Mlk Ethos Pathos Logos

Martin Luther King is known throughout the United States and possibly the world for his work in civil rights and the large movement in 1954 to 1968. After a protest on April 12th he and 50 other civil rights leaders were arrested. In a span of four days Martin Luther King wrote a 7,000 word letter addressed to a group of Christian and Jewish religious leaders who criticized the protest and King as well, calling him an outside agitator. In this letter there are many uses of ethos, pathos, and logos.
Martin Luther King uses ethos when making credible connections to real people and events that occurred in the near present or past. Martin Luther King used his experience as the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to demonstrate

He made an extreme reference to Adolf Hitler and how everything done to the Jews in Germany was “legal” and it was “illegal” to aid and comfort a Jew, even though morally it was right to help the Jews and immoral to segregate, discriminate, and kill the Jews (King 1963). He also introduced the thought that even though something precipitates evil actions from others does it make the very act evil? He referenced a robbed man’s possession of money as the cause of the robbery, or Jesus being condemned because of his love of God and that is what lead to him being crucified and thus the problem lies within his devotion (King 1963). He used this as a reasoning for peaceful protests, and even though they lead to violent acts from others it doesn’t make the protest evil. He further made connections to Elijah Muhammad’s Muslim movement to the Negro’s frustration and their own movement (King 1963). In an article written by Barbara Maranzani for www.history.com she evaluates the Letter from Birmingham Jail and how it has been influential. She states that “King drew inspiration for

When he used pathos he did so in ways that appealed to the readers emotions while proving his arguments. One way in which he uses pathos is when he states, “I am compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town.” (King 1963). He compares himself to Apostle Paul and how he carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the rest of the world and now Martin Luther King is attempting to do the same. He continues to use pathos when he shares the fact that “There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in the nation.” (King 1963). This appeals to the fact that bombs were used in WWII nearly a decade ago against hostile nations and now they are being used by citizens on citizens within the U.S.. Additionally he uses phrases such as “painful experience” and “disease of segregation” to show the hardships he and his community face. A particular pathos that appealed to my emotions was when he stated that it’s easy to say ‘Wait.’ If you’ve never had to deal with segregation and proceeded to describe what it’s like. “But when you’ve seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled police men curse, kick, and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst