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Similarities Between Letter From Birmingham Jail And To Kill A Mockingbird

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The Hard on Truth There are many connections you see between the impact of Jim Crow laws on life in the South and the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Jim Crow laws impacted life in the South by creating inequality, racism, and segregation. This plays out in To Kill a Mockingbird in an immensely powerful way. In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr., King defined inequality in various ways such as, “a child asking can they go to the amusement park and you have to tell them no because they’re black.” The Jim Crow laws made all of this happened because it basically separated whites from blacks. Constitutional Rights Foundation confirms, “They held that racial segregation of children in public schools, even in schools of equal quality, hurt minority children. “Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” In chapter 12 of To Kill a Mockingbird, Calpurnia took Jem and Scout to her church. While they were there, both, Jem and Scout were wondering why they didn’t have hymn-books. Even though they are separate, they’re still not equal. …show more content…

The situation of Emmett Till where he was brutally attacked/kidnapped by whites, just because he was “flirting” with a grocery cashier. He’s not the only black male that has went through this. Dr. King in “Letter From Birmingham Jail” emphasizes, “when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading ‘white’ and ‘colored’; when your first name becomes ‘nigger’ and your middle name becomes ‘boy’ (however old you are) and your last name becomes ‘John,’ and when your wife and mother are never given the respected title "Mrs.’” This relates in To Kill Mockingbird, chapter 19, where in the courtroom the whites sat down in the main section while the blacks had to stand on the balcony to observe the trial of Tom vs the Ewell

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443 Words | 2 Pages

"Civil Disobedience" by Henry David Thoreau and "Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Lither King Jr. Both had the same idea but they were shared in different ways. "Civil Disobedience" was written in the 1830's where as "The Letter From Birmingham Jail" was written nearly 100 years letter. Both pieces of writing showed civil disobedience, and they were shared in the same way, but they both had different views. In both pieces of work the authors have different views of the injustice in the government. Both men, Martin Luther King Jr. and Henry David Thoreau, targeted larger groups rather than smaller ones.

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1397 Words | 6 Pages

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a civil rights activist who nonviolently protested against the Jim Crow Laws in Birmingham, Alabama. He wrote a letter to the clergymen and made valid and solid points, arguing how the laws are injustice and not equal. While writing his letter, King uses various rhetorical devices and appeals to argue that his activities are not "unwise and untimely". In the beginning of King's letter, he establishes credibility and explains that he is not an outsider like people think he is.

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1091 Words | 5 Pages

When selecting a leader for any hierarchical position, the commonwealth put their confidence in someone who will put their society’s best interest first. Sometimes these leaders take their power too far and begin enacting regulations that oppress certain individuals. The oppressed occasionally find ways to retaliate against this injustice. In regards to this concept of civil disobedience, transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau once said, “Unjust laws exist; shall we be content to obey them…or shall we transgress them at once?” Few people have elected to transgress these laws throughout the course of history.

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895 Words | 4 Pages

“Given your definitions of religion and politics, where do you see parallels, and where do you see divergences, between the insights of King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail and Sophocles’s Antigone?” When I look at King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail and Sophocles’ Antigone, it is evident that concepts of religion and politics exist within these texts. Similarly, these pieces both contain elements, which I identify as my definitions of religion and politics. For example, King includes the rhetoric of religious figures (St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas) on the issues of just and unjust laws to justify non-violent law-breaking. In a similar way, this relates to my definition of the use of symbols and religious traditions, which shapes

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388 Words | 2 Pages

The Inspiration of Martin Luther King Jr. in His Letter from Birmingham Jail On April 3, 1963, black men and women, impatient for equality, opened a campaign to desegregate businesses in downtown Birmingham. The protesters who defied these segregation laws soon filled Bull Connor’s jail cell beyond capacity. When the state courts of Alabama issued an injunction against the protests, Dr. King decided to defy the law and suffer the consequences.

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713 Words | 3 Pages

In the two writings The Perpetuation of our Political Institutions, by Abraham Lincoln and Letter from a Birmingham Jail, by Martin Luther King Jr.; each author explores the complications of their society when they lived and how they view the laws present. For the two writings, the authors explore the levels of ability the people of America have to change laws that they do not see fit for their democracy. In the First Amendment of the Constitution, the people are given the right to petition their government if they feel their rights are being compromised, while also reserving the right to assemble to show their unhappiness with the law or laws created. Each one of these men does not embody the same ideals, causing a conflict of thoughts on how Americans should be allowed to petition their government. The same could be asked about how the government is required to act when they are being petitioned.

