Dr. Martin Luther King's Letter From Birmingham Jail

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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lived in the South when segregation was an integral part of everyday life. White males would use African American people as slaves on plantations, houses, factories, etc. In response to the horrific acts committed by White people, King decided to change the operations of the South. Most people associate King as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and head of the Civil Rights Movement (800). As a result, Dr. King organized and lead marches, sit ins, and several other nonviolent protests (802). Also, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote several profound pieces of literature. The “Letter From Birmingham Jail” is one of Dr. King’s most famous pieces. The letter was written by Dr. Martin Luther King …show more content…
King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” consisted of various rhetorical strategies. Logos is one of the several rhetorical strategies used by King. Logos is a rhetorical strategy that appeals to logic. In other words, logos portrays inner thoughts in a logical way to the reader. In order to better understand logos, imagine an advertisement on television about the harmful effects of chlorine filled swimming pools on humans. The advertisement uses statistics, facts, surveys, and historical data to persuade the spectator to not swim in chlorine filled swimming pools. The spectator was convinced that chlorine filled swimming pools are harmful to humans. The reason the spectator was convinced was because the advertisement used logos as its main form of persuasion. King was a fantastic writer and knew how to persuade people extremely well. Logos was one of King’s most used form of persuasion in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. utilized logos extremely well throughout his letter. “In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; self-purification; and direct action,” is an excellent example of logos from Dr. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (par. 6). King provided facts and information to the reader. As a result, the reader was forced to think logically. The particular way King utilized logos throughout his letter kept the reader engaged and helped justify to the clergymen why