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“A Letter from Birmingham Jail”
A Work of Rhetorical Genius
Rhetorical Situation
Subject
Purpose
Racial injustice in Birmingham
and U.S. in general
Refute the accusation
that he is an “outsider”
meddling in local affairs
in Birmingham
Speaker
President of the
SCLC; asked to
come from
Atlanta to lead
non-violent
protest; Baptist
minister
King led several nonviolent protests; Public
statement written while
King was in jail for nonviolently protesting
Audience
Specifically: 8
Alabama clergymen
who criticized his
presence and
strategies in
Birmingham and
published letter in
newspaper
Argument: “I am not an outsider”
• Main point 1: (Paragraph 2)
– He was invited because he is the
president of the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference in Atlanta
and the SCLC organization in
Birmingham asked him to help
lead a “nonviolent direct-action
program” in Birmingham if the
continued racial injustice made it
necessary.
Argument: “I am not an outsider”
• Main point 2:
(Paragraph 3)
– He is in Birmingham
because “injustice is
here” and he, like other
New Testament
Christians spreading the
Gospel, is “compelled to
carry the gospel of
freedom,” even if it isn’t
in Atlanta.
Argument: “I am not an outsider”
• Main point 3:
(Paragraph 4)
– All communities are
connected and what
happens in one will affect
another so no one in the
United States should
ever be considered an
outsider.
How does he use rhetorical
appeals to further his argument?
• Appeal to Ethos
• King establishes himself as an extremely credible leader
by providing evidence that he is the president of the
SCLC, “an organization operating in every southern state
and is affiliated with the Alabama Christian Movement for
Human Rights
• King includes these facts in order to clearly present
himself as a credible, knowledgeable figure who cares
about equal rights for all people. This appeal to ethos
refutes the assertion that he is an unqualified interloper.
How does he use rhetorical
appeals to further his argument?
• Appeal to Logos
• King appeals to logic when he says that “Injustice
anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” because we
are a country of united states, so what happens in one
state will affect the entire nation.
• King uses this appeal to logos to try to convince his
audience that they are being ridiculous to think that just
because he is not from Birmingham that he shouldn’t be
concerned with the systematic racism affecting the
people there. Injustice is an important issue and just
because it does not appear to be directly affecting
someone, does not mean it will not indirectly affect them
in the future.
How do rhetorical strategies
further his argument?
• Biblical/Historical Allusion
• King compares himself to Jesus' apostle Paul of the New
Testament who traveled far and wide to spread the Gospel of
Jesus Christ. Like Paul, King came to Birmingham to spread
freedom.
• King alludes to the apostle Paul because his target audience
(8 men who wrote the initial letter) were Christian religious
leaders who would not only have been familiar with Paul’s
quest to spread the Gospel of Jesus, but viewed his work as
extremely important. By comparing himself with Paul, King
makes it very difficult for the clergymen to continue to say that
he should not have come to Birmingham to help.
How do rhetorical strategies
further his argument?
• Repetition of the word “here”
• King uses the repetition of the single word “here” in
reference to his presence in Birmingham five different
times in just these three paragraphs.
• While not a remarkable or powerful word, the mere
repetition of it emphasizes that regardless of the wishes
of the eight clergymen who resent his presence, the truth
of the matter is that he is currently in Birmingham and is
not leaving.
How do rhetorical strategies
further his argument?
• Figurative Language: Metaphor
• When describing that the injustice in Birmingham
indirectly affects all Americans everywhere, King writes,
“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality,
tied in a single garment of destiny.”
• King uses the metaphor of a “single garment of destiny”
to provide his audience with a regal image of all
American’s destiny or future intertwined together like a
rich cloth. This positive image offers a break from King’s
respectful defiance and gives a unified mood of
togetherness.
Overall Evaluation
King presents a convincing argument that he is
not an outsider in Birmingham because he
mentions reasons that the eight clergymen
would have trouble refuting. Since they are
religious leaders, they are supposed to follow
the teaching of “Love thy neighbor”. By
appealing to establishing his credibility as a
leader, appealing to logic, alluding to the Bible,
using repetition to emphasize his unchanging,
current presence, and concluding his
argument with a beautiful metaphor conveying
the inevitable and important
interconnectedness of humanity in order to
express the need for change, King brilliantly
crafts a strong argument that was extremely
difficult to refute.
Symbolic Representation
King expresses that
humanity and all citizens of
the United States are
connected and so there is
no way he can ignore the
racial injustice that is
occurring in Birmingham.
This is also true of
damages to the Earth.
Although pollution may not
be affecting us directly or
may not be anywhere we
live, we should not ignore it
because eventually it will
affect us.