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0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica}Rezkalla !1Theresa RezkallaMr. CarverPOLS-10116 January 2018Letter From Birmingham JailMartin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. He was aBaptist minister and a civil rights activist.
He had a huge impact on race relations in the UnitedStates of America. Martin Luther King Jr. was trying to end the racism issue that was going inthe south during the 1950s.
Mr. King was also trying to create the Civil Rights Act of 1964 andthe Voting Rights Act of 1965. These acts helped African Americans to have the right to vote andto have equal power like white people. Mr. King received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, as wellas other honors. Mr. King was murdered on April 4, 1968.
He was one of the amazing leadersthat will always be remembered.Even though Martin Luther King Jr. was doing the right thing and standing up for whathe believed in, he got arrested 30 times.
Mr. King believed that African Americans should nothave to wait any longer for their rights as humans, so Mr. King and the Southern ChristianLeadership Conference (SCLC) decided to go and fight for themselves and talk to the civil rightleaders and lecture them about race related issues.
Mr. King did not want any violence in hismovement, he just simply wanted to talk. To Mr. King violence was never the answer. Mr.
Kingalso told his people that violence will never be their way out of this.In the Early 1960s, a group of African Americans began something called the “sit-in”movement in North Carolina. Which meant that if there were at a restaurant or on a bus, theyRezkalla !2would sit wherever they want, because during this time African Americans were allowed to sit inspecific spots. If someone would ask them to sit in that seat or do this or do that, they would sitstill in their seat and they would not move. Mr. King and the SCLC had a conference with thoseAfrican American students, and Mr.
king encouraged them to continue what they were doing.This movement succeeded and it expand in 27 southern cities. Mr. King and 75 of his studentswent to a diner and were sitting at a table, they were asked to move to the lunch counter, but theyrefused. After that Mr. King and 36 others were arrested because of what they did. They wereeventually released. But, that was one of the many ways of how Mr.
King and a lot of AfricanAmericans were arrested. The “sit-in” movement was not violent, it was just a way for AfricanAmericans to show that they should have the right as white people. That was one of they waysthat Mr. King used to stand up of his people’s and his rights without violence.On April 12, 1963, Mr. King was arrested by a police commissioner Eugene “Bull”Connor. Mr.
King was arrested because he was doing a nonviolent protest to demonstratesegregation in Birmingham, Alabama. Mr. King was placed in Birmingham City Jail for 11 days.During his time in jail, he wrote his famous “Letter From Birmingham Jail.” He wrote this letteron the edges of a newspaper. Mr. King wrote this letter to respond to eight clergymen, who saidto Mr. King that what he did was unwise and untimely.
They also asked Mr. King for the blackpopulation to end the demonstrations. Mr. King responded by basically saying that all men arecreated equal, and the constitution states that in great detail. Every man should have the right tovote no matter what their race, gender, or ethnicity is.
Mr. King also says in his letter that theAfrican Americans have been waiting so long for the full rights as citizens.Rezkalla !3Mr.
King and more than 200,000 people, took a historic March on August 28, 1963 inWashington. That is when Mr. King made his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, saying thatsomeday all men are created equal. Mr. King said, “I have a dream that my four children will oneday live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content oftheir character.” Mr. King pushed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which meant that every AfricanAmerican has the right to vote and have the rights as white men.
One of Mr. King’s non-violent movement was civil rights marching. There was tworemarkable marches that were done by African Americans, they would cross from Selma toMontgomery, crossing the Edmond Pettus Bridge. The first march took place on March 7, 1965,a couple hundred African Americans were marching, but it turned out really badly.
Policemenattacked them with nightsticks and tear gas. They kept beating all of them, from men to womento children. It was truly a horrific scene. This particular event was later known as”Bloody Sunday.” There was about to be a second march, but it was cancelled due a restrainingorder from the president. Mr. King did not like the second march to be cancelled.
So, Mr. Kingdecided that he would plan a third march. On March 9, 1965, over 2,500 marchers, includingblack and white, walked the bridge. Halfway through the bridge, Mr. King stopped, kneeleddown on his knees to pray, and everybody did the same, and then he turned around and walkedback to Selma. Mr.
King did this because he knew that violence was not the answer and he didnot want anymore people getting hurt.When Martin Luther King Jr. was in Birmingham Jail, he wrote a letter for his fellowclergymen who thought that what he did was “unwise and untimely.” “While confined here in theBirmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities ‘unwiseRezkalla !4and untimely.'”— Martin Luther King Jr. Mr.
King knew that he was not going to live for longand he did not know if he is going to die in this jail or not, because he kept getting threats phonecalls about people killing him and such. So, he decided to write this letter not for only theclergymen, but also for his people who were on his side. In this letter he shared his thoughtsopinion about everything. He would also tell his people what to do and what not to do. I thinkthat this letter is very powerful and that it might move anybody, because it truly states some goodand bad things that have happened in the past, that we can just go wow.Mr. King also mentioned something about nonviolent direct action and how it will createtension in the community. “Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster suchtension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront theissue.
“—Martin Luther King Jr. The Civil Rights movement was a huge deal for Mr. King,because it was their only way out of this mess. Mr.
King’s nonviolent movement is an action to asociety change. It means that the issue can no longer be ignored. “But I must confess that I amnot afraid of the word ‘tension’.”—Martin Luther King Jr. Mr. King represents tension as a wayof growth. Mr. King gave an example about Socrates and how they used tension to get people tostop believing in myth and half truths.
