Rhetorical Devices Used in “Letter from Birmingham Jail”

Analysis of Rhetorical Devices Used in Dr Martin Luther King Jr's “Letter from Birmingham Jail”

On April 12, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama for protesting without a permit. Soon after, eight clergymen wrote a letter entitled, “A Call for Unity,” which was addressed to King. The letter asserted that Dr. King’s protests should end because they promoted “hatred and violence” (Murray 2). In this letter, the clergymen condemned King, labelling him an “outsider,” whose intentions were to stir up trouble in Birmingham (Murray 1). Dr. King responded to their accusations with his own letter, which came to be known as, “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” A seminal text of the Civil Rights Movement, King’s, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” defends the strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism, justifies the measures that brought about his arrest, and asseverates that the segregation laws against blacks in the south must be repealed. In his letter, King brilliantly employs the rhetorics of ethos, pathos, and logos to effectively convey his letter to his audience and gain the support needed for the Civil Rights Movement.

In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” he implements rhetorical appeals to ethos to denote his credibility on the subject of racial injustice and discrimination. His letter starts with, “My Dear Fellow Clergymen,” (King 1). With this address, King immediately institutes his status, placing himself on the same level as the clergymen, allowing them to infer that he is not beneath them, and they are not above him. He proceeds saying, “I am here because I have organizational ties here. But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here” (King 1). With this opening, King begins to establish his credibility on matters relating to injustice. Furthermore, he establishes himself as a respectable individual in alluding to his “organizational ties” in Birmingham, suggesting he has a high standing in society. King’s quote, “because injustice is here,” demonstrates his eagerness to fight against injustice for his people, thereby warranting his need to be in Birmingham. Shortly after, King says:

 I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. We have some eighty-five affiliated organizations across the South, and one of them is the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. Frequently, we share staff, educational, and financial resources with our affiliates. (King 1)

Introducing himself to the clergymen in this manner is a clear utilization of ethos as Dr. King demonstrates his intellect on the subject of injustice and racial discrimination, showing that he may be more qualified to speak on this matter than the clergymen. Moreover, it serves to prove his eminence as a respected member of the United States of America.

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King forces the reader to sympathize with the suffering black individuals in America have undergone through his use of pathos. Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines pathos as, “an element in experience or in artistic representation evoking pity or compassion” (Pathos). Through his disturbingly vivid descriptions of violence and brutality against African Americans, King exposes the reader to the injustice and cruelty which he has both witnessed and experienced. This allows audiences to understand the suffering which King is combatting and empowers readers to side with King’s actions as opposed to the clergymen’s. With regard to the clergymen’s claim that the Birmingham police officers were maintaining order and averting violence, King contends, “I doubt that you would have so warmly commended the policemen if you had seen its dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes” (King 5).  The imagery used in this quote perfectly inscribes King’s memory into the reader’s head. The words and phrases, “sinking their teeth,” “unarmed,” and “nonviolent,” force the audience to recognize the senseless brutality of the policemen. From this quote, readers come to understand the depravity of the so called “protection” the police force claims they are offering to the community. King’s appeal to pathos continues as he proposes that racism and discrimination affect all those who live with it in saying, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly” (King 1). This puts forth an emotional appeal that everyone, regardless of their race, is worse off due to the existence of injustice. When one group of people is being oppressed, the population as a whole suffers. Success and progression are both compromised by the existence of segregation. Knowing the threat segregation and racism pose to the advancement of their society, audiences may feel more inclined to foster societal change. As a result of King’s use of pathos, readers become more sympathetic toward King and the millions of others of whom he speaks on behalf of and are also more liable to agree with the points he makes.

King further appeals to pathos in detailing the persecution African Americans have endured. This is seen in lines such as, “When you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, and even kill your black brothers and sisters…” (King 2 ). In utilizing parallelism, King intensifies his writing and coerces his audience into feeling what his friends and family experience. Moreover, he forces his audience’s sympathy with his incendiary language, evoking agonizingly graphic images into their minds. The combination of these two appeals to pathos causes the audience to understand King’s position along with the pain and hardships that lead him to his position. 

In order to persuade the clergymen and citizens of America to side with his arguments, Martin Luther King Jr. presents sufficient appeal to logic and reason. To accomplish this, King uses logos. One such appeal can be seen early on in the letter where he writes, “There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in this nation. These are the hard, brutal, and unbelievable facts” (King 1). In asserting indisputable facts that demonstrate the unrestricted use of violence in Birmingham, King not only enhances his credibility, but also adds depth to his argument as a whole. Dr. King continues to justify his cause for nonviolent protest through appeals to logos. One such appeal is seen on page three of his letter where he questions the meaning of a “just law” and cites examples in which laws were unjust. King writes, “We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was ‘legal’ and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was ‘illegal.’ It was ‘illegal’ to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers” (King 3). In this quote, King Jr. puts forth a compelling example of how laws can be unjust, discussing that it was illegal to help a Jewish person in Germany during Hitler’s rule, and how he would have handled such immoral laws had he been there. This allows the clergymen to think of what they would have done. Likening the treatment of African Americans in the United States to the atrocities committed against Jews in Germany during Hitler’s rule, King makes the clergymen consider the morality of their actions. King then justifies what the clergymen described as “extremist” actions by instancing times throughout history in which “extremist” actions changed society for the better. He questions, “Was not Jesus an extremist for love… was not Amos an extremist for justice.. was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel… was not Martin Luther an extremist… and John Bunyan… and Abraham Lincoln… and Thomas Jefferson” (King 4). This quote is extremely effective as Jesus, one of the individuals which he mentions, had an enormous impact on the lives of the clergymen toward whom the letter is targeted. By referencing important figures such as Jesus Christ, Abraham Lincoln, and Thomas Jefferson, King reasons that if those people were in the right, he is too. This appeal serves to show that if those who were known as “extremists” in their time were later renowned for their contributions to society, “extremist” actions are not always wrong and can even bring about important, positive change.

Throughout his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. establishes his credibility, appeals to the emotions of his readers, and uses logic and reason, all to persuade his audience to agree with his argument and assert the necessity of immediate action against the oppression of African Americans. The letter’s sense of urgency and call to action are provided by King’s use of pathos. His descriptive language, personal accounts, and incorporation of ethos and logos provide for a powerful, well-rounded argument. King successfully reveals the horrors behind the trials black individuals in America have experienced and demonstrates that what he and other civil rights activists are battling for is a noble cause both legally and morally. This is all done to achieve Martin Luther King Jr.’s primary objective–the galvanization of America to strive for a world of equality and justice for those under persecution.

Works Cited

• King Jr., Martin Luther. “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Atlantic, Apr. 2018, pp. 74–83. EBSCOhost, santarosa.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=134398805&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
• Murray, George M, et al. “A Call for Unity.” Received by Martin Luther King Jr. , 12 Apr. 1963, www3.dbu.edu/mitchell/documents/ACallforUnityTextandBackground.pdf.
• “Pathos.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pathos.