Brooke Stevens Instructor Long ENG 112 18 March 2018 Module 2 Essay Some of the most influential work in American history was completed by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King is known around the world for his fight towards equality during the Civil Rights Movement. In Dr. King's “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” he uses rhetoric in this to appeal not only to the clergymen, but to the national audience in an effort to convey that he belonged in Montgomery to lead demonstrations for change. To convey the audience, Dr. King uses the rhetorical appeals ethos, logos, and pathos. Despite the fact King originally confronts the clergymen in his letter, Dr. King accomplishes to reach a much wider audience with his use of the three rhetorical appeals. The first appeal seen in Dr. King's letter is ethos. In the first sentence of the letter, Dr. King begins with the phrase “My dear fellow clergymen” (Dr. King, Letter from Birmingham, Pg. 1). By using the term “fellow clergymen” Dr. King is accomplishing two things. One, he is informing his audience that he too is a leader and a priest and two, by using the term “fellow” he is stating that they are equals. Besides the clergymen, Dr. King also tried to appeal to a more general audience. We can see this more through his use of …show more content…
Throughout his letter, Dr. King keeps a consistent message with reasonable and logical evidence to support it. As it can be seen in the following excerpt, Dr. King used logic and reasoning to convey his point. “In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action” (Dr. King, Pg. 1) This way of logic pleased the majority of people. Dr. King was well respected for getting his point across in a clear and reasonable way. Not only did he use logical strategies to achieve his goals, Dr.King also brought emotional appeal into