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... s "Letter from Birmingham Jail. ... Chief among these relationships are those that divided King from his ostensible audience, his ostensible audience from his actual audience, his actual audience from that level of illumination required for them to grasp the issues agitated by Kings movement, and the chasm that separated African Americans from the heritage promised them by mythic America. ... The essay concludes by considering how the "Letter"s rhetoric served the prevailing journalistic melodrama and by connecting its work to the functions of rhetorical depictionThis essay examines the rhetorical situation of Martin Luther King Jr.s "Letter from Birmingham Jail." It argues that Kings "Letter" was an essential response for civil rights to continue as a mass movement in Birmingham and beyond. At a broader level, Kings "Letter" demonstrated the enactment of rhetorical transformation. By creative use of kairos and pathos the letter rebutted the claims of the moderate white clergy in Birmingham and changed Kings rhetorical persona and presence. The "Letter" transformed the idea of reasonableness from the province of moderation alone and united it with justifications for direct civil disobedience. Consequently, the "Letter" as rhetorical response opened a new public frame for pragmatic, value-based identification with civil rights for historical ana contemporary audiences.
April 1963 was not the first time the white clergy of Birmingham, Alabama, had issued a public statement about civil rights in their city. ... The public position of these clergy represented the pathway of reasonableness, deliberation, and progress on civil rights to many white and some black business leaders in Birmingham. This view was buttressed by the fact that Albert Boutwell, a moderate in comparison with Eugene "Bull" Connor, won election as mayor of Birmingham, notwithstanding the refusal of Connor to actually relinquish office until the Alabama Supreme Court had ruled. ... Precisely this motive seems to have been at the center of the now famous or infamous letter written by these clergy in April 1963, during Kings incarceration for leading civil rights demonstrations in Birmingham.1
Kings 1963 response "Letter" from jail stands as one of the foremost documents in civil rights discourse. ... There is a further irony in that the initial impact of the "Letter" was virtually nil. ... But when Letter from Birmingham Jail was published it soon became the most widely-read, widely-reprinted and oft quoted document of the civil rights movement."2 It has been researched and interpreted from many perspectives, including the effect of its style, the centrality of time as a key concept, and the rhetorical metaphors that it uses.3 Yet, in our understandable affirmation of the "Letter"s importance, it is easy to overlook some aspects of its historical and rhetorical contexts. In this essay I want to focus on several key questions: What are the rhetorical origins of Kings "Letter"? What is revealed when we view the "Letter" as a strategic as well as an ideological text designed for pivotal audiences? What does it mean that the "Letter" was a collaborative effort spearheaded by movement leaders other than King? How did the "Letter" become a "public" text and why does it remain such an influential ingredient in our collective public memory?
In addressing these questions, I will examine the rhetorical situation of Kings "Letter" at both micro and macro levels.
Approximate Word count = 2676
Approximate Pages = 10.7
(250 words per page double spaced)
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