King wrote his letter to explain why his campaign was essential. For similar future campaigns garner, he attempts to get rid of the repressive segregation laws in the American South. The letter is an analysis outline template for from Birmingham jail. Two Authors Main Concern Letter from Birmingham Jail Outline Assignment You are to write an introduction followed by a body outline ( topics you will cover to support your analysis) and a small conclusion based on a topic assigned to you according to your last name (you can find this at the bottom of the page). This outline will basically be the skeleton of your Instant downloads of all LitChart PDFs (including Letter from Birmingham Jail). LitCharts Teacher Editions. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts
Letter from Birmingham Jail Summary & Analysis | LitCharts
Letter from Birmingham Jail. Plot Summary. All Themes Racism Christianity and Morality Extremism vs. Moderation Justice. All Characters Martin Luther King, Jr. Eight White Clergymen. All Terms Southern Christian Leadership Conference Lynching Nebuchadnezzar Boston Tea Party Ku Klux Klan.
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Our Teacher Edition on Letter from Birmingham Jail can help. Themes All Themes. Characters All Characters Martin Luther King, Jr. Terms All Terms Southern Christian Leadership Conference Lynching Nebuchadnezzar Boston Tea Party Ku Klux Klan, analysis outline template for letter from birmingham jail. Symbols All Symbols. Theme Wheel. Everything you need for every book you read.
The way the content is organized and presented is seamlessly smooth, innovative, and comprehensive. LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Letter from Birmingham Jailwhich you can use to track the themes throughout the work. Martin Luther King, Jr. directs his letter to the eight white clergymen who publicly condemned his actions analysis outline template for letter from birmingham jail Birmingham, Alabama.
In beginning his letter by complimenting his critics, King establishes a tone of cordiality and rational dialogue. This is important, as the white authorities have attempted to portray the protesters as extremist law-breakers.
Active Themes. Christianity and Morality. He explains that the African American residents of Birmingham invited him, and needed his help organizing a direct-action campaign to fight the racial injustice in the city. King responds with complete confidence that he is in the right place at the right time, and that his actions are necessary. In addition, King is also in Birmingham because he feels compelled to respond to injustice wherever he finds it. He compares his work to that of the early Christians, especially the Apostle Paulwho traveled beyond his homeland to spread the Christian gospel.
Finally, he questions the idea that anyone in the United States can be considered an outsider within the country, and that the injustice affecting those in Birmingham is inherently connected to racial injustice on a national scale.
As a Baptist minister, King has a depth of knowledge of the Bible and history of Christianity, which he uses to his advantage in this letter. He knows that comparing the protesters to the early Christians places his critics in the role of the enemies of freedom. He then reminds his critics that the protesters are American citizens, and therefore they are not outsiders in their own country. Related Quotes with Explanations.
According to Kingthe systemic racism in Birmingham has left the African American community with no alternative to direct action. While his critics have expressed concern about his behavior, King turns the tables on them and focuses on the systemic racism that white authorities have ignored for far too long.
Get the entire Letter from Birmingham Jail LitChart as a printable PDF. In the past, the African American community has attempted to negotiate with Birmingham community leaders, but had their hopes dashed. Only a few merchants actually took down their signs, and even then, some put them back up after a while.
This convinced the African American community that they needed to take direct action through civil disobedience. King goes into detail about the steps that have gone into this decision to protest, and again focuses on the failings of the white authorities. By describing the analysis outline template for letter from birmingham jail as humiliating, King calls attention to the psychological effects of segregation for African Americans.
King asserts that the goal of the protests is to create an atmosphere of discomfort for whites in Birmingham. Some of his critics have described the protests as untimely, and suggested that the protesters wait for desegregation to happen on its own schedule. The question of time comes up often in the struggle for civil rights, and King dedicates a large portion of his letter to responding to this issue from the African American perspective.
To give his readers an idea of the racial injustice African Americans analysis outline template for letter from birmingham jail experienced, King offers a list of injustices. In this section of the letter, King humanizes African Americans by focusing on the emotional and psychological pain that segregation and racial inequality have caused.
His anecdote about his daughter presents the human side of a heavily politicized issue. Alongside the more obvious threats of death, bodily harm, or imprisonment, African Americans suffer from more complex issues like financial uncertainty and a sense of inferiority.
King moves on to discuss the fact that he and the other protesters are breaking laws, which the eight white clergymen mentioned among their many criticisms. He specifies, however, that the laws they are breaking are unjust, and that he feels a moral obligation not to follow unjust laws. Returning to the specific list of criticisms, King now focuses on distinction between law and justice. He does not deny that his protests are illegal, but instead calls into question the validity of the laws he has broken.
