Letter from a Birmingham Jail

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Letter from a Birmingham Jail
People all over the world respect Dr. Martin Luther King Junior for his bravery as he fought for the rights of the black people in the United States when segregation was the order of the day. One of his widely read works is Letter from a Birmingham Jail. The letter was his way to answer the clergymen who were against his activities in Birmingham, where he led protests against racial segregation. There was a law against the demonstration, but in the letter, King states that one should not obey an unjust law. He uses the letter to answer to criticisms against him. For example, those against his influence thought that there was no need to rush things, as patience would lead the black people to get equal rights with whites in due time. However, he observed that it was already time. They also said that he was an outsider, but through the letter, he states that he has strong ties with Birmingham, and since that was where most of racism took place, he had a moral duty to deal with it.
The letter was effective in achieving its purpose because King wrote persuasively. He uses ethos, logos, and pathos to communicate, which is an effective strategy. For example, he introduces himself as the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (King 1). This appeals to ethos because he intends to make it clear that he has the authority to act the way he does. He writes that the black people had been waiting for more than 340 years to get a chance to enjoy God-given and constitutional rights (King 4).

This appeals to pathos because he intends to get an emotional reaction from his audience. He continues to say that a law is unjust if a majority group compels a minority group to obey it, but it does not bind the former (King 5). Here he appeals to reason and logic. Therefore, Letter from Birmingham is effective in passing the intended message.

Works Cited
King Jr, Martin Luther. “Letter from Birmingham city jail.” Civil disobedience in focus. Routledge, 2002. 74-90.