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Persuasive Letter From Birmingham Jail

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Should freedom be demanded by the people or be given to the hands of the law? Both Civil Rights activist, Martin Luther King and former President Lyndon B. Johnson express in their speeches that freedom must be demanded by the people. Freedom should be demanded by the people because the people have risked their lives so they can be heard and the people struggles in order to gain civic rights. Likewise, the people risked their lives so they can be heard. According to former President Lyndon B. Johnson speech, “We Shall Overcome”, in paragraph two he states, “So it was last week in Selma, Alabama. There, long-suffering men and women peacefully protested the denial of their rights as Americans.” To clarify what President Johnson means is that a week before he gave this speech, racial violence erupted in Selma, Alabama. The only reason that racial violence did erupt was because the people were protesting. Furthermore, President Johnson also says in paragraph 16, “His actions and protests, his courage to risk safety and even to …show more content…

In Martin Luther King’s “ I Have A Dream”, in paragraph two he states “One hundred years later, the life the Negroes is still crippled by the mandates of segregation and the chains of discriminations.” To clarify, one hundred years later from when the Emancipation Proclamation was signed to the very day Dr. King gave his speech, the Negro were free but lack their civic rights. The Negroes were still struggling with segregation and racial discrimination. In the same paragraph, Dr. King illustrates, “One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and find himself an exile in his own land.” Dr. King supports the argument that the American society is basically turning against them. Due to this, the American Negroes to go and hide in the ‘corners’ of society.* They struggles for so long always being the odd one

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Picture this. On Good Friday, April 12, 1963, protester against inequality, Martin Luther King Jr., was arrested for parading without a permit. It is now April 16, 1963 and he sits alone in a Birmingham City Jail cell with nothing but a pen, some paper, and a solemn look on his face. In scraggly, but intent words, he writes a letter. He was writing to the church clergymen, determined to make them change their ways.

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In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote the “Letter Birmingham Jail” from jail in Birmingham, Alabama in the response to public statements issued by eight white clergy calling his actions “ unwise and untimely”. “ That this wait has almost always meant never”. Dr.King wrote this letter to demonstrate the battle against racial segregation. He was asking in this letter to make admins to stop segregation, and to become equally as one. Dr.King achieved his goals by taking action by four steps, which are gathering facts, negotiation, self-purification, and direct action.

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The “I have a Dream Speech” was presented in front of the Lincoln Memorial, in Washington, D.C. The speech was presented at the time of the March on Washington, Everyone in America was either present or watched it played on live television. On the other hand the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was sent to the clergymen and only the clergymen. In a few ways, the two writings are different, one was a letter and one was a speech, but other than that, the letter used logos as a persuasive technique and the speech used pathos as a persuasive technique. The “Letter” used logos as it's persuasive technique which means logic in Greek.

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The purpose of “King’s Letter From a Birmingham Jail” was to say that nonviolent resistance should be used to face racism. He was criticized by white religious leaders and encouraged by blacks. King was inspired to write the letter because he was an advocate for racial equality and he felt the people writing the letter were not. He also mentioned moral responsibility to break unjust laws. Civil disobedience is the refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest.

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He states that segragation is an act of injustice as well as an unjust law. He then speaks of his disappointment in his fellow white moderates as well as the churches who he thought were on his side. I believe his idea of just and unjust laws and segragation being an unjust law is right. I also agree with his reasoning for his protest and his belief that action was need to reach fair

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After reading the two letters by the clergymen and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I began to understand where both sides were coming from. In the end I believe Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was right, but the clergymen made good points. In a nutshell when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was jailed for protesting for civil rights in Birmingham, Alabama the clergymen were against it because they thought it brought negative attention on the civil rights movement. They were so enveloped in their conviction that eight clergymen wrote a letter to the editor of the Birmingham, Alabama newspaper to denounce Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s actions. The eight clergymen expressed that they preferred to do things “by the book”, they stated that the issue of civil rights should be solved in a courtroom not in the streets of Birmingham, Alabama.

