Writing 100
Michael Zhu
Letter From Birmingham Jail - Martin Luther King JR.
The Letter From Birmingham Jail, by Doctor Martin Luther King Jr, discussed all
the issues of segregation and the racial tension in the state of Alabama. It is an
extremely well thought out essay in where he explained and argued upon almost every
aspect that was going on between the white and the colored societies. The letter was
written as a response to a clergymen who wrote a letter about keeping peace in the
streets of Alabama. The clergyman claimed that the organizations of Doctor King were,
“unwise” and “untimely.” (429) and that “hate and violence have no sanction in [their]
religious and political traditions,” and that “such actions as incite to hatred and violence,
however technically peaceful those actions may be, have not contributed to the
resolution of our local problems.” (429) From those quotes, it shows how the clergymen
was only making assumptions that Doctor King Jr’s organization of peaceful protests will
always lead to violence and that their efforts are futile.
The clergymen then later states that if the community
continues to protest, they will bring out the police to
maintain the peace and protect the community. While
Doctor King Jr was locked away in prison, he had
enough time on his hands to write a response to this
clergymen. He described that his nonviolent campaign is only about the “four basic
steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; selfpurification; and direct action.” (429) In order to write a concrete letter that would be
extremely difficult to challenge, Doctor King Jr explained his perspective of society in
the fullest through his use of examples that supported all of his reasons and beliefs.
These examples from history, religion, and references from significant people, allowed
him to further explain and support his perspective of morale and just laws.
In the Letter from Birmingham Jail, Doctor King Jr used examples from History to
support his claims of the difference between just and unjust laws. He addresses to the
clergymen about why they are willing to break certain laws while he is also fighting for
the importance of the government’s laws. Normally anyone would ask who has the right
to decide if a law is morally right or wrong. The difference is, as stated by Doctor King,
that “A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law of the law of God.
An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law.” (434) And so, he
uses the Holocaust as a reference to describe the unjust laws. This example from
history was the strongest reference he could make in defending his reason for breaking
some laws that were morally unacceptable. He described how during the Holocaust, the
murdering of Jews in Germany was “legal” and that the Hungarian freedom fighters
were committing “illegal” acts through supporting and helping the Jews. (435). Thus
showing how laws that are legal are not necessarily just and fair and that in breaking
those unjust laws is better than following them. With this example to support his claim,
only a fool would try to argue with Doctor King Jr. It signifies the authority one can have
when using events from history that specifically demonstrates and portrays the
argument.
Not only did he used examples from the events of history, Doctor King Jr also
used quotes from many of the great figures in history. He mentioned John Bunyan,
Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson as people who can support his proposition of
equality. Quotes such as, “This nation cannot survive half slave and half free.” from
Lincoln and, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal....”
from Jefferson. (438). Which shows how if all men were equal then there would not be a
need for segregation. He quoted, “I would agree with St. Augustine that ‘an unjust law is
no law at all.’” (434) and adds St. Thomas Aquinas in his statement of unjust laws He
makes references to Paul Tillich in where he states, “Paul Tillich has said that sin is
separation....” (434) Doctor King also makes a list of people such as, “Ralph Mcgill,
Lillian Smith, Harry Golden, James Mcbride Dabbs, Ann Braden and Sarah Patton
Boyle - have written about our struggle in eloquent and prophetic terms.” (439) These
quotes all support the purpose of Doctor King Jr’s argument of just and unjust laws and
his idea of equality. By bringing up all different sources of topics to support himself, he
created a hard concrete letter that addressed his argument with an extremely strong
support. In using this method for his argument, figuratively speaking, it allows Doctor
King to fight against the clergymen with an army. Not only is he arguing with the
clergymen but he also brings not only a few people, but an enormous amount of
respectable and well known people with him. Someone who is greatly outnumbered in a
fight, rarely ever wins.
Doctor King Jr also cited Jesus Christ multiple times throughout the letter which
pertains to religion. The different religions was a very important aspect to both the
colored and white societies, which Doctor King used to his advantage in supporting his
propositions. He discussed the role of the church, thus creating a better sense of
morales in just and unjust laws. When people criticized him for being an extremist of
non-violence, he stated that people could also label Jesus Christ, as an extremist of
love. He quoted, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that
hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” (438)
Which shows that people of Christianity do not criticize Jesus for being an extremist of
love but do criticize other people for nonviolence. Doctor King uses another example of
Christianity in showing the similarities between the early years of christianity and
process of colored people fighting for their rights. He stated, “Whenever the early
Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately
sought to convict the Christians for being ‘disturbers of the peace’ and ‘outside
agitators.’ “(440) Through this example he shows how Christianity was able to gain their
freedom and influence throughout the world by using their methods. Thus it was a
premonition of what the colored society could achieve and what they were exactly doing
in order to achieve their goal. Although Doctor King was not content with the church, he
uses the religious aspect that can connect with people of society through their
conscience. Through his use of religion, he can unify an entire group of people from the
same beliefs they share.
The “Letter From Birmingham Jail” has many components that Doctor King Jr put
together. He used a variety of supporting evidence that support his proposition of
equality. Using the Holocaust to describe the difference between just and unjust laws is
a powerful example from history of how much authority it gives to Doctor King. When he
describes the difference between just and unjust laws through morale values, it was a
vague sense of the idea but in the extreme example of murdering people and helping
people, everybody knows what is right and wrong. Therefore relating to what is right and
wrong, he brings in the group of people through religion and then in referencing other
significant and important people of the world, Doctor King Jr brings to table a small army
of people who are in support of him. They all addressed the equal rights and racial
problems that have been struggling between the white and colored societies and
explained what society can do to prevent events such as those from taking place. Thus
with these concrete, state of the art examples, no one can challenge Doctor King Jr in
his written work.