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Martin Luther King’s Letter from the Birmingham Jail

One of the known civil rights in the mid-20th century across the United States was Martin Luther King Jr, who was always willing to fight for the rights of the African Americans. King lead several peaceful demonstrations across the country with the aim of creating awareness on the suffering that Black Americans were going through and advocating for equality among races. His activisms lead to his arrest and detention in one of the Birmingham jails. While in jail, he received a condemnation letter from the white clergy who felt that his activities were not appropriate. In response, King decide to write a letter of letter to the Alabama white clergymen to condemn their speculations and expose how hypocritical they were and justifying in activism and actions in the pursuit for equal rights and an end to racial segregation.

From his letter, King was concerned that many people would not understand why he engaged in civil rights advocacy. At the moment, people would not relate his fight against racial segregations and even his fellow clergymen did not see his pursuit of equality as a noble idea. In his letter from the Birmingham jail, he outlined the various reasons why he was engaging in civil rights advocacy and wanted to appeal to all people to understand the need for racial equality. His letter did not in fact address the African Americans but it sought to answer the concerns raised by the six clergymen letter and appeal to moderate whites on the injustices that we being perpetuated.

Although King was really concerned about the accusations made by the six white clergymen, he used a diplomatic tone in responding to their letter with the aim of appealing to the moderates. King was certain that for his mission to succeed and ensure that racial profiling and segregation could come to an end, he ended to attract the support of the moderate whites. King considered this as a more achievable way through which he would be able to ensure that the aims of the civil rights advocacy groups would be achieved.

In his letter, King decided to use a Biblical analogy as this would be appealing to the clergymen and himself. A Biblical analogy made it possible for King to convince the white moderates of what his ambition was while he was in Birmingham. The clergymen whom King addressed the letter to would easily relate with a Biblical analogy as they he read and studied the Bible. The background of the clergymen would ensure that they understand why King was engaging in civil rights advocacy and acknowledge that his actions were aimed at achieving a general good for the whole community and country at large. According to King, ‘An injustice in one place was an injustice everywhere.’ King was focused on dismissing believes by the white Christians that the black people should wait for equal rights to manifest themselves in the society without having to take action to address racial segregation. He hoped that his audience would realize that the time to fight racial segregation and other injustices against the black Americans was now and each moral person needed to take action.

King’s letter was meant to advance the race debate and act as an eye opener for the white moderates on the need to join hands with civil rights advocacy groups in campaigning for equality. Although the tone was sincere and polite, King ensured that he would direct his sentiments to his target audience and ensure that they would be able to relate with his concerns personally. He used personal address when referring to the clergymen and this played a major role in ensuring that the target audience would relate with King’s concerns at a personal level.

References

Burrell, Kristopher B. “Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Greater Vision: Manually Bending the Arc of Time Towards Justice.” (2018).

Chenoweth, Erica, and Juliet Hooker. “The Civil Rights Movement and US Democracy: A Discussion of” Gospel of Freedom: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail and the Struggle that Changed a Nation” By Jonathan Rieder.” (2014): 716-719.

Pierre-Louis, Gabriella, et al. “Rhetorical Analysis of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Panel Discusion.” (2015).

Rieder, Jonathan. Gospel of Freedom: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail and the Struggle that Changed a Nation. Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2014.