Analysis Of Letter From Birmingham Jail By Martin Luther King Jr.

Found in his letter titled “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King Jr. told his clergymen, “We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights” (381). His clergymen criticized his position to desegregation in the United States (1958-1968) arguing it was “untimely”. Easy for the clergymen to say since they were not the race targeted to segregation. Before King’s victory to desegregation, was a rational writer David Thoreau (b. 1817-1862). Thoreau lived during two prevalent injustices in the United States: slavery (1620-1865) and the Mexican War (1846-1848). Both Thoreau and King each reflects in certain ways Plato’s “ideals” but comparing Thoreau and King as representative men, Thoreau tends to be secular

In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, King shares his account of his first opportunity to speak with “Birmingham’s economic community leaders” (379) to negotiate about removing “the stores humiliating racial signs” (379). King did not want to have an argument with “Birmingham’s economic community leaders” because he wanted to build a positive relationship along with the city of Birmingham to end racial segregation culture. For King to resolve racial segregation in Birmingham, he knowledge to start from local, manageable grounds. But this plan failed as it was proven difficult to permanently remove these signs throughout Birmingham city. He explains, “As the weeks and months went by, we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise. A few signs, briefly removed, returned; the others remained” (379). The stores failed to keep their promise to have the racial signs removed from their stores after having a negation. Changing the racially segregated culture in Birmingham will require more than just negotiation and King prepares for the next step in

King persisted his position to desegregation after a failed attempt at negotiation. He believed this part of the plan was most effective because “Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue” (380). Nonviolent direct action achieves presenting an issue at a dramatic scale, therefore, it forces undivided attention. This also gathers attention not just within Birmingham or in the United States but globally too. He also aimed at ending the racially segregated culture of Birmingham by “. . . a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth” (King 380). His goal of creating nonviolent ways of bringing opposing races together does have purpose for personal growth in Birmingham. It develops a peaceful relationship and help eliminate the traditional mindset of racial prejudices. At this level of human bonding, the opposing races will realize of the senseless acts of hatred and