Mlk Jr

In April of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. led a campaign along with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR). This campaign was known as the Birmingham Campaign. Its purpose was to attack the segregation system of Birmingham, Alabama by putting pressure on the merchants during Easter season. At this time, Birmingham was known for the most violent cells of the KKK and violence towards black people.

King’s role in the Birmingham Campaign got him arrested and placed in solitary confinement on April 12, 1963. While in prison, 8 clergymen from Alabama wrote a letter which was then published by the Birmingham News. In reaction to this letter, Martin Luther King Jr. then wrote a letter that is now known as “Letter From a Birmingham Jail.”

In his letter, King treats the issues of human rights, civil rights, and social issues effectively. His letter makes many claims and his tone changes to help get his point across.

Martin Luther King Jr. starts his letter “My Dear Fellow Clergymen”. He doesn’t immediately attack the clergymen in an offensive way. He shows the clergymen that he is treating them as an equal. An immediate attack towards the clergymen may put them in a defensive stance while reading the entire letter. It would have then been very difficult to make his claims. King starts off calm and mentions his reasons for his visit to Birmingham, but he doesn’t admit to any wrong doing. He is firm in his beliefs. He stands by his actions and lets the clergymen know that “direct action” was something that needed to be done because negotiations were refused many times. King was willing to accept any consequences.

Martin Luther King Jr. gives logical answers to the statements made by the clergymen in their letter. They asked King to give it time. To wait for the new city administration to act, but King was patient. He waited, and he knew if he kept waiting and not take any...