An activist and leader in the civil rights movement Martin Luther King Jr, has given out many inspirational speeches with the use of rhetoric to put an end to racial segregation. MLK is known to be president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and was called to engage in a nonviolent direct-action program in Birmingham. With the injustice happening, MLK participated in a march with no parade permit that lead him to an arrest. In jail on April 12,1963 he wrote the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, an response to eight clergymen who published “A Call for Unity” in the newspaper. Not only does he write to the clergymen but also to the people as a whole calling for unity in peace. In this letter, Martin Luther King Jr. uses ethos,pathos and logos to persuade the audience to end racial segregation, an act of civil rights movement. …show more content…
uses the strategies of the rhetorical appeal; ethos to persuade the audience to end racial segregation in Birmingham. With the techniques of rhetorical appeal of the letter; ethos, pathos, logos places a big part to show the audience the purpose he is writing. As Exordium is related to ethos, MLK tries to convince the audience of the clergymen and the people with his trustworthiness and credibility. MLK speaks what the audience thinks stating, “You may well ask: ‘Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?’ You are quite right in calling for negotiation”(MLK 1307) and further goes on speaking about how a community which refuses to negotiate is forced to confront the issue which the issue can no longer be ignored. He tries to inform and lead the audience into a discourse about the topic of racial segregation and ways he acts upon it. This ethos MLK uses tries to convince the audience that a community that constantly refuses to negotiate is forced to confront and to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be