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Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter Analysis

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Martin Luther King, Jr.’s letter relates to the Civil Rights Timeline because not too long after the letter was written, segregation ended and equal rights gradually increased. As a result Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter created a chain of events that saved many black citizens lives. For example, “anyone who lives inside the united states can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.”(SB 207) After all, it seems like Martin Luther King was referring to the blacks because it was the time of segregation between white and colored people. He claims every single person living in the United States should be treated the same no matter what. Overall, the white and especially colored people shouldn’t have felt discriminated. In like
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Martin Luther king wrote the letter from Birmingham jail and discuss the biggest issues in the black community of Birmingham. In order to justify his desire for racial justice and equality, martin Luther king uses knowledge and potential thoughts given toward to his letter transcending to his people and the churches and he made very important valid statement that gave his audience and open mind and to encourage American society desegregation and having equality among all Americans with no stratification according to racial differences. His letter addresses the American society, political and religious community of America. King uses metaphors saying “ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning

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Sydney Lopez History 1302 Professor Lewellen July 23, 2016 Two Speeches by Mary Elizabeth Lease (circa 1980) One of the two speeches by Mary Elizabeth Lease was about how the government is being run by money and by the infamous Wall Street. That money has enslaved many people and that it has put many lives in peril. The second speech of the two speeches by Mary Elizabeth Lease was about how women and men are equal because it was given to the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union.

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On April 16th, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. writes one of the most powerful and influential pieces in the nation’s history. King writes his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” after being sentenced to jail for protesting the mistreatment of blacks in Birmingham, Alabama. King passionately writes to defend fighting against racism to his fellow clergymen and responds to their concerns about taking direct action. To make his argument, King utilizes a series of literary nonfiction forms to provide a realistic image to his audience. Through doing this, King makes his argument stronger and more appealing to his audience.

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After a public statement written by a handful of clergymen, King released his response refuting their claim in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Martin Luther King Jr. quickly establishes ethos by addressing himself as a preacher, clergyman, brother, and as an African American man. By doing so, he is able to clearly and effectively state what he wished to accomplish —to desegregate Birmingham through persuading church leaders and members. King argues that Jesus was an extremist for love, expressing his disappointment for the church, and declaring that a man-made law should be morally justified. Through these points, King states that the bystanders of the Christian community failed God, he does this by employing historical and religious allusions

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In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. led a peaceful movement in Birmingham, Alabama. The purpose of the demonstration was to bring awareness and end to racial disparity in Birmingham. Later that night, King and his followers were detained by city authorities. While in custody, King wrote the famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” This letter voiced out his disappointment in the criticisms, and oppositions that the general public and clergy peers obtained.

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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, uses the lense of social power in order to get his thoughts across. Social power is the degree of influence that an individual or organization has among their peers and within their society as a whole. This idea is illustrated throughout his letter to show the significance of the disabilities and unfair treatment the black community has faced for the entirety of their existence. African americans have never been able to gain the respect from others they deserve due to the idea that other races have more power on them simply due to the color of their skin. Martin Luther King is able to express these ideas by referencing multiple examples as to how social power has negatively affected their societal presence for many years.

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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. uses personal experiences throughout his letter to create an emotional connection to his audience. In order to build his connection, MLK begins his letter by giving a brief history on his role as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and what led to his incarceration. This information gives the reader the opportunity to humanize Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The reader is able to see that MLK is an African American man who is trying to stop the

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“Why We Can’t Wait” by Martin Luther King, Jr. explains the vital Birmingham campaign and features the inconceivable Letter from Birmingham Jail. Despite the fact of always positive in tone, it deals with the absoluteness of a campaign that is now viewed as pivotal to the success of the American Civil Rights Movement but was anything but assured in its own time. That King acknowledges this reality while placing it in a constructive context all the while advancing his affirmative, forward-looking message is a confirmation to his vision and incredibly magnanimous perseverance. On April 16, 1963, as the violent events of the Birmingham movement unraveled in the city, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., composed a letter from his prison cell in return to local clerical leaders’ criticism of the campaign.

