Martin Luther King Jr.s Letter From Birmingham Jail

From 1882-1968, 4,743 lynchings occurred in the United States (NAACP). African Americans accounted for 72.2% of recorded lynchings, yet close to none of these lynchings were ever brought justice. Racial injustice was a huge issue until the mid-late twentieth century, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 â€Å"Letter from Birmingham Jail† was one of the first documents to address the issue. It is one of history’s most important documents regarding racial injustice, as it is considered a classic document of the civil-rights movement. King wrote the letter while he was in jail for parading without a permit, one of 29 misdemeanor offences King was arrested for (history.com). He wrote it in response to a previous letter from eight southern white†¦show more content†¦According to Christian teachings, people’s souls are given by God before birth, souls give people their identities, souls make people human. In saying that segregation distorts the soul K ing is indirectly stating that segregation takes away their humanity. Simple things that white people take for granted, African Americans struggle through everyday. God never intended for there to be unjust laws, for God never intended for there to be sin. Unjust laws damage and distort human personality, by allowing sin to happen without consequence. Because these men are participating in such awful actions without punishment, they end up letting themselves believe that things like lynching and segregation are normal. Here King references another saint, St. Thomas Aquinas, who like St. Augustine builds King’s ethos through his own. What King is doing is nothing new, as the idea of civil disobedience had been â€Å"practiced superbly by the early Christians† like â€Å"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,† three men who were ordered to worship a statue of their king but refused, for it went against one of the ten commandments, â€Å"Thou shalt have no other gods before me.† When it was revealed to King Nebuchadnezzar that they had defied him, they were thrown into a scalding furnace. Although they should have been killed instantly, their faith in God was so strong that they walked out of the furnace completely unharmed. These men andShow MoreRelatedMartin Luther King Jr. s Letter From A Birmingham Jail1157 Words   |  5 PagesMartin Luther King Jr.’s â€Å"Letter from a Birmingham Jail† is directed towards the clergymen, although America is his audience, King had come to Birmingham to address the segregation problem in the United States. 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Martin Luther King Jr. effectively crafted his counter argument by first directly addressing his audience, the clergymen, and then using logosRead More Martin Luther King Jr.s Letter from Birmingham Jail Essay1149 Words   |  5 PagesMartin Luther King Jr.s Letter from Birmingham Jail   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Martin Luther King Jr. writes the Clergymen that have written him a letter disputing his actions in Birmingham. King is disturbed and offended by the Clergymen disagreeing with his purpose in Birmingham. King say he normally does not respond to criticism because it would waste to much precious time, but since these were men of good will he wanted to give his answers to their statements. In Kings letter he appeals to many emotions as