Image of a Modern Movement: Dr. King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail
In April 1963, during the height of the Civil Rights movement, esteemed religious leader
and activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr penned what has since become a landmark treatise on
racial equality. Written while incarcerated in Alabama following a public demonstration, King’s
Letter from Birmingham Jail is crafted with a single purpose in mind: respond to a recently-
published statement by white religious leaders deploring his anti-segregation efforts. I imagine
that King was driven to write his letter by envisioning the effects this public statement may have
on participators in his movement if not responded to immediately and thoroughly. With social
pressures mounting and their most visible and respected leader in jail, this period may well have
been a very disheartening time for King’s supporters; by utilizing convincing rhetorical
strategies, King effectively negates his opponents’ argument and provides morale to his own
supporters. Therefore, the principal audience for this letter is the group of clergymen who wrote
the public statement denouncing direct action, with both supporters and opponents of direct
action serving as the secondary audience. Interestingly, the rhetorical devices of Dr. King’s
article are not impeded, and are even aided at times, by his presence in a public jail at the time of
writing. King garners sympathy to the cause of the civil rights groups across the nation through
his masterful use of shocking diction, moving imageries, quotation, and comparison.
One of the most effective rhetorical devices employed in Letter from Birmingham Jail is
the use of eloquent and often shocking diction designed to evoke emotional responses from the
reader. Some of the most powerful examples of this device come as Dr. King refutes the
clergymen’s’ call for what they deem “patience”on the part of black citizens. Using detailed
examples, spoken in the second-person so as to inspire his audience to note its personal
relevance, he allows his audience to emotionally experience a sample of the challenges and
dangers that face black citizens under the culture of segregation. When Dr. King writes of
“lynch[ing] your mothers and fathers at will and drown[ing] your sisters and brothers at whim,”
he shows the terrors of racial violence which plague southern communities. This demonstration
of modern horrors is aided by King’s use of jarring diction; terms such as “lynch,” “drown,”
“brutalize,” and “kill” paint an image of violence that is abhorrent to the morals of modern
individuals and communities. Dr. King effectively builds the pathos of his argument by
involving his readers emotionally in the physical dangers faced by members of his personal
community.
Similarly, in the same passage, Dr. King evokes another emotional response in his
audience by creating a strong and detailed pattern of moving imagery. Anxious to communicate
to his audience the injustice of life under segregation, Dr. King illustrates a parent’s interactions
with their children when those children are forced to confront racism or face the disparaging
personal limits imposed by segregation. By using detailed and expressive images involving
children, Dr. King draws on the natural emotional responses of parents and caregivers. His words
inspire sympathy for the children in his images when he writes of “tears welling up in her little
eyes,” and “clouds of inferiority begin[ning] to form in her little mental sky.” (King) The form of
expression utilized in the context of these examples hints to the audience that perhaps they are
scenes which truly transpired between Dr. King and his own children, further increasing the
audience’s emotional connection to both the illustration and Dr. King himself.
In addition to crafting emotional imageries in his article, Dr. King expertly uses a variety
of quotations from both his opponents and supporting religious sources. He does so in order to
effectively state the counter-arguments made by his opponents and respond to them in an
authoritative and definitive manner. A prime example of this device is found as Dr. King
transitions to discussing the difference between just and unjust laws. He writes, “One may well
ask, “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” The answer is found in
the fact that there are two types of laws: there are just laws, and there are unjust laws. I would
agree with St. Augustine that “An unjust law is no law at all.”” (King) In this brief passage, the
first quote is taken from the statement by opposing religious leaders to introduce this key
counter-argument, and the second draws on the teachings of respected religious authorities to
establish ethos and eloquently begin to establish a resolution to said argument. King’s abundant
use of quotations in this manner contributes greatly to the strength and clarity of his argument.
Due to his intimate knowledge of the addressed audience, Dr. King is well-positioned to draw on
religious teachings (with which he is well-versed given his own occupation) to develop both his
logos and ethos.