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1546 Words | 7 Pages

Martin Luther King Jr. was a strong leader in the Civil Rights movement, the son and grandson of a minister, and one heck of a letter writer. As he sits in a cell of Birmingham Jail in 1963, he responds to criticism from eight white clergymen. Though this letter was intended for the judgemental and condescending men of high faith, his response touched the hearts and minds of the entire U.S. population, then, and for years to come. In his tear-jerking, mind-opening letter, King manages to completely discredit every claim made by the clergymen while keeping a polite and formal tone. Metaphors, allusions, and rhetorical questions are used in the most skillful way to support his argument and ultimately convince his audience of the credibility behind his emotional, yet factual, claims.

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1522 Words | 7 Pages

In his letter he is mainly reaching out to the entire country to try and get them to put a stop to racial injustice. The way that he addressed and refuted the clergymen's letter is one of the things that made this letter most effective. Another thing that made this letter so effective, is the way that he used the appeal to emotion, or pathos, to pull the readers in and make them think about if it were them that were being discriminated against. Martin Luther King Jr. is very successful in explaining how injustice anywhere is a threat to justice

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1122 Words | 5 Pages

I believe that direct action represents one of the most significant avenues that can result in change. As Socrates opined direct action creates some level of tension in a society that will prompt individuals to overcome social discrimination. I suppose that the letter represented the fundamental issues that described the functionality and effectiveness of civil rights movement. Using the letter, Martin Luther King Jr. provided a significant statement concerning the civil rights movement regarding the moral and philosophical foundations as well as the need to embrace direct action. I hold the view that the impacts of the letter may have been felt across the world in regards to freedom struggles outside the borders of the United States.

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1306 Words | 6 Pages

Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the letter from jail, after he got arrested during a peaceful protest. At the time segregation was still a part of the culture in the United States and Martin Luther King Jr. and his followers were working diligently and peacefully to try and make a change in people’s hearts about segregation. In this letter MLK Jr. is writing to defend his strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism, which he does effectively by using rhetoric. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference focused on Birmingham, Alabama to start a nonviolent direct action campaign with the goal to get the city to get rid of segregation laws.

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1119 Words | 5 Pages

In Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “A Letter From a Birmingham Jail,” he provides answers to fundamental metaphysical questions regarding the nature of the human soul. Though his letter is addressed to a group of eight clergymen criticizing his direct action campaign in Birmingham, his ultimate aim is the uplifting of human personhood. Underlying King’s letter is a philosophical, hylemorphic anthropology which puts an anchor deep into a certain conception of personhood, and binds all people who are to read it. He looks deeply at the nature of human beings, as rational creatures who are made to love and be loved, and from thence, deliberates that there is a universal Gospel of Freedom and Justice. Martin Luther King, Jr. asserts that there are universal principles justifying what actions are morally right and wrong, just and unjust.

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1848 Words | 8 Pages

Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most influential leaders of his time and played a crucial role in the African-American Civil Rights movement. Luther was a charismatic leader who took a firm stand against the oppressive and racist regime of the United States (US), devoting much of his life towards uniting the segregated African-American community of the US. His efforts to consolidate and harmonise the US into one country for all is reflected in many of his writings and speeches spanning his career. As a leader of his people, King took the stand to take radical measures to overcome the false promises of the sovereign government that had been addressing the issues of racial segregation through unimplemented transparent laws that did nothing to change the grim realities of the society. Hence, King’s works always had the recurring theme of the unity and strength of combined willpower.

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Umer Tariq Bashir Mariam Ishtiaq Writing and Communication ss-100 16 November 2015 Martin Luther King speech:Critique Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech “I have a dream” is an inspiring elocution which induces people of all the communities. It tries to elevate the status of the Afro-American community and urges all people to strive for the attainment of an indiscriminate society. Martin Luther King is an eloquent speaker who has the ability to captivate an audience with his charismatic and persuasive speech.

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