King establishes the grounds for deeming a law unjust, focusing specifically on whether or not the law—a man-made concept—corresponds to moral or natural laws, which are established by God. King presents a solid legal argument in this section, while still focusing on morality in a Christian context. Again, because he is attempting to engage in dialogue with his fellow clergymen, King reminds his readers that religious moral codes should have a higher status than the laws of the land.
In this way, King establishes that segregation is an immoral—and therefore unjust—law. Most importantly, King notes that he and his fellow protesters are willing to accept the punishment for breaking the law, and therefore they are showing the highest respect for the institution of law itself. He reminds his readers of the history of civil disobedience, which harkens back to the early Christians that resisted the unjust laws of Nebuchadnezzar and the Roman Empire, all the way to the Boston Tea Partyone of the foundational acts of civil disobedience in American history.
King establishes the difference between ordinary crime and civil disobedience. At the center of civil disobedience is the public nature of law-breaking: these African Americans are protesting publicly, and allowing themselves to be arrested, analysis outline template for letter from birmingham jail, to bring attention to the unjust laws.
King again compares the protesters to the early Christians, creating a moral and ethical connection between the two groups. King then offers his own criticisms, condemning the white moderate for his passive acceptance of racial inequality, calling him more dangerous than the Ku Klux Klan.
The white moderate is dedicated to order over justice, while King and his fellow protesters must disrupt that order to expose injustice.
King describes the white moderate as complacent, hypocritical, and condescending toward African Americans, agreeing on the surface with their overall goals freedom, political participation, and equality but unwilling to take any steps to fulfill them. King thus emphasizes the role of action in the form of nonviolent protest as the only way of making change, analysis outline template for letter from birmingham jail.
King then addresses the description of the protests as extreme, arguing that he and the SCLC fall somewhere in the middle, between African Americans who have become complacent and have no desire to fight for their freedom, and the black nationalist groups that are consumed by bitterness and hatred of whites. Their movement is a third way of nonviolent protest. The next critical point King addresses is the question of extremism, which his critics have used as an insult or warning, and by which they hope to de-legitimize the civil rights movement.
King uses the example of the black nationalist parties as real extremists, especially due to their lack of Christian values. The yearning for freedom is the result of centuries of pent-up frustration, and if African Americans do not have the opportunity to take action and participate in nonviolent protest, King argues, they will find refuge in the more extreme groups.
He asks his critics to consider the circumstances that brought about these protests, rather than automatically condemning them. King continues to request that his critics consider the issue from the point of view of the protesters, and this time he emphasizes the fact that there are other, much more extreme options for frustrated African Americans.
King then changes his mind about the term extremist, embracing the idea within the context of Christianity and American history. He notes that Jesus was an analysis outline template for letter from birmingham jail for love, Paul for the Christian gospel, and Martin Luther for Reformation. Likewise, Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson were extremists for their causes, which eventually became fundamental values in American politics.
He also includes examples from American history, thus placing his critics in the place of historical villains, such as the British. King returns to his condemnation of white moderates, lamenting the fact that they have not been able to see this fundamental need for civil rights. He points out, however, that there have been some exceptional allies, analysis outline template for letter from birmingham jail, who have used their words and bodies to show their commitment to racial equality.
He also commends one of the eight white clergymen specifically: Reverend Stallings welcomed African Americans to worship alongside whites, integrating his church service.
Throughout the letter, King has analysis outline template for letter from birmingham jail a cordial and generous tone, analysis outline template for letter from birmingham jail, careful to show respect for his critics even when they do not merit it. He now commends some of the white people who have supported the cause of racial equality in even the smallest ways, such as the Reverend Stallings. With these notable exceptions, King comments, he is disappointed with the white church.
He believed that as Christians, they would understand and support the cause and preach the gospel of racial equality as he does. What he has found is too much caution, and a desire to separate the church from the needs of the community.
King returns to his criticism of white moderates and their unwillingness to take action.
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View Analysis Outline blogger.com from ENGLISH LA OL V2 at Laurel Springs School. Analysis Outline Template What makes King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" Letter from Birmingham Jail Outline Assignment You are to write an introduction followed by a body outline ( topics you will cover to support your analysis) and a small conclusion based on a topic assigned to you according to your last name (you can find this at the bottom of the page). This outline will basically be the skeleton of your Analysis Outline Template Prompt: What makes King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" powerful and effective? After reading King's letter, answer the question by analyzing how he uses structure and language purposefully in his text. Provide specific examples from the text to support your analysis. I. Thesis Statement: The thing that makes King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” powerful and
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