ipl-logo

Letter From Birmingham Jail Analysis

1315 Words6 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Letter From Birmingham Jail Analysis

Usha Pathak
Professor DE Walt
ENGL1301- Summer II
15 August 2017
Letter from Birmingham Jail: Analysis 1
1. What are King’s reasons for being in Birmingham? How does King answer to the charge of being an outsider? King reasons for being in Birmingham are because he was engaging in a nonviolent direct action programs with his several members where he said that he was he was invited over there because he has organization ties at the jail. King answer to the charge of being an outsider by saying that he was summon at the prison.
2. What does this mean for individuals who have ignored the issues of Birmingham? What does this mean today for each of us living in the United States? This quotes for Birmingham peoples means that if they do not stand …show more content…

Why do citizens choose to be silent about a law they may find unjust? What are the social and legal consequences for civil disobedience? They are fear of having outcome that could result such as being a prisoner. Social consequences for civil disobedience are pain and stress. Legal Consequences for civil disobedience is jail.
12. In the above segment King describes examples of “negative peace”. What does he mean by this? It means that they are not doing anything even though they felt it was wrong about it.
13. What does King warn will happen if the Negro community is not allowed to demonstrate through nonviolent actions? Is King threatening them? King want them to do is by nonviolent protest. He is not threating them because he is only offering what will be history.
14. Why does King welcome the label extremist? He says that Jesus is for the love, Amos is for the Justice and Paul’s for the Christian gospel.
15. What is your favorite quote? Why? How can you connect this to your life or issues in your community today?
Mark Twain said “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” For me this quote means a lot to me because it has made me who I am today. It has shown me that in order to become successful in lives that I got to go through the hardships which means to figure out my solution for the hardships I am

Show More
Related
861 Words | 4 Pages

The right to fight Martin Luther King Jr. faced many difficulties when he visited Birmingham, but one he did not expect to face was the discrimination of his fellow clergymen, who stated that his decision to travel was unwise. King responded to their comment with the “Letter from Birmingham jail”. A well written piece which was eloquently written and geared to effectively prove to his peers that he deserves and has the right to be in Birmingham, having a profound effect on his audience due to his expert use of pathos, ethos, and logos. This provides a myriad of references and reasons to address the inhumanity of segregation, as well as his personal struggle to dissolve

Read More
1340 Words | 6 Pages

Its ugly record of brutality is widely known” (176). This was used to show how bad the situation of racial injustice was in certain areas and why change needed to occur. King builds credibility multiple times throughout the paper for example he says “I am compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town.” He states this after comparing himself to the Apostle Paul who spread the gospel of Jesus to the far corners of the world” (176). This shows that he is on a mission similar to Paul who is

Read More
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”.

Read More
467 Words | 2 Pages

this creates an emotion of distress, making the reader want to side with him out of sympathy. King shows his logic by listing actions that are acceptable “In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action.” (4). He provides a logical analysis of any social activist campaign to show that he knows what is right and wrong. King revisits the wrong-doings in Birmingham when he says that “justice too long delayed is justice denied” (6).

Read More
970 Words | 4 Pages

Though specially from his teaching they will do it peacefully and will risk a beating or arrest to protest the laws. “…for in the event of a violent revolution, we would be sorely outnumbered…the Negro would face the same unchanged conditions…” (Document L) Due to the odds being stacked against the blacks King knew they could not accomplish it through tactics of violence. The black community would have to fight is a different manner that would risk harm to blacks but with the enough protesters they would be able to make a change despite being outnumbered by the whites.

Read More
1139 Words | 5 Pages

This is a more powerful way of gaining the audience’s attention, rather than attacking them and forcing his ideas towards them. He continues to explain that all the necessary steps to end injustice nonviolently have already been taken in Birmingham and have not worked. This continues to draws out the shock and pity from the audience. King uses many historical people as back up for the use of his method of civil disobedience.

Read More
1294 Words | 6 Pages

Response: The King positioned himself and his followers as ones that wanted to fight against injustice. “Beyond this, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here… I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and no be concerned about what happens in Birmingham, Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Martin Luther King wanted his followers and himself to fight the injustice of segregation in Birmingham. He said “you deplore the demonstrates that are presently taking place

Read More
895 Words | 4 Pages

He as well emphasizes the importance of the demonstration in moral and historical grounds. In this letter, King explains the importance and the planning of the Birmingham demonstration. King illustrates this when he faces the criticism of his demonstrations as “unwise and untimely” (King 1). He shares key features to his anti-violence movement: “determining whether injustices exist, negotiation, self-purification, and direct action” (King 1).

Read More
726 Words | 3 Pages

In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. responds to the criticisms of other clergymen that his nonviolent campaign to end segregation in Birmingham, Alabama is “unwise and untimely” (1), as well as presenting his concerns of the white moderate and the limited power of the church. Although his fellow clergymen urge King to wait for the inevitable end of segregation, he refutes that “time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation” (21) showing that rather than wait for change, the civil rights campaign must take advantage of the time provided. With the mayoral elections in Birmingham occurring during the time of the planned action (8), the movements plans were further deterred causing their window of opportunity to shrink without them getting in the way of Birmingham’s political agenda. King goes on to invalidate the claims of the religious leaders by stating that “freedom is never voluntarily

Read More
703 Words | 3 Pages

Key Idea(s) from the Readings. In the reading “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” by activist Martin Luther King Jr, he challenges the idea of his protest occurring at an inappropriate time. King begins by stating that Birmingham had injustice, and it was up to him to help fight against it. He explains that fighting the discrimination in Birmingham would bring justice to other cities that were facing the same circumstances.

Read More
812 Words | 4 Pages

King is emphasizing the non-violent of his protest by using “extremist” as an example. King questioned people about Jesus and contrasted love and extremity in order to convince the people of Alabama that his methods are effective and reasonable just like what Jesus did to spread

Read More
464 Words | 2 Pages

P. 722) As the clergymen refer to Dr. King and the others as “outsiders” he replies back “Anyone who lives inside of the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere in this country.” (WP. King P. 719) As Dr. King makes the connection with The Declaration of Independence as to all men are created equal, therefore there are no outsiders in Birmingham, nor has disobeyed any laws, because the so call laws the clergymen were referring to were unjust

Read More
744 Words | 3 Pages

His repeated expression of disappointment on how the Negro community has been treated by the white men’s unjust laws, even when they were doing a nonviolent protest, helped in intensifying the reason why they need to abolish racial segregation. Before he ends his letter, King emphasizes again, “I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends. But now I must affirm that it is just as wrong, or perhaps even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends” (para. 43). It is obvious that the clergymen used their affiliation to the church to condemn King and other Negro leaders’ action to justify racism. This kind of situation still happens in the present, not only about racism but also about other kinds of

Read More
251 Words | 2 Pages

In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther King defends the protestors’ thirst for justice by demonstrating the unjust society they live in. Over fifty years after the letter was written, it is still read today. Often times it gives people a sense of identity. However this letter gives me more than an identity. This letter gives me reason and motivation to always fight for a just society.

Read More
427 Words | 2 Pages

The writer’s meticulous use of selection of detail, diction and deductive reasoning allows the reader to further understand the events that occurred along with the effects it had on the community as a whole. Those who disagreed with his actions were disproved through these rhetorical devices, allowing them to comprehend his reasoning for his behavior in Birmingham. Overall Martin Luther King’s letter from the Birmingham jail is

Read More

More about Letter From Birmingham Jail Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document