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Letter From Birmingham Jail Ethos

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Everyone has had a dream, yet among all one stands tall. Martin Luther King, Jr. is known for said speech to countless people. However, a myriad of people have yet to read or know of his famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” This letter required a multitude of key objectives to entice the people of the time into reading it. King, alongside many other authors, require the usage of these main three key factors: Ethos, the appeal to ethics and character; Logos, the appeal to logic and knowledgeable individuals; and finally, Pathos, the appeal to one’s emotions. The first key element is ethos; an appeal to ethics, and it is used as a means of convincing someone of Kings character and credibility. King does not just start out buy saying, “I am …show more content…

King uses two ways to persuade his audience. The first being his word choice and thoughts expressed on paper is within their own right astounding. This man grew up and attended segregated public schools which were renowned for their lacking educational prowess managed to utilize words with simplicity and logic. Moreover, the proper exertion of these words, let even the utmost intelligent man to realize that King knows what he is talking about, as well as for the common man to not be dumbfounded in words and to stop reading. A section of his letter reads as such, “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” This is an exceptional appliance of word choice. King could have just stated that we are all here, whatever happens to one will affect us all. Kings word choice is an astounding adoption of logos. The second way of persuading his audience is by informing them of how King hosts his nonviolent campaigns and even breaks it down into four key elements. King describes how he does these campaigns to show to others that there is little doubt about the violence claimed to be done and incited by black …show more content…

America, founded by immigrants FOR immigrants; refusing to let people in due to the color of their skin. This “color” people are judged upon is nothing but a mere adaptation. According to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History the explanation of this adaptation is “The skin 's brown pigment, is a natural sunscreen that protects tropical peoples from the many harmful effects of ultraviolet (UV) rays.” Due to evolution, it has made some people able to stay in the sun longer than others, people judge them. Martin L. King tried to stop this from happening; and he brought America a long way, but now it is time for Americans to fight for freedom for

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On April 16, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr addresses his fellow Clergymen about why he is in jail by releasing a “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” The King discusses the recent events that have led up to this point of him being behind bars. The King begins to use ethos at the start of his letter by explaining to the reader that he is the serving president of the Southern Christian leadership conference. He continues by saying that the affiliates in Birmingham invited him to engage in a nonviolent direct action program.

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The famous Martin Luther king’s letter, The wise Martin Luther king wrote this letter to not only persuade but to make a change on the rising problem which you will read in, '' Letter from Birmingham Jail ''. This famous and informative yet persuading letter touches bases on the problems that surround us, whether physically or verbally. Martin Luther king thought enough was enough and that we should take a stand. He tells us this by using lots of ways to persuade his readers by the act of using metaphors. He uses similes to give us an example of what he means.

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King’s purpose for using rhetoric is that the world needs change and needs to improve for equality. Claims that a lot of people have faith in the movement like a 72 year old who said one of the most powerful quotes in the letter, “my feet is tired, but my soul is rested.” (King 182). Another powerful quote stated in the letter is, “If I have said anything that is an overstatement of the truth and is indicative of an unreasonable impatience, I beg for forgiveness.” (King 182).

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“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy” (King, Jr.). Martin Luther King Jr. exceeded this “measure of a man” during his civil rights acts as a strong soldier in a very volatile time. During this time of “challenge and controversy” King made himself heard in his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. In some of his civil rights acts that occurred in Birmingham, resulted in him ending up in jail. During his time in jail, he wrote his also famous “Letter From Birmingham Jail.”

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While in solitary confinement for nearly 8 days, reverend and social justice activist, Martin Luther King Jr., wrote his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail in response to the criticism he received for his non-violent protests. Several clergy who negatively critiqued King’s approach of seeking justice, wrote A Call for Unity, arguing that his protests were senseless and improper. Within the article, the clergymen provide nine different critiques that asserted how King’s protest are invalid, uneffective, and simply unintelligent in the fight for obtaining justice and equity for individuals of color. His letter has become one of the most profound pieces of literature of the 20th century, as King uses vivid examples and eloquent rhetorical devices to counter all nine arguments.

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In this quote, Martin Luther stated that his critics disagreed with his decision to hold demonstrations in Birmingham but managed to weaken these claims by exposing the hypocrisy within them. He does this numerous times within the letter, using a persuasive structure to dismantle the opposition’s arguments. Throughout the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King also used metaphors and comparisons to bring attention to

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As of the year 2016, there are an estimated 324,118,787 people living in America. 324,118,787 people consider themselves to be Americans and 324,118,787 people have decided that America really is worthy enough to be called home. These people, whether they were born within the country or emigrated from another country, comingle in this melting pot of a nation, sharing grocery stores and hospitals and neighborhoods and all the ideologies that make up American society, and each of these people have their own lives and opinions and personal beliefs. All of these people, all (roughly) 324,118,787 of them, fall under the definition of an American – a person who lives in America, because there is simply no other way to define what an American is when

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“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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Civil rights leader and social activist Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a world renown correspondence, Letter From Birmingham Jail, in April of 1963, during a time when segregation was at it’s peak in the South. When King was making his mark in American history, the United States was experiencing great social unrest due to the injustice towards their colored citizens, which would lead to social rights rallies and unnecessary violence. In response to King’s peaceful protesting, the white community viewed “[his] nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist,” and subsequently imprisoned the pastor (para 27). King specifically wrote to the white clergymen who had earlier addressed a letter to him as to why he was apprehended, in which they argued that his actions were untimely and unconstitutional. In response, King emphasized that justice is never timely, and the refusal to acknowledge equal rights was inhumane and regressive.

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In terms of legacies, Martin Luther King Jr. is an example of someone whose legacy has left an impact on a great many fields. The first to come to mind for most would be civil rights activism, as he was an instrumental figure in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. However, Martin Luther King Jr is an extremely influential figure in the field of oration and rhetoric. His Letter from Birmingham Jail is a work that he wrote while incarcerated in the Birmingham City Jail in response to criticism from Alabama clergymen. This letter is a prime example of King’s expertise in constructing persuasive rhetoric that appealed to the masses at large.

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Letter From Birmingham Jail Summary

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In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther King Jr. is writing a letter to the clergyman in which he is trying to support his argument. He gives his point of view in which he indicates that segregation shouldn’t exist due to the fact that it interferes with the lives of everyone. Segregation created a negative impact on the environment and on the individuals living there. Some of the laws just end up discriminating others and that isn’t fair because some people were just privileged for being white. Just and unjust laws are created to “better the world” when in reality some people are hurt in the process, which is why individuals agree with Dr. King’s assertions.

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452 Words | 2 Pages

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821 Words | 4 Pages

I shared with you how King utilized an ethos persuasive appeal approach to convince his audience through his credibility, now let me discuss how King utilized a logos persuasive appeal approach to convince his audience by sounding most

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