was a very influential person in the Civil Rights Movement and in American History. While in jail, he saw a newspaper containing an article from clergymen in the surrounding area asking him to stop his peaceful protest. He responded with a letter titled “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” In that letter, he put his position into the clergymen’s perspective so they could why he was protesting. He compared himself to St. Paul and stated, “just as the Apostle Paul left his little village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to practically every hamlet and city of the Greco-Roman world, I too am compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my particular hometown.”
In his famous text “ Letter from A Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr makes use of rhetorical strategies, especially in the fourteenth paragraph. In order to help illustrate the frustration that
The most effective rhetorical device, I think, used by Martin Luther King is, ethos and pathos because he used the colored people's belief to get them to support him in his journey and he used their emotions to compare it to the whiteś emotion. First, Martin uses ethos,¨Like paul, i must constantly respond to the macedonian call for aid.¨ (SB Page 207) This means, in martinś speech he wisely used the belief of his people (God) to inspirate them. This is a clear example of ethos. Next Martin uses Pathos ¨We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor.”
In the “letter from Birmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., he uses pathos, logos and rhetorical devices such as imagery, sarcasm and biblical allusions to show how his work of nonviolent protests are smart and how Birmingham has violated their civil rights. He expresses himself in his letter by explaining why he can not wait any longer because of the countless murders, the unsolved bombing, lynching, and violence towards the black community. MLK Jr. came across a statement which was a call for unity by eight Clergymen while being in the Birmingham city jail because of him not having a license to protest. In response to the eight Clergymen, Dr. king decided to write a historical letter letting them know that freedom was not an option because of the false promise and the continued violence. The letter is written to inform the people who are against, neutral and with segregation that it is time to take action and prove to the clergymen why he will stand up for what is right.
“When he died, I think something died in all of us. Something died in America. Each day I think we must find a way, to dream the dream that he dreamed. And build on what he left all of us” (John Lewis). Dr king, a man with a dream that the heat of oppression will transform into an oasis of freedom and justice.
advocates for often in his sermons and letters. He claims that this is one way to create change – something that will not happen if nothing is done to create it. In his “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” he said, “I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.
Civil Disobedience Compare and Contrast Henry Thoreau and Martin Luther King both wrote persuasive discussions that oppose many ideals and make a justification of their cause, being both central to their argument. While the similarity is obvious, the two essays, Civil Disobedience by Thoreau and Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr. do have some similarities. King tries persuading white, southern clergymen that segregation is an evil, unfair law that ought to defeat by use of agitation of direct protesting. Thoreau, on the other hand, writes to a broader, non-addressed audience, and focuses more on the state itself. He further accepts it at its current state, in regard to the battle with Mexico and the institution of slavery.
Author’s use rhetorical devices to enhance their writing and deepen the conncetion between their audience in their story. In two of Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous writings he uses rhetorical devices to grasp the audiences attention and persuade them. In the “Letter From Birmigham Jail,” and the “ I Have A Dream,” speech Dr. Martin Luther King uses appeals to make connections with his audience. Dr. King uses the rhetorical device hypophra, a posed question with an immediate answer. In his “ I have a dream speech,” he uses the hypophra: “ When will you be satisfied.”
On April 3, 1968 King delivered his final speech “I’ve been to the mountaintop,” in Memphis Tennessee to a massive crowd at the Bishop Charles Mason Temple Church of God. His speech was to bring awareness to the unsafe working condition and wages that the African American sanitation workers received. Prior to Reverend King’s speech on Feb. 12, 1968 roughly one thousand black Memphis sanitation workers went on strike and refused to work until their demands were met. Unfortunately, their request was denied and King, as well as Reverend James T. Lawson, traveled to Memphis to lead a nonviolent march but some of the participants started to become violent breaking windows of building and looting. This was a setback for the peaceful boycott due to rowdy few one person was shot and killed.
As King explains how Socrates created tension to increase the knowledge for mankind, I find myself thinking on today’s society. Unfortunately, World tension is currently on an increase resulting with violence as an answer to the problem. Dr. King created “tension” to voice this matter of injustice but nonviolently. His motivate to bring peace and brotherhood to all races, color, and culture was an uphill battle but nevertheless, he was optimistic of the future.
There have been many problems in society over human history. Speeches have been one solution to these problems. Speakers attempt to have the audience reach a specific conclusion after hearing the speech. They do this by using rhetoric. “Rhetoric is the art of framing an argument so that it can be appreciated by an audience.”
Based on what I read I can infer that Martin Luther King Jr was very successful with his and many others challenge, black rights. In his time black people were shot at beaten and bombed because they had a different skin color. I know this because in the biography of Martin Luther King Jr. it states, "He received threats on a daily bases. Everywhere he went he was in danger of physical attack. Many supporters of the civil rights were killed.
King argues successfully that the Negro still is not free, and now is the time to put an end to racial injustice and police brutality by utilizing an ethos, logos, and pathos persuasive appeal approach. First, I will discuss how King utilized an ethos persuasive appeal approach to try to convince his audience through his credibility. Then I will discuss how King utilized a logos persuasive appeal approach to convince his audience by sounding most logical.
Martin Luther King Jr. was an important figure in gaining civil rights throughout the 1960’s and he’s very deserving of that title as seen in both his “I Have a Dream” speech and his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” letter. In both of these writings Dr. King uses logos - logical persuasion - and pathos - emotional appeal - to change the opinions of people who were for segregation and against civil rights. Although King was arrested for a nonviolent protest, he still found a way to justify his actions with the use of logos and pathos. 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.
Who is Martin Luther King “ I have a dream”. This is one of his most well known speeches. He was the one led the march on Washington, he used nonviolent ways to help everyone have equal civil rights. This man was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia and died on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, TN. He was in charge of the African-American Civil Rights Movement.
