Textual Analysis Letter From Birmingham Jail

In Dr.king’s open letter he states that segregation is “an existential expression of man’s tragic separation”(8) of the blacks and whites in the south. The discomfort emphasized in this open letter reflects off of the unjust laws made for the blacks in south. Although, that Dr.king uses nonviolent action to solve problems that he and the blacks are facing in the south, the south continued to use unjust laws and methods to prevent the blacks from peacefully protesting against segregation. The unjust laws that the whites created to cause segregation is what really gives Dr.king the discomfort he expresses in this open letter because it allows the whites to do whatever they feel is possible to make the blacks feel like they aren’t human and by allowing them to do such inhumane things to them gives the whites a feeling of superiority that is not real. The feeling of discomfort that is expressed in this open letter by Dr.King forced him to act accordingly on the issue of segregation created by the unjust laws of the

Dr. King is showing that to fix segregation they must deal with it in other places as well as locally to them, since Birmingham was one of the worst cities racially Dr. King and his followers go to take a stand to the inequality. Dr. King reflects that citizens should be able to take a stand in states other than their own without being called an

King touches the reader’s emotions and feelings towards the issue and goes into a more personal aspect of this problem, by sharing examples not only as an African American but as a father. In his letter King explains the hardship the regular African American has to go carry everyday due to the segregation of races, the financial status that predominates the African American community, being generally disposed from their names and being replace with “nigger boy” or “nigger man,” being neglected the entrance to public places due to their skin color, to explaining to their children why they can’t live the same way as the other children. (King 167) King uses this strategy to cause the white Clergymen see more vividly the hardships African Americans have to carry with themselves. King spend a vast amount of time emphasizing with the burden that is put on African American children, perhaps King tried to touch upon a topic the Clergymen could relate to and find some empathy with his argument.

In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. uses politics, attempts to define unjust law, and imagery of violent treatment of protesters in order to argue that standards and non-violence are the most effective strategies in overcoming segregation. He also argues that those who truly want change need to be ready for action and protest now rather than forever holding their peace and living in a world of segregation. Martin Luther King compares international civil rights campaigns in order to shame the clergy into realizing how far behind American civil rights are. When Martin Luther King says, “we have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights.

1. What is the name of your source and when was it produced? The name of my source is Letter from Birmingham Jail and it was produced April 16, 1963. 2.

Although this quote is very blunt, it gets the point across that blacks during this time were treated terribly and needed change now before things got even worse. Adults were not the only ones being persecuted, children were feeling the segregation as well, “when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking, ‘Daddy, why are white people so mean?’” (quoted in Jacobus 382). Dr. King uses his child for some of his emotional appeal because he is trying to create an emotional response within the eight clergymen; this quote shows that the segregation and discrimination affect everyone in the black

Many aspects go into making a society successful. Martin Luther King, Jr. explores one of these aspects in his Letter Written from Birmingham Jail. In his letter, King argues that individuals should not have to fight for their freedoms alone. In King’s time, black Americans were fighting for their rights and civil liberties, those of which had already been afforded to white men. The problems that King’ presents in his letters is an important topic to all reasonable members of society because it is imperative that all members of society have the same rights and freedoms to ensure that everyone has the ability to perform their best in order to propel his or her community forward.

She has been caught between two fires: racial dehumanization in the form of “slavery” and “lynching” on the one hand, and the call for “being good” and exerting effort for the betterment of oneself on the other. Self-development and betterment of oneself date back to Booker T. Washington who called for peaceful co-existence with white people instead of protesting against racism. He called colored people to work hard and realize achievements in order to prove to white people that they deserve equal treatment. Finney does not agree on some values and beliefs of the past as she criticizes Washington’s viewpoint by portraying a hard-done-by protagonist who has “heard / 7,844 Sunday sermons on how God made every / woman in his image (Finney, Head off & Split 9: 60-62). Parks has also “hemmed 8,230 skirts “for white women and hemmed out “18,809 pants legs” for white boys.

Martin Luther King Cause and Effect In Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” the role cause and effect played throughout this letter for various reasons. Firstly, King’s words changed the civil rights of African Americans by his persuasive words utilized in the letter. Secondly, King scripted words from the bible to advise the Clergymen to change black rights.

In the article, “Breeds of America: Coming of Age, Coming of Race,” which was first published in the Harper’s magazine, William Melvin Kelley recalls his “confusing” childhood of being a colored citizen in the United States. He begins his memoir by portraying a simple skin comparison with his friends. An Italy kid was blushed because he had a same brown skin color as Kelly does under the sun. Kelly raised a question about that blush: why would brown skin make the Italy kid embarrassing? Then Kelly introduces the unfair collision of race and culture.

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

Imagine this: you are living in a discriminatory world full of people who do not understand you, and choose to judge you by your differences instead of getting to know you. If you are even the slightest bit different. The slightest distance from ordinary, you are judged. You do not get to fight for them to know you, because as soon as they place stereotypes on you. They decide who you are supposed to be.

The revolutionary Civil Rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr, once described discrimination as “a hellbound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them.” His point being that African Americans face racial discrimination on a daily basis. Brent Staples, being an African American living in America, expresses his view on the subject in his essay “Just Walk on By”, where he conveys the message of how fear is influenced by society's stereotypical and discriminating views of certain groups of people; his point is made clear through his sympathetic persona, descriptive diction, depressing tone, and many analogies. Staples sympathetic persona helps the reader feel and understand the racial problems that he experiences daily.

Because of his skill in creating such pieces of writing, as well as his influential role within the Civil Rights Movement, and the reminder that Letter from Birmingham Jail provides of these trying times, his letter should continue to be included within A World of Ideas. Persuasion within writing is an important tool to be utilized in order to garner support for one’s position. During the 1960s, equality between different races was a very controversial issue which required a certain finesse when being discussed. Martin Luther King demonstrated precisely this sort of finesse when writing about the racial injustices faced by black Americans, as well as when refuting the criticisms he faced from white clergymen.

Ever since the dawn of time there has been an idea that skin color determines who you are in society, this idea is known as racism. Racism is defined as a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race (Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus). In the fight against racism, Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the principal civil rights leaders. The moral of the autobiography “The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr. Edited By Clayborne Carson” is to never give up in what you believe in, no matter what the odds are. This moral is formed by King overcoming a childhood and pushing through rigorous school work, being beaten down several