“Letter From Birmingham Jail” BY Martin Luther King, JR.

During non-violent demonstrations for racial equality in Birmingham, Alabama, Martin Luther King was arrested and jailed for eight days.  He wrote this letter to white clergymen to explain his actions and to answer those people who urged him to call off the demonstrations he called for.  He responds to his critics who claim that he and other African-Americans should wait for the federal, state, and local governments to make changes.

Directions: read the selection and answer the questions in the RESPONSES section of your Notebook.

Passage ONE:

We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights.  The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter.  Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, “Wait.”  But 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; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five year old son who is asking: “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when you take a cross county drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading “white” and “colored”; when your first name becomes “nigger,” your middle name becomes “boy” (however old you are) and your last name becomes “John,” and your wife and mother are never given the respected title “Mrs.”; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness”—then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait.  There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair.  I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.

1.  Identify the type of appeal used in this passage & give two quotes that support your claim.

              Appeal:

Quote 1:

              Quote 2:

2.  King uses an abundance of rhetorical devices that have the potential to overwhelm the audience emotionally (antithesis/contrast, metaphor, anaphora, alliteration, and imagery).

King employs antithesis in the second sentence.  Outline the pairs of contrasts.

• Places:___________________________________ to _____________________
• Moves like________________________ (1^st place) and moves like _______________________________ (2^nd place)
• Gains _____________________________ (1^st place) and _______________________________ (2^nd place)

3.  In a sentence, explain King’s rhetorical purpose in employing these antithetical places and ideas.

4.  Identify two metaphors in the passage; explain their purpose & the effect they have on the reader.
 

This information will help you answer #5. The 4^th sentence not only contains over 300 words, but it also develops the most powerful emotional argument in the paragraph.  The force of the paragraph depends on King’s use of several rhetorical techniques, but the anaphora propels a driving rhythm that is particularly effective.

5.  Identify the similarly repeated words at the beginning of the clauses (anaphora).  What is King’s purpose for repeating this phrase nine times?

This information will help you answer #6. MLK is a master at using sound devices to add emphasis and detail.  For instance, beginning in line 3, King writes “but we still creep at a horse-and-buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee.”  The repetition of the ‘c’ sound emphasizes the slow pace of reforms to gain even the smallest right.  Both “creep” and “cup of coffee” are humble things, contrasted with Asia and Africa, which move like jests to gain something much grander than a cup of coffee – “political independence.”  King uses the repetition of consonant sounds to reinforce the idea of struggling for basic rights, rights any one should take for granted.

6.  Find two additional examples of alliteration in the passage.  Write the words or phrases in which alliteration is used; then write a sentence or two that explains the effect of the alliteration.

7.  This passage floods the readers with imagery designed to evoke the pity, compassion, and empathy of King’s critics.  Identify the types of imagery listed below and write a sentence that explains the emotional effect of each one.

• Sight
• Sound
• Touch