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Letter To Birmingham Jail Thesis

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MLK Jr. Birmingham Jail. “One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty”. Born on January 15, 1929, a Baptist minister and active spokesperson during the Civil Rights era, Martin Luther King wrote a letter from Birmingham Jail. A little backstory on Martin Luther King, his birth name was actually Michael Luther King, his history of preachers or preaching originated in 1914-1931 with his grandfather and being a co-pastor with his father from 1960 to Martin’s death, also earning a B.A. degree before his death in 1948 from Morehouse College. Arrested thirty times in total for demonstrating and participating in peaceful protests against segregation, but in 1963 MLK wrote a letter from Birmingham Jail which shortly became the manifesto for the Civil Rights Movement. Why did MLK write this letter, how …show more content…

This letter displayed distinctive ability to influence the public’s opinion by incorporating ideas from the Bible, Constitution, and other texts. During the month of May, televised pictures of police officers misusing police dogs, using fire hoses against young, peaceful demonstrators commenced a national outcry against white segregationists in Birmingham. With the brutality from Birmingham officials, and the refusal of Alabama’s governor, George C. Wallace, to allow the admittance of black students at the University of Alabama invoked President Kennedy to introduce Civil Rights legislation. MLK used many references in his speech on August 28, 1963 to God much like his letter did, with his closing he said “I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream… that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal”.

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King believed that if he could just go to Birmingham, and protest non-violently, that he could make a difference. On April 16, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. was imprisoned, in Birmingham, for protesting the civil rights of Black Americans. While in jail, he began writing a letter addressing the clergymen. His main audience in writing this letter was to the eight clergymen who criticized his actions and also the majority of the population as well. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, argues that injustice

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