Letter To Birmingham Jail Thesis

On April 16, 1963, Dr Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, to the local clergymen who were critiqued his beliefs and peaceful protests, starting off by saying “While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities ‘unwise and untimely’” (271). This was one out of many historical events that occurred during the civil rights movement, namely in 1963. The impact in which the civil rights movement had on Birmingham, then the entire nation, was of such massive scale that after nearly a century since the Thirteenth Amendment ended slavery in 1865. The years of the lingering discrimination following that was finally brought to a halt. The strategies used

himself. During his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, King points out to the clergymen that “The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation” (274). His reasoning behind the efforts and actions of the civil rights movement activists is that he’s creating his own controlled and peaceful environment in order to leave the city with an inconvenient, complex situation, in which they have no choice but to address it directly. The use of logos in his speech displays his logical perspective, showcasing his step-by-step process regarding how he plans to make his marches and protests effective. In other words, The purpose is to provoke the city enough to force the officials to mandate a change, freeing African Americans from unjust arrests, preventing others from obtaining one, and allowing the rest of the community to earn the liberty in which they deserved from the start. King also shortly follows this with “Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue” (274). This refers to the disharmony that the city has, where only one side has to voice for itself, instead of both sides coming to a mutual agreement. King's usage of “bogged down” and “tragic effort” also puts

In his letter, King addresses that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly” (272). Although there is more adding on, these remarks alone show why Martin Luther King Jr. was widely considered to be a great and important leader during the civil rights movement. In short, King refers to the likes of injustice, and how even a small portion of it can branch out into a large-scaled issue. Martin Luther King’s analogy of a garment of destiny refers to our mutuality and how we as humans are meant to be tied in agreement. After all, whatever happens to one person, will affect others, such as the case with the Children’s Crusade, and how the media helped the news spread, inspiring