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550 Words | 3 Pages

The idea of communism arose from The Communist Manifesto written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto was a political pamphlet that gave an approach to class struggle and capitalism. The pamphlet soon after became popular across the world. Over a 100 years later, an African-American civil rights leader by the name of Martin Luther King Jr. would read this pamphlet and use similar idea's to achieve his dream of integration and equality. King, a minister, was known for using somewhat communist views in reference to Marx in many of his speeches and letters.

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883 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout history there have been influential people who have advocated for certain ideals that have been known as radical or, for some, idiotic. With most changes that have occurred in history, it starts off with one person making a stand and attempting to change something. From that person comes others who have been influenced and make changes for themselves. One of the changes that has been most controversial was the topic of slavery in the 19th and 20th century. David Henry Thoreau was a 19th century author who wrote a popular essay titled, “Civil disobedience”.

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2399 Words | 10 Pages

Racism and racial inequality was extremely prevalent in America during the 1950’s and 1960’s. James Baldwin shows how racism can poison and make a person bitter in his essay “Notes of a Native Son”. Dr. Martin Luther King’s “A Letter from Birmingham Jail” also exposes the negative effects of racism, but he also writes about how to combat racism. Both texts show that the violence and hatred caused from racism form a cycle that never ends because hatred and violence keeps being fed into it. The actions of the characters in “Notes of a Native Son” can be explain by “A Letter from Birmingham Jail”, and when the two texts are paired together the racism that is shown in James Baldwin’s essay can be solved by the plan Dr. King proposes in his

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1939 Words | 8 Pages

A Literary Analysis of Martin Luther King’s Letter From Birmingham Jail On April 16, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote “The Letter From Birmingham Jail”. He began writing the letter on the margins of a newspaper, while in solitary confinement, to respond back to the eight white clergymen evangelists who called his actions “unwise and untimely”. The purpose of his letter was to fully explain his presence in Birmingham, Alabama and to give a direct response to the clergymen as to when and why he started his nonviolent campaign. King organized and led a nonviolent campaign which involved freedom marches and lunch sit ins.

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1737 Words | 7 Pages

Amidst the intense Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested and put in solitary confinement for peacefully protesting racial discrimination and injustice in Birmingham, Alabama. It was during this time that Dr. King, refusing to sit idly by, wrote his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” one of the most inspiring documents in history. With his respectful nature, humility, compassion, optimism, and determination, King responded to a group of white Alabama clergymen who had condemned the civil rights protests as extreme in their open letter, “A Call for Unity.” Although his letter was directed towards a small group of eight men, his words eventually reached the minds and hearts of the entire country. Throughout the letter, Dr. King does a tremendous job of supporting his argument with the three elements of Aristotle’s rhetorical appeal.

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696 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout history there have been many situations where people’s rights have been taken for granted and many brave faces that has risen to the occasion to support the rights of others. Some of these brave people were Martin Luther King and Franklin D. Roosevelt. These two men are known for advertising the rights of others. They stood up for what they believed in, which was freedom and equal rights for all Americans. In both the Letter from a Birmingham Jail and The Four Freedom’s speech they both discussed why everyone should have equal rights, they both used religion to back up their claim, and they both discussed basic human rights that all people should have.

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1285 Words | 6 Pages

The 1960’s was an era of time that can be defined by change and milestones. From the Civil Rights protests to the assassination of a beloved leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, many lives were greatly affected. In America, the 1960’s ended on a good note when the United States won the Space Race. However, in the beginning of the 1960’s, people were being stoned for trying to fight for their basic rights.

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729 Words | 3 Pages

In his "Letter form a Birmingham Jail" and his "I have a Dream speech, Dr. King uses metaphor, repetition and parallel structure to provide visual images which may evoke empathy in the readers and audience and emphasize the ideas he presents: the argument for civil rights and the goal to end segregation. Dr. King was an educated man with moral values in his speech and letter in that order he stated "Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood." "Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity." When we think of quicksand we think of being stuck and dying if we do not get help. Dr. King recognize the

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792 Words | 4 Pages

Martin Luther King Jr., one of the greatest speakers for black civil rights movement, had written many great works in his time. Two of his pieces stand out as his greatest works. Letter from Birmingham Jail; a pieces written from a jail cell in birmingham where he was arrested for peacefully protesting, the letter was attended to the white clergymen who didn 't agree with his views and I Have a Dream Speech; was a speech king gave in front of the washington memorial. Both works convey similarities and differences in their tone, structure, appeal and figurative language. There are many similarities between “I Have a Dream” and the letter from birmingham jail.

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