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Martin Luther King Letter From Birmingham Jail Summary

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Martin Luther King, Jr. attempts to persuade clergymen to follow in his civil rights movement through exhibiting his knowledge over just and unjust laws, displaying peaceful behavior, and empathetic diction. King was very knowledgeable about laws and his right as a human. King stated laws in his letter to the clergymen, which displayed his credibility. He did not only state laws, he also stated just and unjust laws. King stated, “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” (Paragraph 4). This drew the clergymen’s attention to King’s beliefs and possibly made them realize the flaws in the system. King also states, “A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law…” (Paragraph 5). King stating their wrong doings, helped prove his point about just and unjust laws and about his wrongful jailing for taking a peaceful stand. …show more content…

In his letter to the clergymen, he claimed, “In your statement you assert that our actions, even though peaceful, must be condemned because they precipitate violence.” (Paragraph 8). The law enforcement was completely aware that their actions were 100% peaceful, but yet he was still put into jail. During the civil rights movement, King did not participate in any violent behavior, despite being jailed for “violent behavior”. Even at the end of the letter, King wrote, “Yours for the cause of Peace and Brotherhood, Martin Luther King, Jr.” (Paragraph 10). With King writing this at the end, he proved that despite terrible actions in the past and being wrongfully jailed, he is still willing to stay

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--------this quote promotes an idea pointed out by Martin L. King. That a Law with no morality is no law at all, thus an unjustified law is morally wrong and therefore should be abolished. In Similar context, M.L.K introduced a topic that was not of an “extremist” but of the actions of a civil right leader. Classified by most “White” Bystanders as divisive

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It is impossible to combat injustice by appeasing those who are injust. Martin Luther King is a famous civil right activist who put his life on the line to stop the unjust treatment of African-Americans in the United States. King’s efforts combined with other civil rights activist’s allowed African Americans to gain many rights that they previously did not have. The civil rights movement made use of protests and boycotts to force change. Martin Luther King was arrested for prostesting and was placed in Birmingham jail from which he wrote a famous letter explaining his rationale for his actions.

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Dr. Martin Luther King and Frederick Roosevelt are both strong powered speakers of equal rights. These two amazing people have talked and fought for equal rights of every human being. With that, they’ve both have similarities in their amazing speeches letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King and four freedoms speech by Roosevelt. In 1963, MLK wrote a remarkable letter to the clergyman following his arrest In Birmingham. Whereas in 1941, Roosevelt published a speech to Congress on the state of the union.

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With the help of these four steps, he justifies the need for the demonstration. King illustrates the city of Birmingham as “the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States,” (King 2). Here King is able to show that injustices are present in Birmingham, which further justifies his reason for a peaceful demonstration. King proceeds to speak about his method of protesting. He states that negotiation was not met, and that “[their] hopes had been blasted,” that like “victims of a broken promise,” their wishes had been disregarded, (King 2).

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Martin Luther King had been arrested for participating in an anti-segregation march that he didn’t have a parade permit for. He wrote a letter from Birmingham Jail claiming that it was his duty to fight for justice. There was a need for Civil Rights Movement right away because as Martin Luther King stated “We have waited for more than three hundred and forty years for our God-given and constitutional rights”. African Americans have been waiting for far too long to gain civil rights and “...still creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward the gaining of a cup of coffee”. In this letter Martin Luther King also addresses his reasoning for following certain laws and breaking others.

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Martin Luther King used persuasive speech to get his points across. Throughout his letter, he presented an issue, restating opposers’ points of view and the value it holds, ending with a suggestion which appeals to all sides of the issue. He also countered these criticisms with honesty and equity,

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King values civil disobedience, which is the refusal to obey certain laws or governmental demands by nonviolent techniques as boycotting, picketing, and nonpayment of taxes, but the violence created from that is not his fault. Logic is key in this situation because its obvious you shouldn't punish someone who isn't being violent. Another example is, "We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal.” It was “illegal” to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany. But I am sure that if I had lived in Germany during that time I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers even though it was illegal. . . ."

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was jailed for not having a permit for his nonviolent campaign after he had been explicitly told that if he applied for that permit, it would be denied. In Letters from the Birmingham Jail, King explains why he broke the law, he wrote, "I am in Birmingham because injustice is here" (King 1963, pg 120). He believed there are just and unjust laws, he quoted St. Augustine when stating, "An unjust law is no law at all" (King, pg 122). King describes a just law as one that does not segregate between people or degrade human personality. He then defines an unjust law as, "a code that a majority inflicts on a minority that is not binding on itself" (King, pg 122).

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Peaceful resistance to laws positively affect a free society. Throughout history, there have been multiple cases of both violent and peaceful protests. However, the peaceful protests are the ones that tend to stick with a society and are the ones that change the society for the better. In April 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a letter about just and unjust laws while he was in Birmingham jail for peacefully protesting. King came to Birmingham because "injustice is here".

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In his response to the clergymen's letter, written in 1963 during the height of the Civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King writes and responds to the three claims made by the clergymen. While he led a peaceful protest in Birmingham, he aimed to address the injustice and racism in this town. The local police then arrested King because he broke a new law that said you could not protest without a permit. Dr. Martin Luther King was just visiting Birmingham to engage in direct nonviolent action and deal with the injustice that was happening throughout the city. He was invited by someone in the Christian Movement for Human Rights to go to Birmingham.

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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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knew that it was time for the people to fight back, but fight back peacefully. He said that Justice too long, was Justice denied, which preordained that something had to be done now. Martin Luther King Jr. did everything for his people, even get arrested. However, when he did get arrested during a protest in Birmingham, he did not stop encouraging the rest of the demonstrators. In a letter to his people from jail, he confers about the major injustice that is happening in this part of the country, and he reassures them that with the help of the lord, justice will be established.

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In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. was sent to jail because of a peaceful protest, protesting treatments of blacks in Birmingham. Before the protest a court ordered that protests couldn’t be held in Birmingham. While being held in Birmingham, King wrote what came to be known as the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Not even King himself could predict how much of an impact this letter would have on the Civil Rights Movement. In the letter kind defended Kings beliefs on Nonviolent Protests, King also counters the accusations of him breaking laws by categorizing segregation laws into just and unjust laws. King uses this principle to help persuade others to join him in his acts of civil disobedience.

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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a prominent man, who aided the fight for civil rights. Due to the unjust treatment of African-American, the Civil Rights Movement was formed to create a new outcome for the future. During the battle, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. became imprisoned in Birmingham city jail due to his participation in a nonviolent demonstration against segregation. While imprisoned, he wrote a letter on August 1963, called the "Letter from Birmingham Jail;" he expressed his concerns as to why there has been no advancement for the civil rights movement. While dissecting and analyzing his letter, his moral theory from this letter describes him to be a virtue ethicist.

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King distinguishes between just and unjust laws by explaining the difference between them; he explains the moral affect each one has, the unfair way the majority used unjust laws, and the reason breaking unjust laws is okay. Now then, King uses morality to help explain the difference between just and unjust laws. King says “A just law is a man-made law that squares with the moral law or the law of God.” (356) He goes on to say “Unjust…….

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