Summary Of Martin Luther King's Letter From Birmingham Jail

Words: 832
Pages: 4
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Vanessa Orantes
Period 2
Ms Elam
4-20-17
King’s letter Martin Luther King Jr. an African American man, was an important and powerful leader during the Civil Rights Movement in 1950-1960’s. He led his African American people against racial prejudice and the inequalities of segregation of the South. His involvement during this movement got him arrested due to a protest for civil rights in Birmingham, Alabama. As he spent his time there he received a letter from eight Alabamian clergymen compelled to respond back for engaging in a nonviolent public demonstration.Through the use of repetition in Martin Luther King Jr. letter successfully refutes the Clergy’s critical claims about his demonstrations in Birmingham to give hope to his fellow African …show more content…
The clergymen had said “we recognize the natural impatience of people who feel that their hopes are slow in being realized. But we are convinced that these demonstrations are unwise and untimely” (paragraph 3, Clergymen), meaning the clergymen expressed their unhappiness opinion towards the demonstrations but they were blinded by the fact why it was happening in the first place. The clergymen did not see the suffering and oppression of the Black community because if they did they would know they couldn't wait any longer for their rights to happen. So the Black community had no choice but to organize and protest injustices being held upon them. Furthermore, the clergy saw the black people only wanting to cause violence and terror through these demonstrations but King only wanted hope for the African Americans to keep fighting for their rights. King respond “I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say wait.”(paragraph 10 King), he repeats several times in his letter that they are wrong that they only viewed this whole situation in a negative way which is why he keeps saying how they would never feel pain for a black person. Repetition is effective in this letter because the clergymen see how they
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