Analysis Of Martin Luther King Letter From Birmingham Jail

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Swamp of segregation

In 1963, Martin Luther King planned a campaign against segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. During the demonstration, he was arrested and lived in the jail for eight days. While he was in jail, he wrote his "Letter from Birmingham Jail" to explain his actions. Martin Luther King Jr's Letter from Birmingham Jail is important because, he explains the reasons for the non-violent demonstrations, he shows that black people are intelligent, and he criticizes the unjust laws of black people. Eight Alabama Clergymen expressed that honest opinions in racial matters could properly be followed by the judges, and urged that decisions of the courts should in the meantime be peacefully obeyed. And that responsible citizens should not
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MLK said A law is "unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote,"(Martin Luther King Jr, pg. 571) had no part in enacting or devising the law. The power of the majority group didn't want to see black people have power, so they made unjust laws for black people, so they couldn't be involved in the right to vote. Therefore, even though Negroes constituted a majority of the population, not a single one was registered. Another problem of unjust laws was black people hadn't got any authority of freedom. With painful experience, black people learned that "freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed."(Martin Luther king Jr, pg. 569). For example, most of the black people were poor. And they didn't have a choice as to how to live. A young black boy watched a TV show and he saw a playground. He stood up and grabbed his father's hands and asked him to visit where he saw. But his parent had a speech disorder and kept stammering their words. This young boy, realized that he couldn't go there ever. So he looked down and cried. Even though when the family had planned for a trip to somewhere, they didn't have a place to sleep because no one had a room for black people. So the family slept in the car fighting with cold and small spaces. All these examples of situations happened every day and night for the black people in the south. These issues …show more content…
King fought his country and people against the segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. Even though he went through a hard time in jail for eight days, he never forgot the purpose of what he was doing. He mentioned a lot of issues such as non-violent demonstrations. He showed that black people are gifted and he assessed the unfair laws of black Americans. His letter changed the country of the United States. And he worked to change black Americans rights in society. King, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, but he was assassinated in 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. We must remember what he did for this country and especially for black