Dr King Letter From Birmingham Jail Analysis

Violent protest and nonviolent protest in Civil Right Movement In American history, the period of the 1960s always was considered a decade of great social change. This is the era that the group of lower class or color skin became stronger and more confident to assert themselves even though white people still dominated every aspect of American society. During this period, American Civil Rights Movements emerged everywhere, such as Native-Americans Movement, Women’s Movement, Latino Movement, and especially African Americans Movement. By that time, there are many varieties of actions that civil rights activists waged to seek to end racial inequality and secure rights in political, social, and economic for African Americans. However, two major

King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. With a tone remains polite, respectful, even almost apologetic, and friendly, this letter was written in response to a claim made by eight white clergymen criticizing the actions and ideas of Dr. King and his group as unwise and wrong. According to S. Jonathan Bass argued, “the letter served as a tangible, reproducible account of the long road to freedom in a movement that was largely centered around actions and spoken words” (Bass). Beginning the letter with a greeting sentence “My dear fellow clergymen”, Dr. King explains the reasons his presence as well as his uses of nonviolence and direct action in Birmingham. When King says: “I am here because I was invited here. I am here because I have organizational ties here. But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here" (King), the historical event he is referring to the context of Birmingham in 1960s “had become symbolic of a South determined to maintain the old racial ways. Eugene "Bull" Connor, Birmingham 's notorious Commissioner of Public Safety, maintained white supremacy with a ferocious combination of arrests, harassment, and violence” (Lerner et al). Therefore, in this letter, King emphasizes, “I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (King). Because of the brutally barbaric response of Birmingham 's white authorities, a historical event occurred in 1962 when “ Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth persuaded the Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC), led by King to target its protests at segregation in Birmingham” (Lerner et al). In “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Dr. King offers four basic steps that SCLC waged the process of organizing the nonviolent and direct action including “collection of the facts to