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Comparing Obama And Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter From Birmingham Jail

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After taking an in depth look at all of the available topics, I meticulously made my choice to write my paper on two critical speeches that I believe explains a great impact on today’s society and the government. First Martin Luther King Jr’s, “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. My second choice is “A More Perfect Union” a speech by former President Obama. These two speeches endure what the United States government refuses to talk about which is race. What was interesting between these two men are from different era’s in time, however they see the same issue.
Senator Obama delivered a speech on inequality and the racial tension in the United States. Senator Obama about the privileged, he also addressed some concerns due to the comments his pastor …show more content…

Martin
Luther King Jr. was merely a man. Dr. King was arrested for demonstrating without permits in Birmingham, Alabama. After the arrest of Dr. King people questioned his actions, stating that his actions were unwise and untimely. In response to this Dr. King wrote “Letter from
Birmingham Jail.” In this letter he stated under normal circumstances he would not feed into the criticism of his fellow peers and colleagues. He wanted to dedicatee his time and effort to the larger picture and make an impact on the world.
President Obama and Martin Luther King Jr. delivered their message through religion in relation to the race issues in America. The influences and how this effects the life of minorities and under privileged in America. President Obama being a church bearing man didn’t always agree with his pastor however he respected his pastor. Dr. King delivered his messages and influence from behind the pulpit. The two men fought the the racial issues from the aspects of how they experienced it coming up through their youth to adulthood. Barack Obama grew up without segregation but still witnessed the racial issues of America. Dr. King grew up in the time

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In Roy Clark’s essay, “A More Perfect Union” He talks about Barack Obama’s March 18th speech was shown to the public as power and brilliant. He wants to move the country to a “new and better place.” (685) Clark also says that the speeches immediate purpose was for the white voters to feel like they had nothing to fear from a “Fiery African-American pastor. ”(685) He also states that Obama’s speech sounded better than it was to read.

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On August 28th, 1963 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King held one of the most powerful and influential speeches in human history. The speech was held in front of more than 200 000 people and concerned the injustices of discrimination of African Americans which was taking place in the United States at the time. In his first statement he says: “I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.” With this introduction Mr. King firmly states what the essence of his speech will be.

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Letter From Birmingham Jail In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested for leading a nonviolent protest against Jim Crow Laws in Birmingham, Alabama. While in his jail cell, King wrote a letter to the Alabama clergymen defending and explaining his reason for nonviolent protesting and his involvement in protests outside his own town. Martin Luther King Jr. uses several literary devices such as, pathos, allusions, and parallelism to address the clergymen about nonviolent protesting, injustice within communities and the nation, and his disappointment in the church.

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Martin Luther King Jr, the most well known civil rights activist and president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama on April 6, 1963.He was arrested for protesting without a license. Martin Luther King wrote a letter while in jail in response to the clergymen stating that he no longer wanted to sit and wait and to be heard while writing his letter King used rhetorical devices to develop his argument. Martin Luther King is establishing his credit. King was a very strong person he went through so much to get us where we are today. He faced many challenges, where, king got arrested for protesting and marching because he got tired of sitting there and waiting.

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Racism has been an important issue that plays a huge role in today’s society. In Roy Peter Clark’s article “Why it worked”, he expressed his views on Barack Obama’s speech “A More Perfect Union”. Also comparing it to Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. In Obama’s speech he discussed the constitution and racial segregation in America, and the comments made by Reverend J. Wright, his former pastor. He also tells a little about his racial background.

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Martin Luther King, the most well known civil rights activist and president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama, on April 16, 1963. He was arrested for protesting without a license. Martin Luther King wrote a letter while in jail in response to the clergymen, stating that he no longer wanted to sit and wait to be heard. While writing this letter, Martin Luther King uses his claims, rhetorical devices, and conference sources to develop his argument. Martin Luther King states that he is not an outsider.

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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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On April 12, 1963, eight clergymen wrote an open letter, “A Call for Unity”. In this published letter, the clergymen expressed their strong disapproval of the civil rights demonstrations taking place in Birmingham, Alabama. That same day, civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested for protesting without a permit. In his short eleven-day jail sentence, Dr. King directly responded to the clergymen with a letter of his own. In his letter, Dr. King informed his readers about the protests in Birmingham.

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Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a letter from his jail cell in Birmingham after he was imprisoned during a march for civil rights. This letter was in response to one written by church leaders in Birmingham condemning the actions of Martin Luther King Jr. and his compatriots. They felt the march was “unwise and untimely” and expressed a belief that the problems he was protesting were better fought through the court system. Overall, Dr. King spoke about the necessity and process of non- violent direct action, just and unjust laws, and of his disappointment in the actions of the white moderate. He argued with the words and logic of a well-educated gentlemen to counteract the church’s argument which appealed to white moderates.

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In his letter he is mainly reaching out to the entire country to try and get them to put a stop to racial injustice. The way that he addressed and refuted the clergymen's letter is one of the things that made this letter most effective. Another thing that made this letter so effective, is the way that he used the appeal to emotion, or pathos, to pull the readers in and make them think about if it were them that were being discriminated against. Martin Luther King Jr. is very successful in explaining how injustice anywhere is a threat to justice

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Because of his skill in creating such pieces of writing, as well as his influential role within the Civil Rights Movement, and the reminder that Letter from Birmingham Jail provides of these trying times, his letter should continue to be included within A World of Ideas. Persuasion within writing is an important tool to be utilized in order to garner support for one’s position. During the 1960s, equality between different races was a very controversial issue which required a certain finesse when being discussed. Martin Luther King demonstrated precisely this sort of finesse when writing about the racial injustices faced by black Americans, as well as when refuting the criticisms he faced from white clergymen.

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Obama’s use of ethos and pathos in his “A More Perfect Union” speech further helps to persuade his voters to stick with him because he does not have the same views as Reverend Wright. It gives some context as to why some African-Americans feel the way they do towards the government and other races. In his speech Obama also uses irony by noting the old truism that the “most segregated hour in American life occurs on sunday morning” meaning that on a day that's supposed to be dedicated to love and God, the American people are still segregated and racially divided whether it be Black and White or Latino and Asian(Obama). The combined use of ethos, pathos, and irony strengthen Obama's message of unity and equality.

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Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most influential leaders of his time and played a crucial role in the African-American Civil Rights movement. Luther was a charismatic leader who took a firm stand against the oppressive and racist regime of the United States (US), devoting much of his life towards uniting the segregated African-American community of the US. His efforts to consolidate and harmonise the US into one country for all is reflected in many of his writings and speeches spanning his career. As a leader of his people, King took the stand to take radical measures to overcome the false promises of the sovereign government that had been addressing the issues of racial segregation through unimplemented transparent laws that did nothing to change the grim realities of the society. Hence, King’s works always had the recurring theme of the unity and strength of combined willpower.

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Obama Speech On March 18, 2008, former United States president Barack Obama made a statement to clarify the meaning and the truth behind the statements made by his pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright. During this time in America, many people felt racism was very much alive in society and hoped that voting for a black president would be a major step to resolving this ongoing problem. Yet the reverends comments seem to prove to people across the country that racism was not only still existing, but that the possibly elected African American president was a racist. Using plain folk, Barack Obama was able to educate people on the truth of his views by making Americans very engaged through incorporation of known events into his ideas, making people

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