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Marlene Mendez
WRI 10
Professor Chao
Essay 2
09 March 2015
In Martin Luther King Jr’s response to the clergymen and the general public “Letter
from Birmingham Jail”, he claims how segregation is unjust and that African Americans should
get together to passively fight for the unjust laws that were occurring at that time (1963). On
pages 1 and 2 of his speech, King supports his claim by using credibility and emotional strategies
to create an imagery of his disappointment with our society. Through pathos, logos, and ethos
MLK persuades his audience the religious leaders and general public, to see his claim/plan to
maintain equality among society.
When MLK uses pathos in his letter he manipulates the audience to believe what he want
them believe based on their feelings and how strong his words touch them. For example, King
quotes “When you ……to explain to your six year old daughter why she can't go to the public
amusement park …..and see her tears welled up when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children..”(King 1963, page 2). Through the use of children he approaches his audience because it is easy to make the reader feel bad and disappointment that children are suffering because of racial segregation. Another emotional appeal MLK uses throughout his letter was “we
realized that we were the victims of a broken promise….as in so many experiences of the past,
we were confronted with blasted hopes, and the dark shadow of a deep disappointment settled
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upon us.”(King 1962, page 1). This explains exactly how African Americans felt that their hopes
were being crushed one after another every time by the actions of whites which left disappointment and sorrow. This quote makes it clear for the audience to understand how the blacks lived
and the unjust actions that were being made against them.
Throughout his letter MLK also uses ethos to increase the credibility of his words to his
audience in which he proves himself righteous while arrested and sitting in jail. He uses his
background and he also quotes biblical terms which strengthens the ethical appeal he is trying to
convey. From the very beginning of his letter MLK explains how he is a minister to God and
how he had “the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference,
an organization operating in every Southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.”(King
1963, page 1). King also states the reason why they were moving into direct action which was
because the political system gave them no justice. He goes on by explaining just and unjust laws
and gives an example of “parading without a permit.” and how there is nothing wrong with
peacefully protesting yet they are sitting in jail for it. Throughout his letter MLK supports his
actions by explaining the man he was before going to jail and making clear that he wants segregation to stop.
Last but not least, King’s strongest appeal was the use of logos in his letter to give some
reasoning to his credibility which logically proved each point he made to support his claim. Most
importantly, what made Kings logos be so effective was the confidence he had, because he knew
that he was morally right and knew what he was doing. In the beginning of the letter King explained how “As in so many experiences blasted hopes, and the dark shadow of a deep disappointment settled upon us. So we had no alternative except that of preparing for direct
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action ..community”(King 1962,page 1). He supports this by saying that they wanted to negotiate
with the city fathers but they refused to engage with them. He also states that certain promises
were being broken in the process which brought down their hopes and led them to have no other
choice than to take action. Another example King uses is “Just as the eighth-century prophets left
their little villages… and just as the Apostle Paul left his little village of Tarsus and carried the
gospel of Jesus Christ to practically every hamlet…. I too am compelled to carry the gospel of
freedom beyond my particular hometown”(King 1963, page 1). This was a very strategic way to
set his knowledge and appeal to the audience with famous religious facts explaining how he is
going around the country spreading freedom and direct action in a nonviolent way. Furthermore,
another example of logos he quotes is “We can never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in
Germany was 'legal' and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was ‘illegal”
this basically proves and states that sometimes it is okay to disobey the law to make the good rather than obeying them.
In 1963 King along with other color men were arrested because they were peacefully protesting the segregation laws which caused the clergyman to write a letter to the black population
asking them to stop their protesting. In response King decided to write a letter for Birmingham
Jail back by the use of rhetorical strategies such as logos pathos and ethos to mainly explain how
there is so much injustice and how he is going to continue into nonviolent direct action.
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Works Cited
King Jr, Martin Luther. Letter from Birmingham Jail. United States of America: Trinity Forum
Readings, 2012. 1963. Web.