those who disagreed, made up of southern states, extremist groups, and the majority of American citizens stuck in their racial prejudices. Initially, the eight Birmingham clergymen are the audience and while they were not overtly racist, King uses rhetoric meant to have them understand his urgency. Parallelism is useful to emphasize things and ideas to the audience, which, like all the other tropes and schemes. In "Letter from Birmingham Jail", King implements antithesis -- along with his background as a minister -- to demonstrate the hypocrisy of the Southern clergymen, as he attempts to further diverge the two diametric rationales; thus, he creates logos as he appeals to the audience's logical side and urges African-Americans to act punctual in their 114, Jr., Martin Luther King. During the era of the civil rights movements in the 60s, among the segregation, racism, and injustice against the blacks, Martin Luther King Jr. stood at the Lincoln Memorial to deliver one of the greatest public speeches for freedom in that decade. King uses parallelism to add balance and rhythm to his rhetoric. King addressed these communities as the primary groups wherein racial segregation is continuously proliferated (the white American political and religious community) and points much of his arguments to and for his fellow black Americans in the society. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust(Barnet and Bedau 742). King strategically persuades. In Letter From Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King responds to the subjectivity of law and the issue he paramounts by using precise and impactful rhetoric from inside of his jail cell. MLK uses both ways to gain the attention and agreement of the audience but, he uses pathos not just more, but in a more relatable way in order to appeal to his audience.

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