Lecture 11/19 (Letter from Birmingham Jail) Flashcards
Background of Letter from Birmingham Jail: Birmingham demonstrations: nonviolent direct action (April-May 1963)
i. Regarded as the citadel of the segregated south
ii. Was a focus of the civil rights movement to demonstrate there
iii. Police chief at the time, Bull Conner, was a strong advocate of segregation (to put it politely, I would look him up)
iv. Goal of the demonstration was to desegregate eating establishments and other entertainment types of locations
1. Protestors would engage in direct action against the segregated establishments
a. Like the lunch counter sit-ins from previous lecture
2. Make a statement against unjust segregation
a. This created/provoked a response of violence in most cases, and that violence would put the lives of civil rights protestors at risk
b. Photos and broadcasts of these events (violent response) would be put onto national news (wasn’t as big as it is now, just 3 major networks)
i. Protestors being hosed down by firefighters
ii. Dogs attack protestors
iii. Police attacking protestors with billy clubs
3. Designed to expose immorality and the violent response/power structure and push the balance towards the civil rights movement
v. This would help push negotiations in favor of the civil rights movement
Background of Letter from Birmingham Jail: MLK jailed (April 12)
i. Violated a state court injunction from preventing him and fellow leaders from protesting their
ii. MLK called the injunction an act of tyranny
1. Because it seemed to be at odds with the first amendment
2. So, he protested anyways and got arrested
iii. Was jailed without a bed and blankets and pillows
1. Solitary confinement, no toilet
iv. Conditions didn’t improve until press covered it
Background of Letter from Birmingham Jail: Statement of Eight Alabama Clergyman
i. Said Birmingham protests were untimely and unwise
ii. Better to have open and honest talks than to protest
iii. Urged African American to withdraw from their protests
iv. Characterized King as an extremist, outsider, lawbreaker
v. Statement praised Birmingham law officials
Background of Letter from Birmingham Jail: MLK starts writing response in jail
i. Wrote it with a pen smuggled in by his lawyers
ii. Wrote bits and pieces of it on anything he could find
iii. Smuggled out piece by piece (7000 words in total)
iv. First published by Quakers in pamphlet form
1. Then reprinted and spread like wildfire
e. Publication & impact
i. Met the demands of the moment and continues to influence today and in other moments in history
ii. Circulated wildly
Background of Letter from Birmingham Jail: Publication & impact
i. Met the demands of the moment and continues to influence today and in other moments in history
ii. Circulated wildly
Purpose of Letter from Birmingham Jail
Answer statement of clergymen
Genre of Letter from Birmingham Jail
Public Letter
Target Audience of Letter from Birmingham Jail
National Readership
He wasn’t writing to the clergymen, it wasn’t his purpose, many of the issues raised by the clergymen were the same of many of the people in the US had questions about the civil rights movement as a whole (both supporters and opposers)
Refutation of clergymen’s statement: Strategy of refutation (answer the charges against him, made by clergymen)
i. First level: denial of charge
1. Denying the charge made against him
2. For each of the charges
ii. Second level: move to general religious/moral principle
1. Turn the table on the clergymen and make a larger argument out of it
2. Saying the clergymen are inconsistent with higher principles
3. What makes the letter appealing then and today
4. Turns the charges against them and put them on the defensive by aligning King with the principle of higher morality and religious scripture
Refutation of Specific Charges: “Outsider” (84-85)
- Not the first charge made against him but the first one he answered to
- “Outsiders” from the north were coming in from imposing their doctrines and telling the south what to do
a. History and arguments for a long time in the south were many from the north were outsiders, so King knew this was a very potent charge, like what Wendell Phillips did with the revolutionaries in “The murder of Lovejoy” - King said he was invited in, saying he wasn’t an outsider to the south, just one to Birmingham
- On the second level, he compares himself to the apostle, Paul, by saying the apostle would go wherever he was needed to spread the word of God
a. No one could be an outsider where injustice is concerned
b. A threat of injustice somewhere is a threat of injustice everywhere
Refutation of Specific Charges: “Negotiate, don’t demonstrate” (85-89)
- Longest section of his response
- First stage of his response
a. Claiming African Americans in Birmingham actually tried to negotiate with business leaders, city council, and every time they tried, they were rebuffed
b. So, there was nothing else they could do but do the demonstrations
c. Purpose of the demonstrations were to open negotiation
i. To force the city to do what it otherwise wouldn’t have done
ii. King said this is the only way we can achieve negotiations
iii. King asked how long they must wait (pages 42 &43) - Emotional appeal is what allows him to take an upper hand, morally
- Second level: The purpose of demonstration is to force the authorities to open up to genuine negotiation, in King’s eyes
a. They never got a fair shake when it came to negotiation because it was always taking what they gave, which is what made certain members in the African American community
Refutation of Specific Charges: “Lawbreaker” (89-92)
- Potent charge as well, because no one wants to be branded a lawbreaker
- Like the “mob” connotation in the “Murder of Lovejoy”
a. If left unanswered, it would prove distavorous for the rest of the civil rights movement - Admits to breaking the Birmingham segregation laws
a. But they are unjust and immoral laws, King says
b. Draws upon moral conditions, to show distinction between written laws and moral laws
c. King says the segregation laws violates the word of God
i. Sets forth criteria for what constitutes an just or unjust law - Clincher of this argument: Everything that Hitler did was legal, according to German law
a. Yet we’d like to think any moral person would oppose what he did - King says we have a morally duty to break them, so the civil rights movement are acting in the tradition that so many leaders before them have done, both religious and secular leaders
Refutation of Specific Charges: “Extremist” (92-95)
- Heavy negative connotation
- King says to look at the African American community
a. Says look at one side who say to “not rock the boat” and the other side which rejects nonviolence like Malcom X some others and if we had a movement like that, we would have a gruesome race war
b. King says he is right in the middle - Higher level: MLK says he maybe is an extremist like Jesus, or Martin Luther, or Abraham Lincoln. An extremist for justice and morality and love
Other dimensions of MLK’s letter: Use of sources & Personal style
a. Use of sources
i. Frequently refers to the opinions of other people
1. Paraphrased them, because he didn’t have the direct documents while he was in jail
ii. Dealing with complex philosophical issues, so he compares himself to those like Saint Paul and Saint Augustine, Jesus, Socrates
1. All of these people are widely accepted across the states
b. Personal style
i. Public letter, but like Grimke, had a personal tone with it
ii. Even though he is dealing with heavy issues, he writes in everyday language
1. Addresses the audience by saying “you”
2. Uses “I” a lot
a. Makes the letter easier to read
b. A living breathing person on the other side of this letter that people read
