What Are The Rhetorical Appeals In Letter From Birmingham Jail

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., one of the most profound activists and leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, once said, “Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities” (King 584). When Dr. King was admitted to the Birmingham City Jail, he wrote a letter entitled, “Letter From Birmingham Jail.” This letter was a response to eight white clergymen who criticized his actions as a leader. He used three rhetorical appeals, logos, pathos, and ethos, to persuade the eight white clergymen that his actions were justifiable and that injustice was prominent in Birmingham. Essentially, these appeals allowed him to prove the logic behind his

King wrote during his time in Birmingham City Jail, he used three rhetorical appeals, one of which was logos. Logos is the logical and reasonable thinking behind an action. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. uses this rhetorical appeal to help the audience of the letter understand the exact reasoning behind his analytic cogitation. For example, Dr. King states, “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed” (King 582). He uses a common sequence in the path of oppression that explains why he and other activists must act on their ideals of freedom and equality. Another example of logos is when Dr. King is speaking about obeying the laws, but there is a moral conflict based on the type of law it is. He states that, “The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. One has not only a legal but moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey just laws” (King 583). King discusses the moral contradiction that is caused by the unjust doctrines that limit his, and many others, freedoms as a citizen of the United States. Another rhetorical appeal that Dr. King used is