Dr. Martin Luther King was a well-known civil rights activist, and through his works, and actions he played an important part in building modern day America. His works include the famous I have a dream speech, March to Washington, and many more famous protests. A well known document written by King was the letter of Birmingham, written on April 16, 1963. The letter was a response to the clergyman who called King's actions "unwise and untimely." In the letter, King used rhetorical devices and appeals, to convey and develop his argument, that change was needed, and that his activities were, in fact, not unwise and untimely. In the beginning of the letter, King refutes the idea of his actions being unwise and untimely by establishing credibility. …show more content…
King, once again, uses the Biblical Duty of certain people, and groups that took it upon themselves, "in the refusal...to obey the laws...on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake." King builds on this message further by including historical events to draw a connection between the perseverance and the dedication that people during that time had to King's current fight. "It was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain...," King stated, "rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire." King uses the historical events and compares them to himself, to show that he, too, would do the same. "It was illegal to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at that time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers." King uses the allusions of these historical events to send a message about injustice and how many of those people sacrificed a lot but did not give in to civil obedience. Along with Allusion, King used Pathos through his word choice, in order to explain his message of civil disobedience, in a way the priest, or clergy would understand. Pathos and Logos are a common factor in King's writing as a way to appeal to his audience and to install a sense of justice and activism. This was quite evident in paragraph 26, when King uses rhetorical appeals to promote a united whole fighting "to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity." Logos were used by King in this paragraph as a way to refute the claim made by a letter King received from Texas. "Human progress never rolls in on wheels on inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co workers with God." Through this quote, King used Logos