Martin Luther King’s major claims in this letter are to bring forward the injustices that went on in Birmingham. His letter gives the philosophical foundations of the civil rights movement of the 1960s and does a good job by giving specific examples that appeal to logos, pathos, and ethos. After Martin Luther King looked over the clergymen’s unjust propositions he efficiently constructed his counter argument as he directly started his letter “my dear fellow clergymen”. The eight clergy men called his present activity “unwise and untimely” and stated that racial matters should be properly pursued in the courts and not the streets. He wrote this letter from his jail cell after him and several of his associates were arrested as they nonviolently protested segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. Such a powerful document, especially for catalyzing things like the Civil Rights Act of 1964.The “letter of Birmingham Jail” was written by Martin Luther King on April 16, 1963. Read it in its entirety, and think about why this was

We find it difficult to wait.' I've read this many times,īut every time I read it, and this is just anĮxcerpt, as you can tell, it's incredibly powerful. 'white' and 'colored,' 'then you will understand why Sleep night after night 'in the uncomfortableĬorners of your automobile 'because no motel will accept you 'when you are humiliatedĭay in and day out 'by nagging signs reading Your tongue twisted 'and your speech stammeringĪs you seek to explain 'to your six-year-oldĭaughter why she cannot go 'to the public amusement park that has 'just been advertised on television 'when you take a cross-country drive 'and find it necessary to Of an affluent society 'when you suddenly find In an airtight cage 'of poverty in the midst Majority of your 20 million 'Negro brothers smothering Sisters with impunity 'when you see the vast Segregation to say 'wait.' 'But when you have seen vicious mobs 'lynch your mothers and fathers at will 'and drown your sisterĪnd brothers at whim 'when you have seen hate-filled policemen 'curse, kick, brutalize, and even kill 'your black brothers and

Those who have never felt 'the stinging darts of 'The purpose of our direct action program 'is to create a situation so crisis packed 'that it will inevitably To the majestic heights 'of understanding and brotherhood. To the unfettered realm 'of creative analysisĪnd objective appraisal, 'so must we see the needįor nonviolent gadflies 'to create the kind of tension in society 'that will help men riseįrom the dark depths 'of prejudice and racism That it was necessary 'to create a tension in the mind so that 'individuals could rise from the bondage 'of myths and half truths 'But I must confess that I am 'not afraid of the word 'tension.' 'I have earnestly opposed violent tension, 'but there is a type of constructive, 'nonviolent tension which The nonviolent resister 'may sound rather shocking. 'My citing the creation of tension 'as part of the work of 'It seeks so to dramatize the issue 'that it can no longer be ignored. Has constantly refused 'to negotiate is forced 'Nonviolent direct action seeks to create 'such a crisis and foster such a tension 'that a community which That Martin Luther King 'and his fellow protesters were creating.' And so, here's just an excerpt of what Martin Luther King wrote, 'You may well ask, 'Why direct action? ''Why sit ins, marches and so forth? ''Isn't negotiation a better path?' 'You are quite right inĬalling for negotiation. Sympathetic to the injustices, 'but they should be resolved in the courts 'and not through the type of protests, 'the type of tension, Now, what motivated Martin Luther King to write this letter was a statement made in the newspaper byĮight Alabama clergymen, which encouraged the protesters to wait saying, 'That, yes, we are The Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed by Congress asīeing heavily influenced by Martin Luther King's letter. Not only is it moving, but it really gives the philosophical underpinnings of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. People say, 'Hey, heĬould read the phone book, 'and it would move people.' But this also speaks to whatĪn incredible writer he was. And Martin Luther King often gets a lot of credit as an amazing speaker. It is one of the most powerful documents, frankly, I have ever read. Going to read together in this video is what has become known as Martin Luther King's Letterįrom a Birmingham Jail, which he wrote from a jail cell in 1963 after he and several of his associates were arrested in Birmingham, Alabama as they nonviolently

Letter from birmingham jail annotations