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Dr King wrote a direct response to the eight clergymen from Alabama in a confinement cell in Birmingham, Alabama which is now known as “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” It addresses the wrong-doings and injustices going on in Birmingham. King was arrested for being part of a peaceful protest against segregation that had not been approved to be marched in that area. King argues that publicly showing that people including him are against segregation is better than just negotiating and having the “Negro community” patiently wait around for society to move toward civil rights and that demanding social justice provokes individuals and groups to act out, regardless of how peaceful the method may be. Dr King explains why it is okay for him to be a part

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Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in 1964 was in response to an open letter by eight white clergymen in the Birmingham News called “Call to Unity”. Kings rebuttal letter describes his clear purpose working to ensure that equal rights for all were accomplished. King writes about how it is his life’s mission to not sit idly by and watch injustice happen in the world. King was determined to change laws and ensure that all men and women were treated equally and fairly. He did this through many avenues like speeches, meetings, and writings like the "Letter from Birmingham Jail".

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Letter from Birmingham Jail Martin Luther King wrote Letter from Birmingham Jail on April 16, 1963 while being confined in Birmingham City Jail. The letter was addressed to Kings Fellow Clergymen who had written an open letter. Letter from Birmingham criticizes King and Southern Leadership conference while protesting in Birmingham. Dr. King told the clergymen he was upset and wanted to address the concerns and criticisms they had.

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The Letter from Birmingham Jail and the I have a Dream Speech, both written by Martin Luther King Jr., explain the same message to people in two different ways. The Letter from Birmingham Jail was to write a letter to defend the strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism. He wrote this because he wants African Americans to come together and peacefully protest the unjust laws that are in place. On the other hand, his speech was to a large group of citizens, black and white, fighting for freedom, equality, justice and love. He used many rhetorical devices in his speech and letter that compared the two, and to show the differences in a clear way.

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I would like to begin, sirs, by announcing; I am not the first with these thoughts. Patrick Henry, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine – only a few of the men that share the same notion. It is true; I do not hold the reputation of these men. Nonetheless, I have been involved in American Politics for the past decade . We have passed the simple point of peace.

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Kian Yuen Mr. Hendricks American Literature 4 March 2024 Unjust Situations Create an Identity Justice is the idea that people should be treated in a fair governing system through the law. Justice is created because certain governments or rulers give their people unfair rules to satisfy their interests. People feel a sense of injustice when they feel stuck or unable to express themselves in society. In Martin Luther King Jr “Letter From Birmingham Jail” he discusses how several people from the black community want change but feel unable to do it due to unjust laws created by the United States government against African Americans. Martin Luther King Jr’s Letter From Birmingham Jail gives readers a sense of identity through the experiences African

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Many people has read Dr. martin Luther king 's letter, but how many people understands what his words in his letter meant. I strongly feel what he stresses and actually made me feel like I was there through the tragedies and struggles that had happen back then. Reading Mr. king 's letter actually gave me some food for thought as I collectively go through my day and questioning myself what if the past was the present now. My mind has been open to freedom as well as my physical body in this environment unlike Dr. King and others of his time. Dr. Martin Luther King had strategies not strategies for violence, but to demand freedom with nonviolent acts.

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Wyatt Erovick AP English 12-6-16 Letter From a Birmingham Jail Analysis         Luther King Jr., in his letter, Letter From a Birmingham Jail, uses persuasive techniques to grab the reader’s attention and get them to agree with him.     In King’s 13 and 14th paragraph of the letter, he uses a logical appeal to persuade the audience. In the beginning of paragraph 14, King states that “We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter.”  

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A Response to Martin Luther King Jr's “I Have a Dream” speech. In Martin Luther King Jr’s speech “I have a dream,” King issues a statement that changes the stake for the civil rights movement into the favor of equal rights for all. According to King, many nationalities, specifically, the African American people are subjected to the injustices and shortcomings of the American system. King identifies some of the sources of the discrimination such as close mindedness, racism, hate, and prejudice.

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