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How Is Mlk Used In Letter From Birmingham Jail

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Have you ever thought about the techniques Martin Luther King Jr. used in his speeches? Or how some are statistics, while others really trigger the emotions in people and touch their hearts? In the famous speech “I Have A Dream” by Martin Luther King Jr, MLK gives a speech to a large crowd of people in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. The famous letter written by Martin Luther King Jr, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was written while MLK was in jail for a public speech, and he writes back to criticism to 8 White Clergymen. King uses logos and pathos in different ways to appeal to different people, in large crowds king uses more pathos to appeal to their feelings to make a change, ut in the letter to a smaller audience he uses …show more content…

While in the letter King talks about why he did what he did, he brings up the fact of the organizations for people and the Christian movement for human rights and how only one single organization is for rights. “We have some eighty five affiliated organizations across the South, and one of them is the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights.” (272 King). King uses this in the letter to the 8 Clergymen because they attacked him for protesting and they were Christian members who worked with him so he wanted to use that fact to make then understand why it was wrong what they did. Although in the letter King used more logos, he did use pathos to help persuade and make the reader understand his perspective. Now, King talks about how they have been promised things, and promised new changes in laws but it just turns into another lie and let down of the African American community. “As in so many past experiences, our hopes had been blasted, and the shadow of deep disappointment settled upon us.” (273 King). King uses this pathos in his letter to shown the men that the broken promise of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights promised another ‘broken promise’. He uses this to appeal to their emotions so they understand why he was upset and

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MLK was a very powerful writer and speaker. He wrote many articles and did many speeches. His “I Have A Dream” speech and his “Letter From Birmingham Jail” were probably his two best. In this writing I am going to compare these two articles with their use of Logos and Pathos. Dr. King did a better job in his “I Have A Dream” speech than his “Letter From Birmingham Jail” because he used more and better examples of Pathos in his speech.

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King’s letter is exceptionally successful because his similes result in solid logos. He uses similes or comparisons to justify his is logic in being in Birmingham and leading desegregation movements. Dr. King uses numerous similes from the bible and other religious comparisons. On the first page he talks about Apostle Paul and how what he is doing in Birmingham is a similar situation. Apostle Paul was spreading the christian word the same way Dr. King was attempting to spread freedom.

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Letter from Birmingham City Jail, by Martin Luther King (MLK). MLK wanted to end segregation, but had to try and do it from jail (which was hard enough). He decided to write a letter to the clergymen, telling that all about his experience, views, and what was happening, so they could hopefully help him get equal rights for the blacks. MLK made a claim saying that the whites treated the blacks like they didn’t even matter and even treated them like property. So he decided to take matters into his own hands and get the rights that the blacks deserved, which was to end all of the segregation as peaceful as he could, without anyone getting hurt.

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Responding to criticism is usually advised against, considering most of it comes from ill intent; however, it’s important to keep in mind that criticism may come from a good place as well, so therefore, critiques should be taken seriously depending on the motive behind them. Martin Luther King Jr. was a civil rights activist during a dark period where racism and white supremacy were extremely prevalent in the world. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested and charged with parading without a permit, despite being a part of a nonviolent protest against segregation. From the Birmingham Jail, Dr. King decides to send a letter to eight white religious leaders in regards to being labeled as “unwise and untimely” because he believes this criticism stems

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Martin Luther King's thesis or his argumentative claim, clarifies that injustice must not be tolerated anywhere. King challenges the differences between an unjust law and just laws that play a major part in his reasoning to justifying civil disobedience. Additionally, King mentions how he is viewed by the Clergymen and by others in the state, labeled as an "outside agitator. " In his letter, King addresses their claims of segregation and critiques of King's actions to challenge the issue using perceptions from both sides. Through the constructive use of pathos, King introduces the term wait, a word that the oppressed or harshly treated are familiar within a government that takes slow action to intervene.

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663 Words | 3 Pages

Letter from Birmingham Jail Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has long been the symbol of racial equality, much impart from the message in this letter. In this letter Dr. King illustrates the methods he became famous for using and the reasons for these methods. He also addressed the concerns about his timing and methods. Dr. King described the process he and his fellow advocates took in addressing the racial injustices as beginning with first defining the injustice and having indisputable evidence of its existence. The next step was confronting law makers and officials about the changes that needed to be made to eradicate the injustice.

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333 Words | 2 Pages

In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King, Jr. is responding to criticism of the peaceful protests and sit-in’s that were taking place in Birmingham, which led to his being arrested and the reason that he was in jail. He first responds to the accusation of being an “outsider” by setting the stage for his being in Birmingham due to being invited because of his ties to the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights organization and due to the fact that he is president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Next, Martin Luther King expands on his moral beliefs that there is “injustice” in the way that Birmingham is “the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States”.

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969 Words | 4 Pages

Societal unrest in 1960’s United States revealed an alarming need for equality. In Martin Luther King’s letter from Birmingham Jail, King employs various rhetorical strategies such as anaphora, anecdotes, and the use of the appeals to demand the reader (the clergymen) the need for civil rights and the end of racial discrimination. King is able to convey these needs through a condemning but politeful tone that is admirable given the circumstance of being imprisoned for protesting against racial inequality. With the use of these strategies, King is able to provide a powerful letter that traverses the heart of the reader.

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Throughout King’s letter he influences the morals of the local clergymen in order to gain the support that is needed in order to change the city for the better. A good example of the clergymen’s ethics being questioned is when King states how the support of the white moderate is crucial to the success of his movement but, due to their lack of aid, the cause had stalled (569). The main goal of the movement was to prove that segregation was unethical and that, even if it wasn’t supported in public, ignoring the problem was even worse than accepting it. If the public remained indecisive and kept ignoring the state of affairs that was in front of them, then nothing would change and the cycle of inequality would just continue even longer. For King to succeed in his mission for equality, he needed to convince as many people as possible that his cause was just and that it would benefit everyone in the long

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820 Words | 4 Pages

King uses pathos in his works to describe the brutality of fighting for the civil rights movement. In the text, it says “Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.” This quote means that America failed the African American community, they were promised rights in the Constitution, but America never upheld their promise and never gave them rights. Dr. King uses charged language to relate to the audience by giving the analogy of a bad check and giving listeners an idea or similar experience of someone not keeping their promise or lying. On another account, King says “And if America is to be a great nation, this must be true.

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530 Words | 3 Pages

The fight for minority rights in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s was an age of civil disobedience. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the main instigators that made vigorous displays of civil disobedience through peaceful marches, speeches and publications. One of his famous publications was the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” written by MLK to answer and explain his points one segregation to religious figures and critics. This letter was written while MLK was in jail for marching without a permit to which he explains his purpose as the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Additionally the organization was sent an invitation to Birmingham due to raising racial tensions.

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762 Words | 4 Pages

A Great Society? Martin Luther King Jr. and president Lyndon B Johnson letters both took place in the 1900’s. As for Martin Luther King Jr. he explained why he was in the South to protest and also why he was so upset with the different allegations. President Lyndon B Johnson explained how he wanted everyone to come together and ask themselves if they were doing enough to make peace in the world. As, I further read I realize both of these men in some way helped society today.

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1013 Words | 5 Pages

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. In Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech he effectively uses ethos, diction and powerful metaphors to express the brutality endured by African American people. 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. With these devices, King was able to move thousands of hearts and inspire the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Opening his speech Martin Luther King Jr. sets up his credibility with his use of ethos, referring to the Declaration of Independence saying, “This note was a promise that all men… would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life.”

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730 Words | 3 Pages

“...when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness”- then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.” (MLK, 276). King uses this strong sense of appeal to emotion to engross his readers and let them know how hard it is for them.

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1111 Words | 5 Pages

This reference in particular evokes the strongest emotional response from black people because many African Americans revered Lincoln for his decision to sign the revolutionary Emancipation Proclamation, and how the document symbolized a free future for slaves--the ancestors of the blacks in the crowd. But the next few lines following this allusion also persuades those ignorant of how little things have changed by highlighting the “manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination” that blacks still suffer from despite the hundred year gap. Here, he uses the connotations of “manacles” and “chains” to evoke a negative emotional response from the audience, especially from those unaware of the need to change, causing their opinion to match the speaker’s: against segregation. Additionally, King weaves biblical allusions into his speech to appeal to the Christians within the crowd. He uses the “dark and desolate valley of segregation” to illustrate the injustice African Americans have endured for centuries and juxtapositions it with the “sunlit path of racial justice” to exemplify a future where true freedom exists for

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