Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Banessa Rivera
Susie Huerta
English 1T
2/1/2017
Martin Luther King Jr. was a well educated social activist who played a key role in the
Civil Rights Movement. King was arrested for participating in a peaceful anti-segregation march
without having a parade permit. From a prison in Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. King wrote a letter
addressing several clergymen who had written an open letter criticizing his actions in the Civil
Rights Movement. In his letter, King makes sure to focus on responding to all of the criticisms
handed out by the clergymen. When being called an outsider by the men, King makes sure to
remind them that he is in fact the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference,
and he is there fighting for justice, just as the Apostle Paul did when he left his village to carry
the gospel of Jesus Christ. Dr. King explained how the public demonstrations were necessary,
since there were no alternatives left by the white structure; the violence against the African
American community was getting out of hand, businesses all around town took a part in the
segregation and racist acts, and the political leaders were unwilling to negotiate. King describes
in detail how important it was for his organization and himself to be completely informed, thus
allowing them to act responsibly when participating in a non-violent direct action. He notes that
tension is necessary to create a sense of change and to bring up issues that affect his
community. The African American community is riddled with a dark history, full of torture and
slavery, and the time for action was now. Waiting for justice was no longer an option that Dr.
King was willing to take, and it was time to fight for their freedom. King, then switches gears,
and goes on to explain the differences between unjust and just laws. According to Dr. King, a
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just law is those who are moral, and agree with the people and the law of God. On the other
hand, an unjust law degrades certain people, such as minorities. Unjust laws are also put into
place in order to continue to keep minorities as a second class, inferior to those who make the
laws. Dr. King then addresses the white moderate. He defines them as devoted to order and not
justice. He shows his disappointment by revealing how the white moderate would rather be
superior with power despite the inequality and injustice surrounding them. In his letter, King
points out his disagreement with the police department, and gives examples of police brutality.
He then ends his letter by apologizing for its length, and he hopes they acknowledge the
problem and realize the reality of the issue of injustice. Throughout his letter King allows the
reader to visualize the injustice occurring in the country. Martin Luther King Jr. demonstrates
how his community has been discriminated on the daily basis. He uses many rhetorical methods
to connect with the readers. Dr. King includes imagery with word choice, cause and effect, as
well as metaphor to justify his reasonings, and to argue the necessity of immediate action
against segregation.
By using imagery as a strategy in his argument, Dr. King conveys the reader to feel the
suffering the black community underwent as well as also exposing the reality of segregation.
King is very specific about the violence on the street that he was exposed to on a daily basis.He
mentions how his community was dehumanized and threatened continuously, and often the
situations were filled with such hate, they would get out of control. When explaining about how
I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say
"wait." But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and
drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen
curse, kick, brutalize, and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity (2)
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Here, Martin Luther King Jr. uses phrases such as stinging darts to emphasise the painful
feeling segregation was causing. He then goes on to describe a scene that would be unbearing
for any audience to experience. This form of diction makes the reader imagine a mob acting
grossly immoral toward their own mother and or father. He gives a vivid description of how
police would brutally attack members of the community, even going so far as to kill them. King
engages the reader to have sympathy for the black community, and realize these are real life
situations. The African American community always had to be ready for the worst, never
King uses the rhetorical device cause and effect to relate Hitlers cruel and unjust laws,
that were considered legal at his time, to the segregation laws that were being placed on African
Americans. He doesnt directly say that the effects of injustice will be monstrous, rather he
implies the message by letting the audience think about the destructive aftermath Hitler caused
by segregating and killing the Jews. In his letter King states, We can never forget that
everything Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did
in Hungary was "illegal." It was "illegal" to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany (3). Here,
King explains what happens when the people rely on the law without acknowledging their own
morals. His argument here is that if the extreme laws pass without assessing them and really
learning about the morals behind the situation such that what happen in Germany could happen
in America. He directs this passage to those who support law and order without considering the
results. King compares the clergymens actions to those of the Nazis who persecuted Jews
simply because the law protect them. King allows the reader to understand the difference
between conformity and one's own responsibility. By indicating that he himself would have
broken the Nazi laws if he was in that place, King is suggesting to his audience to go against the
segregation laws and stand on the side of justice before it is too late.
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By using metaphor as a strategy in his argument, Dr. King allows his audience to feel
sympathy to the black community. He wants to further more his explanation of all the damages
caused by the inequality of the laws. Dr. King doesnt expose his own personal experience until
When you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek
to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she cannot go to the public amusement park
that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her little eyes
when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see the depressing
clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky, and see her begin to distort her
Here King is very descriptive describing the scene he went through with his daughter. The
audience is able to connect more deeply with Kings argument about how it is necessary to take
action quickly. The audience can imagine in their heads, King stumbling in his own words when
explaining to his little girl about segregation. By writing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her
mental sky, King allows the reader to picture the little kids hopes beginning to shatter, making
the reader feel a sense of guilt and empathy towards what children of color were undergoing.
King explains why he started the civil disobedience and states his argument as to why
the oppressed will not remain oppressed forever and how they plan to fight back to injustice
through his examples of his use of rhetorical devices such as imagery, cause and effect and
metaphor. These devices help with the tone of the letter, reaching out to the audience by
connecting with them in a level where they can feel compassion towards the African American
community but also feel the need to take a part of the action taking place to eliminate the
segregation laws. And also Martin Luther King Jrs Letter from Birmingham Jail is important
because it connects to todays issues that are still unresolved. He is showing his ways of
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resisting to injustice through promoting non violent direct action. This letter shows how some
societies need an awakening from their inequalities and King demonstrates how important it is
Work Cited
King Jr., Martin Luther. Letter From Birmingham Jail. 16 Apr. 1963.