The "Letter from Birmingham Jail", written by Martin Luther King JR, is an iconic piece of history. Whilst imprisoned, King received a letter. This letter was written by Birmingham's 8 clergymen, and its purpose was to attempt to justify his arrest. King wrote his own letter in reply from his cell in Birmingham Jail. In this letter, King justifies his actions through Thoreau's concept of civil disobedience, and argues that breaking the law is necessary when a law is deemed "unjust." He also strongly supports the idea of nonviolence. In this persuasive argument, King utilizes devices such as allusion, analogies, and repetition.
One of the reasons King's argument was so strong and so successful is because he knew his audience. He recognized that he was riding a fine line, white males in a position of authority were very unlikely to consider the points of an oppressed black male. For this reason, he refrained from using an aggressive tone, as he knew he would lose the attention of his audience. He knew their background. White southern males in the mid-to-late 1900s more times than not fell true to the stereotype of radical, devote Christians. This is the reason King alludes to the Bible and makes several comparisons between biblical events and modern-day oppression. For example, in the seventeenth paragraph, "...it (civil disobedience) was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire. To a degree, academic freedom is a reality today because Socrates practiced civil disobedience. In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of civil disobedience." In this excerpt, King both alludes to the bible, and finds a way to compare it to how African Americans were being treated.
King, Martin Luther. "Letter from Birmingham Jail." Letter. 16 Apr. 1963. MS. N.p.
One of the reasons King's argument was so strong and so successful is because he knew his audience. He recognized that he was riding a fine line, white males in a position of authority were very unlikely to consider the points of an oppressed black male. For this reason, he refrained from using an aggressive tone, as he knew he would lose the attention of his audience. He knew their background. White southern males in the mid-to-late 1900s more times than not fell true to the stereotype of radical, devote Christians. This is the reason King alludes to the Bible and makes several comparisons between biblical events and modern-day oppression. For example, in the seventeenth paragraph, "...it (civil disobedience) was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire. To a degree, academic freedom is a reality today because Socrates practiced civil disobedience. In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of civil disobedience." In this excerpt, King both alludes to the bible, and finds a way to compare it to how African Americans were being treated.
King, Martin Luther. "Letter from Birmingham Jail." Letter. 16 Apr. 1963. MS. N.p.
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