Ethos In Letter From Birmingham Jail

Ethos in Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” In 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. was jailed for parading without a permit while in Birmingham, Alabama speaking out on the Civil Rights movement. Eight white clergymen published a letter in the local newspaper criticizing King’s actions and discrediting him as an outsider.

Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” has an amazing and also very extensive use of rhetorical devices in order to make the reader relate. Martin Luther King Jr. was very good with his words and as a preacher, he knew how to get to people's hearts. There were plenty of rhetorical devices that he could have used. Martin Luther King Jr. knew exactly which ones were gonna get to the people. Martin Luther King Jr. used ethos pathos and logos.

Philosophers and historians alike have long pondered the concepts of morality, that is the fundamental differences between right and wrong. Although patterns emerge through social folkways, mores, and taboos, there still exists a hypothetical gray area for ethical conduct. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 letter, he discusses the criticisms of the clergymen regarding the actions of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) while in Birmingham. Now considered a document that influences freedom movements around the world, King’s letter exemplifies the nonviolent struggle for American Civil Rights. Through his use of logos, ethos, and pathos, King is able to effectively address the concerns of the clergymen and persuade the reader in

Letter from Birmingham Jail Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister and social activist, who led the civil right movement in the United Stated throughout the mid 50’s until his assassination. Dr. King was arrested for participating in some sort of demonstration against racism and unjustified segregation. King’s “Letter from Birmingham city jail” purpose is to basically promote responsible and efficient leadership without racism and injustice. Throughout his letter, Dr. King wanted to illustrate the bias way of how the African American community was treated especially in the South.

Martin Luther King is known throughout the United States and possibly the world for his work in civil rights and the large movement in 1954 to 1968. After a protest on April 12th he and 50 other civil rights leaders were arrested. In a span of four days Martin Luther King wrote a 7,000 word letter addressed to a group of Christian and Jewish religious leaders who criticized the protest and King as well, calling him an outside agitator. In this letter there are many uses of ethos, pathos, and logos. Martin Luther King uses ethos when making credible connections to real people and events that occurred in the near present or past.

Letter From Birmingham Jail: Ethos, Pathos, Logos. History in the past provided us with many former activists such as Rosa Parks, Ruby Bridges, Bayard Rustin, and Martin Luther King Jr. As a well known activist, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the “Letter From Birmingham Jail”.

Martin Luther King, Jr. uses ethos to appeal to his audience. MLK stated he would have not allowed a person to go without or let someone suffer. MLK states, “Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country’s antireligious laws.” (p. 4)

Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. Growing up as the second of Martin Luther King Sr.’s children, Martin Luther King Jr. attended a segregated school throughout college. Martin Luther King Jr. was a popular child growing up. He entered college, age 15, after skipping the ninth and eleventh grade. As Martin Luther King Jr. grew older, he became very close to his grandmother, Jennie King.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15th, 1929, in Atlanta Georgia. He went to a segregated high school and graduated at the age of 15 before attending Crozer Seminary for studies in Theology. He later got his Ph.D. at Boston University; while there, he married Coretta Scott in 1953 and together they had four children. Preaching was his calling, so he moved back to Alabama to become a minister. King was selected as the leader of the civil rights movement, and his peaceful boycott of the segregated buses led the Supreme Court to declare the bus law unconstitutional.

Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the letter from jail, after he got arrested during a peaceful protest. At the time segregation was still a part of the culture in the United States and Martin Luther King Jr. and his followers were working diligently and peacefully to try and make a change in people’s hearts about segregation. In this letter MLK Jr. is writing to defend his strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism, which he does effectively by using rhetoric. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference focused on Birmingham, Alabama to start a nonviolent direct action campaign with the goal to get the city to get rid of segregation laws.

1. Ethos, Logos, and Pathos are important aspects in Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. The meaning behind Ethos is to appeal to ethics, which means convincing readers of the author’s credibility, meanwhile Pathos is an appeal to emotion, and is used in literature to convince readers of an argument by getting their emotions involved. Last but not least, Logos is the appeal to logic and is used to persuade readers using a force of reason. These terms are important in MLK’s Letter from Birmingham Jail because the foundation of the letter is built upon ideas of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos.

Christian Mincey Professor Williams English Composition II February 4th, 2023 Usage of Ethos in “Letter From Birmingham Jail” In Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail," King successfully establishes his credibility by utilizing ethos. As defined by Aristotle, ethos is the appeal to the credibility or trustworthiness of a speaker or writer. I feel as if King does a wonderful job at demonstrating his credibility through his extensive knowledge of the history of the civil rights movement, his commitment to nonviolence, and his moral authority from his past as a Christian minister. Some examples of King applying ethos is when he references the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine in order to establish his theological credibility,

Dr. King also included definitions and examples of unjust and just laws, and how they are not right. He included an example of these “laws” by talking about the things Adolf Hitler did was allowed but supposedly helping someone was not allowed. He writes and uses the letter to show the white Americans that are unaware of what is happening around them. Even, though Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is best remembered for his powerful voice and pathos in this letter is a thoughtful logical argument. Rhetorical Situations: Writer:

Martin Luther King jr was born on January 15, 1923 in Atlanta, Georgia and died in Memphis, Tennessee.when Martin was a kid he was a paperboy and when he grew up he wanted to be a firefighter. There is a Martin Luther King jr day on January 15 when he was born. Martin Luther King jr was a civil rights activist. The African American and the American laws were called the Jim Crow laws.

Martin Luther King Jr. Facts Martin Luther King Jr. was born in 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. King, a Baptist minister and civil-rights activist, had a seismic impact on race relations in the United States, beginning in the mid-1950s. Among his many efforts, King headed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Through his activism and inspirational speeches he played a pivotal role in ending the legal segregation of African-American citizens in the United States, as well as the creation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.