Letter from Birmingham Jail

Transcription

1 Letter from Birmingham Jail Pages Argument by Martin Luther King, Jr.

2 Martin Luther King Jr. s position on nonviolent direct action was influenced by the views of India s Mohandas Gandhi. A federal U.S. holiday, celebrated annually in January, was established in 1983 to honor King s accomplishments and legacy. Read pages Remember: an Argument address specific claims and a specific audience. 1. Re-read lines Identify one claim opposing King s work to which he is responding in the first paragraph of the letter. To whom is he responding, and why is this audience significant? Three different types of reasons that King provides in his letter to justify his presence in Birmingham: Organization reasons: relate to any associations with organizations or groups of people. Religious or historical reasons: relate to religious or historical people, place, things, or events. Moral reasons: relate to morality, or what is considered right or wrong. 2. Re-read lines Write down an example for each of the above reasons from the text. 3. Identify a religious allusion on this page. 4. Explain why King included religious allusions in his letter.

3 Read page 321 This entire page of the letter discusses recent events in Birmingham in detail. 5. Why might King have taken the time so early in the letter to delve into such minute detail about steps taken and recent events in Birmingham? Because of promises made by local merchants, leaders of the Alabama Christian Movement for Civil Rights agreed to suspend their demonstrations in Birmingham. 6. Discuss why leaders of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights agreed to a moratorium on all direct actions. The workshops on nonviolence were designed to ensure that participants in direct actions would not react in a harmful way even if harm came to them. 7. What might happen if participants retaliated against police who struck blows?

4 Read pages 322 and 323 Writers of arguments can use repetition sparingly to make their ideas more memorable for readers. 8. Identify all of the instances of the word tension in lines Identify the ways in which the meaning and tone of the word tension change over the course of the paragraph. Parallelism is the use of similar grammatical forms to express ideas that are related or equal in importance. 10. Identify the parallel structure used in this passage (lines ). 11. What effect does this use of parallel structure have on King s argument?

5 Read pages 324 and 325 Seminal documents may refer to other seminal documents to support ideas. 12. What other seminal document does King refer to in this paragraph (lines )? 13. Which of King s three reasons for being in Birmingham is supported by the distinction between just and unjust laws? Strong arguments show a consistent awareness of audience. A well crafted argument moves from general ideas to specific examples. 14. Cite two references or allusions in lines chosen to appeal to King s audience of fellow clergymen. 15. Why are these references well suited to King s argument? 16. Lines Identify the specific examples Kings provides of either unjust laws or the unjust application of such laws. 17. Why are concrete examples such as those King provides important here?

6 Read pages 326 and 327 An allusion is an indirect reference to a famous person, place, event, or literary work. 18. Identify the allusions in these two paragraphs (lines ). 19. How does King use these allusions to support his argument in favor of civil disobedience? Authors of arguments choose words carefully for their connotations. 20. What tone does King create through his word choice in lines ? 21. What effect might this shift in tone have on King s audience? Every section of an argument contributes to its central claim and purpose. 22. What implied counterclaim does King address here?

7 Read page 328 A counterargument is an argument a writer includes to address a reader s potential opposing view, or counterclaim. 23. Use text evidence in lines to state King s counterargument to the assertion that the actions of Birmingham s African American community precipitated violence and must be condemned. Explain one example King uses to address the clergymen s statement. 24. Why is it important in lines for King to address the counterclaim that African Americans will eventually receive equal rights? 25. Identify King s counterargument and cite his reasons. King does not agree with the clergymen s assertion that the peaceful direct action caused the police to act violently toward participants. 26. Identify what precipitated, or caused, a man to be robbed.

8 Read page 329 Writers of arguments must clearly delineate claims. 27. Identify the two opposing forces King discusses in this section (lines ). 28. How does King s discussion of these two forces serve his purpose? King expresses the idea that some African Americans are content with the way society is structured. 29. Explain the two reasons why some African Americans are complacent. King explains why the long-suppressed desire for civil rights is finally becoming apparent. 30. Identify the two reminders that have manifested within and without the African American man.

9 Read pages 330 and 331 The controlled use of repetition is a powerful rhetorical tool used by writers of arguments. 31. How does King shift the idea of being extremist from something negative to something positive? 32. How does the concluding sentence of this paragraph (lines ) directly address the audience? Writers often make specific word choices based on connotation to convey nuances of meaning. 33. Identify words with negative connotations in this passage (lines ). 34. In what way does King contrast these negative words with the positive situation he is describing?

10 Read pages 332 and 333 Contrasts can provide a powerful and memorable support for an argument. 35. Identify at least one contrast between what King expected from religious leaders and what actually happened (in lines ). 36. How does the contrast between what King expected and what actually happened support his claim and address his audience? 37. Identify the central claim that King makes in this paragraph (lines ) and the reasons and evidence he uses to support it. King states that the church determined the established customs and conventions of society. 38. Compare the mores of a society that would allow infanticide and gladiatorial contests with our own.

11 Read page 334 Watch for images with positive connotations that support King s argument (lines ) 39. Identify references to American history in this paragraph. 40. How do these references support the idea that African Americans deserve equal rights? King s letter is a direct response to counterclaims made by a group of religious people. 41. What counterclaim in the clergymen s letter is King addressing here? 42. What evidence does King s counterargument provide?

12 Read pages Well structured arguments reiterate key ideas. 43. Cite words and ideas in lines 572 through 585 that echo earlier ideas in the letter, including King s stated reasons for being in Birmingham. King points out that the demonstrators received no praise for their refusal to respond with violence even when they were faced with actions intended to elicit anger. 44. Identify the type of provocation James Meredith endured. Allusions are references to a famous person, place, event, or literary work. 45. Identify the two seminal documents that King references as historical allusions on page What effect might these references have had on King s audience? 47. In summary, what parts of King s argument do you find most compelling?