Mr. King wants tension because he wants people to wakeup and get out of the dark and look into the light and realize that racism is making the world godown. You might think that negotiation is a better idea, you are absolutely right.
Mr. King istrying to open the door of negotiation through his nonviolent direct action. That is the wholepurpose of why Mr.
King decided to have a nonviolent direct action. The Civil Rights movementwill “bring to the surface” a “hidden tension that is already alive.” This means that if presidentJohnson signed this act, it would make life a lot easier for the African Americans and that it isRezkalla !5going to solve so many problems that are already alive. People will than realize how the worldwill be very different with the Civil Rights movement. Historians believe that “I Have a Dream”speech by Martin Luther king Jr. helped passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the VotingRights of 1965.
The Civil Rights movement helped that black, but it was also a movement thathelped women, students, gays and lesbians, the elderly, and many more. The Civil Rightsmovement helped many people with their rights. And that what the United States Constitutionhad said, that all men are created equal, and that everybody should have the right to vote nomatter of their race, gender, or ethnicity.One of the most important things that stands out in Mr. King’s letter from BirminghamJail is just and unjust. It is a huge topic that it will impact America as a whole. “I would agreewith St. Augustine that ‘an unjust law is no law at all.
‘”—Martin Luther King Jr. Some of usmight agree with what Mr. King said about just and unjust.
“A just law is a man code that sharesthe moral law or the law of God. A just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to followand that it is willing to follow itself.”—Martin Luther King Jr. Mr. King explains that just lawsuplift human personality.
Mr. King believes in a just law and that it is good for the nation. On theother hand and unjust law is sinful and wrong. “An unjust law is a code that is out of harmonywith the moral law. An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels aminority group to obey but does not make binding on itself.”—Martin Luther King Jr. An unjustlaw is when you basically have to obey a law, but you are fully against it. A just law is when youobey what you voted for and you are not against it.
Mr. King makes that very clearly in his letter,and how he believes that everybody should follow the just laws.Rezkalla !6In the 1960s and even the 1950s, America was a very racist nation.
So, the media told therest of the world how racist America is, and the the Civil Rights movement might help with that.The media helped the Civil Rights movement to succeed. I believe that without the media, theCivil Rights movement would have not even excited and there would be still be racism inAmerica today. The media really showed the nation attention from the south. The media reallymade some people change their minds about African American. Just watching television andseeing people getting beat up repeatedly for no reason at all, they were just simply standing upfor their rights. The media really helped some white people to come and join the Civil Rightsmovement. When Mr.
King went marching from Selma to Montgomery with over 200,000people on his side, because of the media. As seen in the movie Selma, Mr. King announced thathe was going to walk from over the bridge and that he needed some people on his side and helphim march through the soldiers.
A lot of people including white people came to join him on hisamazing march. The media today still mentions the Civil Rights movement and how it affectedthe world today. We always hear about white cops shooting African Americans for no reason atall. That is where the media comes in and we remember the Civil Rights movements and that thatcop should be punished. For example, on New Years’ Day of 2009, Oscar Grant, a very poor andinnocent African American male, was shot and killed by a white cop because he did not doanything. Soon, the cop that shot him went to jail and was got a death sentence. If that wouldhave happened in the 1960s, no one would have cared. The media truly played a huge role in thepast and it still will play a huge role and represents the Civil Rights movement.
This letter that was written by Martin Luther King Jr. is truly a powerful and a movingletter. The letter really show who Mr. King was and what was his thoughts were about racismRezkalla !7and the Civil Rights movement.
This letter made me really have a different point of view of the1960s. It really showed me how people lived in the those days, and what they suffered throughjust to have equal rights. There was a really powerful quote that I read over and over againbecause it was very good and very true and very realistic. “Was not Jesus an extremist for love:”Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for themwhich despitefully use you, and persecute you.” Was not Amos an extremist for justice: “Letjustice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.” Was not Paul anextremist for the Christian gospel: “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” Was notMartin Luther an extremist: “Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God.” And JohnBunyan: “I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience.
“And Abraham Lincoln: “This nation cannot survive half slave and half free.” And ThomasJefferson: “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal . . .”—MartinLuther King Jr. This paragraph really summed up for me on how I should see the world. Theseall amazing and wonderful people that Mr.
King mentioned: every word they said was very trueand moving. This paragraph also showed me that racism has been going on for a really long timeand not just the 1960s. I love how Mr. King really wrote this letter as a message from God tohim. He truly believed and followed God overstep of the way. The amazing move Selma reallyshowed that in that character of Mr. King. Martin Luther King Jr.
was truly an amazing man andhe will never be forgotten on how he stood up for he believed in.Rezkalla !8Work CitedBlanchet, D. “MLK’s Arrest in Birmingham – Letter From Birmingham City Jail – “Children’sCrusade” – Birmingham, AL – 1963.” Civrights -. Wikispaces, n.d. Web.
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(Director). (2014). Selma Motion picture.Rothman, Lily. “Why MLK Was Jailed in Birmingham.
” Time. Time, 16 Apr. 2015. Web. 14 Jan.2018.Unknown, Unknown. “Martin Luther King Jr.
Biography.” Bio.com. A Networks Television,n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2018.
Unknown, Unknown. “The American Civil Rights Movement: The Media.” American CivilRights Movement : The Media. Historical Boys’ Clothing, 9 Oct. 2003.
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