As Dr. King builds his argument using quotations from respected individuals of both
religious and national history, he is inspiring his audience to believe that if these influential
characters were alive today, they would support his claims. This effect is very powerful in
potentially aligning opponents of King’s ideologies with at least some of the core concepts which
he discusses in this text. When the opposing clergymen, in their public statement, denounce Dr.
King as an “extremist,” Dr. King draws on quotations and comparisons to change the audience’s
perception of the term. While incorporating quotations from individuals ranging from religious
figures to founding fathers, Dr. King argues that extremism is a form of progress and of forward-
thinking, an unwillingness to settle for anything less than love and justice. This re-definition of
what it means to be an extremist can be seen when he asks rhetorically, “Was not Jesus an
extremist in love? … Was not Abraham Lincoln an extremist? … Was not Thomas Jefferson an
extremist?” (King) This argument is effective for his audience and proves difficult to refute
because of the reputation of its subjects and their ties to both religion and patriotism.
Comparable to the style in which his use of quotations lends others’ ethos unto his own, it
is also a recurring theme of Letter from Birmingham Jail to draw comparisons between points of
the argument and notable events or situations in history. Dr. King offers several comparisons
between those individuals involved in civil rights demonstrations and ancient religious figures.
Supporters of direct action, who are labeled as participators in civil disobedience by King’s
political opponents, are compared to ancient Jews and Christians. These historical individuals,
according to Dr. King, defied the laws of their time in order to follow a “higher moral law.”
(King) In constructing this effective comparison, Dr. King builds his argument by claiming the
moral high ground for his own movement and ideology. This moral stance surely has a highly
motivating effect on those members of the audience who participate in direct action and
otherwise support desegregation, while perhaps causing some of the opponents of these
initiatives to reconsider their position.
Another highly effective comparison in this letter is that which is drawn connecting
segregation and “Hitler’s Germany”, in which once again the differences between legality and
morality are shown. For nearly all Americans, when any sort of parallel is drawn between an
individual, organization, or idea and Adolf Hitler or Nazi Germany, the principle or object being
compared is immediately regarded as something immoral and worthy of rejection. Dr. King
hopes to draw upon this cultural reflex by equating the institution of segregation with Nazism
while simultaneously connecting those individuals who resist segregation with freedom fighters
who combated the Nazi regime. There are also parallels implied between the victims of racial
attacks and genocide during World War 2 and the victims of racial attacks and segregation at the
present time. Any opponent of Dr. King’s will desire to resist his assertions that illegal direct
action is merited, and yet will be exceedingly reluctant to express as much, as doing so would
put them on the side of Nazi Germany in the comparison drawn. Using such a concrete example
that is still fresh in the nation’s cultural memory, having occurred only a few short decades ago,
puts the opponents of his argument in a difficult position.
With emotionally-driven language and a definitively moral and religious context
throughout, Letter from Birmingham Jail expresses an effective argument in favor of civil rights
movements’ direct action policies. Dr. King shows a comprehensive understanding of his
audience while masterfully applying the rhetorical devices of shocking diction, moving imagery,
quotation, and comparison. Though we as modern readers may not be members of the original
audience, the same breed of challenges which inspired this treatise to be crafted in 1963 are still
debated and continue to be relevant today. One need only refer to recent Supreme Court cases
pertaining to the consideration of race in college admissions, for example, to recognize that racial
injustice is still a point of contention in our society. By revisiting and maintaining in our cultural
conscience the messages taught in Letter from Birmingham Jail, these challenges will continue to
progress towards complete and just resolution. We as a nation will secure racial equality for all
only as we as individuals pursue justice and fairness for our neighbors. As Dr. King emphatically
declared, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” This historic document aids us
in our nation’s quest for social justice today just as inspiringly as when it was first published
over half a decade ago.
Works Cited
King, Martin Luther, Jr. Letter from Birmingham Jail. The Atlantic Monthly; August
1963; The Negro Is Your Brother; Volume 212, No. 2; pages 78-88.