Martin Luther King Letter From Birmingham Jail

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Martin Luther King, Jr’s Letter from Birmingham Jail is a powerful and persuasive piece of writing that helped the perception of unjust laws spread to others around the country. He addressed one of the most controversial issues in the United States, especially in the city of Birmingham. This controversial issue dealt with segregation in the United States and all of the harmful effects it had towards our citizens. The letter was written in a jail cell after King’s arrest in Birmingham, Alabama after a nonviolent protest against segregation. Even though King was protesting nonviolently, a judge issued a blanket injunction against "parading, demonstrating, boycotting, trespassing and picketing” a couple days before his protest. While in his cell, King was slipped a newspaper that contained a statement “A Call for Unity” written by eight white clergymen that spoke on how they disapproved of King and his actions. Thus created King’s response to their statement and led to “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. The letter was written in …show more content…
He was an amazing speaker who always knew how to speak to his audience. The fact that he could relate to his readers so much is such a wonderful thing, especially when you are trying to get your point across to someone. The logic and reasoning behind his arguments made the letter the persuasive piece that it is known for. His broad use of diction really gets the audience to connect with his message and soul purpose of writing his letter. An example of this would be when he says “Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statues are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality.” King is stating the negative emotion that unjust laws put forth in this country. Multiple other uses of diction fill the letter to keep the reader’s attention and interest through his careful word choice and examples
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