Letter To Birmingham Jail: Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

From Behind Bars.
On Good Friday in 1963, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. led 53 blacks on a march in downtown Birmingham to protest the cities segregation laws. The Birmingham police arrested all of the demonstrators, including King. This caused the clergymen of Birmingham to compose a letter pleading with the black population to end their demonstrations. This letter appeared in The Birmingham Newspaper where the imprisoned Martin Luther King read it (Amistad Digital Resource). In response, King drafted a letter that would end up being essential to the Civil Rights movement and provide lasting inspiration to the struggle for racial equality. This letter, which became to be know as the “Letter From Birmingham Jail” discuses the immorality
Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” uses emotional and logical appeals in response to criticism from white clergymen of his actions, and though in jail King explains in an open, personal, diplomatic, heartfelt and completely inoffensive manner why he believes in the validity for civil disobedience and for nonviolent action.
Kings letter, designed to refute the response of the clergymen, actually addresses a wider audience; the group of eight clergymen and the American population. White or black, educated or not, Americans can connect with King as he sits, writing his letter from jail, unfairly and unjustly imprisoned for a nonviolent demonstration. He does not write with hate in his words, nor with anger, but with well thought words weighted with a hint of frustration. He demonstrates this by describing his “disappointment” in the “hope that the white religious leadership of this community would see the justice of our cause.” Martin
But is this a logical assertion? Isn 't this like condemning a robbed man because his possession of money precipitated the evil act of robbery? (King)
This openness with his audience allows King to better establish a connection to them. In an essay by John Guinan called “Speaking Personally,” Guinan analyses the landscape of his fathers and his conversations. He talks about how he was not as open with his father as his father was to him and how because of this there was a “chasm” between them (317)
Martin Luther King jr., was first and foremost a preacher. His letter could have been just as effective had it been given as a speech. Each sentence carries with it the power of voice, as though it was spoken from behind the pulpit. King’s use of flowing language allows the reader to keep moving through the information, allowing his ideas and arguments to smoothly transition from one idea to the next. King moves to issues by referring to, and often supporting the concerns of the clergymen. “You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern.” (King) Writing in this manner King is able to make his rebuttals less of a personal attack. Though he disagrees with the clergymen, he is not attacking them personally, but trying to guide them to the same conclusions and ideals that he has reached. He