Dr. Martin Luther King Jr was considered to be one of the greatest leaders of the Civil Rights era. In his letter, Letter from Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is writing in response to a letter that was written to him by eight Alabama clergymen. In their letter, the eight clergymen expressed a dislike for the activism of Dr. King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. They believed that the demonstration that Dr. King was participating in was “led in part by outsiders” (Carpenter et al.) Additionally, the clergymen seemed to praise the police of Birmingham. In retaliation, Dr. King handwrote a letter which responded to the concern that the clergymen had presented in their letter. Moreover, Dr. King uses his letter to address society and more specifically the whites who had considered themselves to be moderates at the time. Dr. King was able to balance the three rhetorical appeals known as Ethos, Pathos, and Logos order to justify why he was not an outsider leading the Birmingham demonstration for civil rights.
In his letter, Dr. King addresses use the ethos rhetorical appeal to justify why he does not consider himself an outsider leading the march in Birmingham. He explains to the clergymen that he serves in the honorable presidential position for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He points out that the SCLC had operated in all the Southern states with Atlanta, Georgia being the organization’s headquarters. According to Dr. King, “Whenever necessary and possible we share staff, educational, and financial resources with our affiliates” (King 576). Therefore, Dr. King relevantly established that he was not an outsider due to his organizational connection with Birmingham. Moreover, he has pointed out that it was the Birmingham officials who had invited Dr. King and others to help demonstrate in a peaceful way for civil rights. Dr. King and others had a vested interest in the demonstrations. It was the hope of the demonstrators as well as Dr. King that by peacefully protesting for civil rights, the lives of those affected by the current prejudice at the time would improve. The argument of whether or not the demonstrations were being led by “outsiders” appeal to clergymen’s belief that outsiders may not know what was going on in Birmingham, which would have resulted in more harm than good being done for the black community. However, the argument does not appeal to any unexamined prejudices or stereotypes because the clergymen understood that desegregation and improvement in the black community were needed. They wanted to take a different, slower route than what the demonstrators. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. uses the rhetorical appeal of Pathos to appeal emotionally to those who would read his letter.
Throughout his letter, Dr. King uses various emotions to appeal to the eight clergymen. At the beginning of the letter, Dr. King addressed the clergymen with respect by stating, “I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth” (King 576) By addressing the clergymen in such away, Dr. King is presenting an understanding that the men had the best interest of their community in mind in their letter to him, and he is telling them that their concern is valid. Dr. King justified the need for a peaceful demonstration by pointing out to that the black community had attempted to obtain their civil rights through other means such as requesting that store owners remove signs that were racially insensitive. While some of the signs were removed for a period, they were ultimately put back up. As a result of the broken promises, the black community felt that they had no but to organize a demonstration with the help of Dr. King. Furthermore, Dr. King appeal to the clergymen's sense of sympathy by writing about lynch mobs, drownings, and police brutality that the black community had to face to gain their civil rights. Finally, Dr. King appealed to the clergymen's religious sensibilities and told them that they had fell to live up to the responsibility of helping those who less fortunate and oppressed. These arguments neither appeal to the emotions to override or bypass logic nor employ any emotionally loaded terms.
Dr. King presents Logos in his letter by presenting the clergymen with his qualification of president of SCLC. As a person in position of authority he was invited by the members in order to help them. He tells the clergymen that there are four steps in nonviolent protest which were all taken by the black community. Additionally, Dr. King gave details as to why he and others decided to stage a nonviolent protest rather than use other means of negotiation in order to gain their civil rights. Dr. King’s letter has shown all the stages of rhetorical appeal.
Through the use of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos, Dr. King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail clearly shown the eight clergymen why he should not be considered an outsider. Dr. King uses his position of authority and connection to the community as well as his experience in the civil rights movement. He appeals to the various emotions of the clergymen to get them to understand why his presence was needed. He uses facts to back up his claim that demonstration and his leadership would help and not hurt the civil rights movement in Birmingham. Dr. King’s letter was and is a great work of rhetorical appeal.
Work Cited
Carpenter, C.C. J., Joseph Aloysius Durick, Milton L. Grafman, Paul Hardin, Nolan
Bailey Harmon, George M. Murray, Edward V. Ramage, and Earl Stallings. "A Call for Unity." Letter to Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King. 12 Apr. 1963. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Handout. 8 June 2016.
King, Martin Luther, Jr. "Chapter 12 Letter from a Birmingham Jail." American National
Identity. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 576-87. Print.
