Letter from Birmingham jail
Lorenzo Luevano
The University of Texas at El Paso
On April 1963,Martin Luther King Jr., a civil rights activist and a pastor that led nonviolent demonstration in the southern states was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama for demonstrating without permit. While Martin Luther King Jr. served his sentence at jail he wrote the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in response to a letter written by eight clergymen who opposed the protests. In the letter Martin Luther king Jr. used three techniques to persuade the clergy and the readers about why African American should be granted civil rights. The techniques used by King are the following ethos, pathos, and logos. Another aspect being analyzed in this paper will be who the audience is. Martin Luther king Jr. letter explains and informs the clergymen about himself and his nonviolent movement in a patient and reasonable means.
In this letter, King talks about his leadership position and involvement in the nonviolent protest to create a sense of authority and credibility. From the beginning in paragraph two Martin Luther king Jr. wrote
I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. We have e eighty-five affiliated organizations across the South, and one of them is the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. (Luther, 1963, par. 2)
From this quote one can see his role in the protest and show us facts about the number of organizations there are supporting him. By showing that white people are starting to support him it gives him credibility of his actions, when he wrote
I am thankful, however, that some of our white brothers in the South have grasped the meaning of this social revolution and committed themselves to it. They are still too few in quantity, but they are big in quality. Some – such as Ralph McGill, Lillian Smith, Harry Golden, James McBride Dabbs, Ann Braden and Sarah Patton Boyle – have written about our struggle in eloquent and prophetic terms. (Luther, 1963, par. 32)
Paragraph 32 offers another ethos because King is telling us what he says during mass which also gives him authority and credibility as stated
I say this as a minister of the gospel, who loves the church; who was nurtured in its bosom; who has been sustained by its spiritual blessings and who will remain true to it as long as the cord of Rio shall lengthen. (Luther, 1963, par. 34)
The next ethos is found at paragraph 37, when it says “I am in the rather unique position of being the son, the grandson and the great-grandson of preachers” (Luther,1963, Par. 39). This gave King more credibility toward what he was doing, because he had the knowledge of past generations.
The next technique used by King in the letter is pathos. The following is an example of pathos, “while confined here in the Birmingham city jail…” (Luther, 1963, par. 1).That quote causes an emotion of disbelief and concerned for King. Paragraph seven creates an emotion of failure by saying “we were the victims of a broken promise” (Luther, 1963,par. 7).The following paragraph talks about King being disappointed and he show the emotion by writing “our hopes had been blasted, and the shadow of deep disappointment settled upon us” (Luther, 1963, par. 8). With the word “wait” King wants to express frustration in the following quote
For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."(Luther, 1963, par. 13)
Paragraph 14 has a rich content of pathos because it offers wide range of emotions from anger, hate, corruption, violence, and humiliation towards the Negro community. The next quote represent the emotion of determination toward change, “Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity” (Luther,1963, par. 26). The following text expressed many emotions like, fear, and frustration:
If this philosophy had not emerged, by now many streets of the South would, I am convinced, be flowing with blood…. millions of Negroes will, out of frustration and despair, seek solace and security in black-nationalist ideologies a development that would inevitably lead to a frightening racial nightmare. (Luther, 1963, par. 29)
In paragraph 36 Martin Luther king Jr. expresses a feeling of failure because his plans did not worked out as he planned when he visited Birmingham. Paragraphs 39 and 42 have pathos that describe a feeling of disappointment, from king and the people, were it says “in deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church. But be assured that my tears have been tears of love…” (Luther, 1963, par. 39), and “every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust” (Luther, 1963, par. 42). All over this letter, King has always shown determination for his people as in the following quote, “we will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham, here and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom. Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up with America's destiny” (Luther,1963, par. 44 ).Even though Martin Luther King Jr. expresses anger all through the letter he ends with a pathos which signifies tranquility and peace between him and the clergymen.
The last technique King uses is logos which can be seen by the quote, “anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds” (Luther, 1963, par. 4). This quote is very ironic because, no one is considered an outsider but in that time the Negro community was. In paragraph 6, King proves logic by saying
In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action…. There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in the nation. These are the hard, brutal facts of the case. (Luther, 1993, par. 6)
King explains the logic in the following quote, “nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue” (Luther, 1963, par. 10) Martin Luther King Jr. makes a lot of sense all over the letter just by asking, "how can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?’ The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the last to advocate disobeying just laws” (Luther, 1963, par. 15).In the quote he explains how can you disobey just laws. The following five paragraphs King makes more logic from the above quote by furthering the understanding and by giving examples between just and unjust laws. A very good logic statement written by King is in paragraph 25, when he wrote “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?.... Society must protect the robbed and punish the robber” (Luther, 1963, par. 25). Overall Martin Luther King Jr. uses logos to disprove and argue the clergymen points of view.
The audience in the letter is mainly intended to the clergymen as king wrote “my dear fellow clergymen” (Luther, 1963.par. 1). Another group that the letter is directed to is the Birmingham administration because King wanted a change. People in general are also the audience because King talks to them in the following quote “we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court's decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public school” (Luther, 1963, par. 15). Martin Luther King Jr. also talks to his Christian and Jewish brothers I the following quote, “I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers” (Luther,1963, par. 23). White moderates are also the audience because King wants them to understand the laws. Oppressed people are a focus in the letter also because King talks to them on not giving up. All over the letter king is talking to the church as in the following quote “I hope the church as a whole will meet the challenge of this decisive hour” (Luther, 1963, par. 44).Without being direct King focuses on the Birmingham police department., by saying “I cannot join you in your praise of the Birmingham police department” (Luther, 1963, par. 45).Last but not least the Negro community is an audience in King’s Letter, by telling them not to quit.
The Letter from Birmingham Jail offers a wide range of analysis techniques but overall Martin Luther King Jr. uses many examples of pathos, ethos and logos. The audiences from the letter are mainly the clergymen but also the white moderates, church and the Negro community. In this letter King explains his nonviolent protest to his audience, and urged them to follow the laws to grant the Negro community civil rights. By writing the letter King want so open the eyes of the people that don’t support him with his nonviolent protest.
Reference
King, M. L. (1963, August). Letter from Birmingham jail. The Atlantic Monthly, 212, 78-88.
