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Analysis Of Martin Luther King Letter From Birmingham Jail

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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter From Birmingham Jail Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter From Birmingham Jail was his most infamous publication. Influenced by Thoreau and Gandhi for their similar ideas on peaceful protesting injustice in society, King created a group of nonviolent protesters across the south known as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). King’s whole movement was based around being nonviolent, King saw this as a way to get his message across peacefully and while being taken seriously. This is known as civil disobedience. In the letter, King is addressing leaders who had published a document against him and fellow SCLC members for protesting in Birmingham. While writing this King was incarcerated in a Birmingham jail for the protesting. Dr. King was jailed due to him expressing his First Amendment freedom of the right to peaceful assembly. King stayed peaceful throughout the arrest, and spent his time professionally addressing those against his mission. This letter provides King’s argument for the importance of this granted right and why he is being punished for practicing it. Nobody has been given freedom without a fight b …show more content…

King states “I would agree with St. Augustine that ‘An unjust law is no law at all.’”(King). As human beings it is our natural instinct to rebel against laws that are detrimental and unfair, this is what King refers to as unjust laws. Just laws would be those laws for the common good of society, which are unbiased. King’s whole argument is based around God. King knows that one cannot be oppressed forever without the urge to act against the oppressor “The urge for freedom will eventually come”(King). King argues were all born with freedom instilled in us and that it is only natural to fight for

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In Doctor Martin Luther king’s letter from a Birmingham jail, he transmits a message from the nonviolence protestors to the Birmingham clergymen about the injustice against black people. Dr. King was arrested and sent to jail in order to hold the protests. During 1963, segregation was taking over Birmingham, churches, libraries and even businesses were facing violence and constant discrimination, leaving the city a difficult and unsafe place to live for many African Americans. Through his letter, Dr. King expresses his disappointment with Birmingham and those who criticized his beliefs and movement. He defended his right to be there transmitting feelings and emotions on the matter.

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(Paragraph 4). This drew the clergymen’s attention to King’s beliefs and possibly made them realize the flaws in the system. King also states, “A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law…” (Paragraph 5).

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Letters From Birmingham City Jail On April 16th, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr, a strong hearted pastor wrote in his letter entitled Letters From Birmingham City Jail discussed how protests are allowed and no illegal to anyone. He supports his claims by first questioning on why blacks deserve this struggle of equality and said freedom is a god given right. Another claim he stated was protesting normal disobedience will eventually change the world to the better and to make everyone equal. Finally, King claims he hopes that change and equality will eventually bring everyone together and unite the world for the U.S. Through King’s usage of tone, rhetorical appeals, and rhetorical tools he effectually persuades the Clergymen of U.S. to consider

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In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” he is addressing the Clergymen, more specifically the white church and its leadership who criticized his efforts in the civil rights movement, by calling his demonstrations unwise and untimely. He is also simultaneously addressing the national audience as well in letting them know of the injustices of the time. It was 1963, and Martin Luther King Jr. wrote this letter from inside a jail cell. He had been arrested during an anti-segregation march for not having a valid parading permit in Birmingham, Alabama. In this letter he addresses the criticisms that were brought forth to him.

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895 Words | 4 Pages

In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. led a peaceful movement in Birmingham, Alabama. The purpose of the demonstration was to bring awareness and end to racial disparity in Birmingham. Later that night, King and his followers were detained by city authorities. While in custody, King wrote the famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” This letter voiced out his disappointment in the criticisms, and oppositions that the general public and clergy peers obtained.

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Letter from Birmingham Jail Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister and social activist, who led the civil right movement in the United Stated throughout the mid 50’s until his assassination. Dr. King was arrested for participating in some sort of demonstration against racism and unjustified segregation. King’s “Letter from Birmingham city jail” purpose is to basically promote responsible and efficient leadership without racism and injustice. Throughout his letter, Dr. King wanted to illustrate the bias way of how the African American community was treated especially in the South.

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King quotes St. Augustine is his letter saying,” an unjust law is no law at all.” And in such case of an unjust law, it is the publics duty to openly and lovingly break the law. By breaking an unjust law, King

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He wants all wrongs and rights to be the same for everybody. I decided to take my personal life into account. I have my own beliefs and morals, but just because mine aren't the same as everyone else doesn't mean that I judge. It actually makes me more considerate of others. My argument for King would be, if everyone's rights and wrongs were the same, then we would never have the right to judge.

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In paragraph 9 King states “there are two types of laws: there are just laws, and there are unjust laws (6),” and then continues with King stating “Now, what is the difference between the two? (7)” What is the difference between an unjust law and a just law? King goes on to explain that a just law is one that “squares with the moral

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957 Words | 4 Pages

“Letter from Jail” On April 16, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a letter to the eight clergymen while he was incarcerated. Dr. King wrote this letter to address one of the biggest issues in Birmingham, Alabama and other areas within the United States. The “Letter from Birmingham Jail” discussed the great injustices that were happening during that time towards the black community. Dr. King wanted everyone to have the same equal rights as the white community, he also went into further details about the struggles that African Americans were going through for so many years, which he felt like it could change. Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, expressed his beliefs and his actions about the Human Rights Movement.

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726 Words | 3 Pages

Civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr, in his Letter from Birmingham City Jail, argues against criticism from eight Alabama clergymen, and addresses their concerns. He defends his position, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), against accusations of disturbing the peace in Birmingham, as well as explaining his values and opinions. Throughout the letter, King adopts a strong logical and credible tone, and reinforces his position through the use of strong emotional justifications, in order to appeal to the clergymen and defend his public image. Martin Luther King opens up his Letter from Birmingham City Jail by appealing to the clergymen's emotions, and assuring his peaceful response, which he describes in "patient and

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King believed that if he could just go to Birmingham, and protest non-violently, that he could make a difference. On April 16, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. was imprisoned, in Birmingham, for protesting the civil rights of Black Americans. While in jail, he began writing a letter addressing the clergymen. His main audience in writing this letter was to the eight clergymen who criticized his actions and also the majority of the population as well. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, argues that injustice

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Martin Luther King goes further to explain the difference between a just and an unjust law. “A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law of the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law”. “Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust”.

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959 Words | 4 Pages

In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. was sent to jail because of a peaceful protest, protesting treatments of blacks in Birmingham. Before the protest a court ordered that protests couldn’t be held in Birmingham. While being held in Birmingham, King wrote what came to be known as the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Not even King himself could predict how much of an impact this letter would have on the Civil Rights Movement. In the letter kind defended Kings beliefs on Nonviolent Protests, King also counters the accusations of him breaking laws by categorizing segregation laws into just and unjust laws. King uses this principle to help persuade others to join him in his acts of civil disobedience.

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philosophizes that if we, as human beings, forgo our instincts at the service of something higher, justice will prevail. In “A Letter From a Birmingham Jail,” he asserts that there are certain permanent truths which will never evaporate. These truths will always stand firm as fundamental principles which justify what is morally right and wrong, just and unjust. King deliberates that “the yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself” (“Letter,” p. 771). Furthermore, Martin Luther King, Jr. declares that there are universal and borderless Gospels of Freedom and Justice, which resound in the natural constitution of every human person, and are uplifted, fulfilled, and dignified by the divine wisdom of

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