Page 49 - DENG105_ELECTIVE_ENGLISH_II

Elective English–II

Notes he says, “There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no
longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair.” All of these statements help the
reader see just how blacks were disturbed beyond morality and legality. King’s use of
emotional writing helps readers develop sympathy for the segregated.
• In “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King uses specific words to illustrate
the division between whites and blacks that was taking place at that time. When writing
about the difference between just and unjust laws, King uses contrasting words such
as “uplift” and “degrade,” “segregator” and “segregated,” “superiority” and “inferiority,”
and “majority” and “minority” to create a clear definition between two kinds of people.
He also writes about how, according to Martin Buber, segregation replaces an “I-thou”
relationship with an “I-it” relationship. Despite using these clean-cut words, King never
outright mentions the two races that represent the segregator and the segregated, but
through the use of contrasting terminology in his argument against unjust laws King
develops a relationship between whites and blacks that suggests complete oppression
and domination. This feeling carries into his argument against the “white moderate,”
where the reader learns that King believes a white person doing nothing to help desegregation
is a white person supporting segregation.
• King’s use of comparison, emotional tools, and contrasting terminology—all help the
reader to understand the real meaning behind civil disobedience and the fault in segregation.
By comparing himself and his followers to biblical and historical figures, King creates
a feeling of importance when he discusses the wrongfulness of obeying unjust laws.
Through the eyes of two children, King connects the reader emotionally to his cause.
Finally, the use of contrasting terminology creates a clear definition between two groups,
one the segregator and the other the segregated. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s use of literary
tools in “Letter from Birmingham Jail” allows King to reach his readers and help them
understand how racial prejudice must be combated.

3.7 Keywords

Black Panthers : The Black Panthers were members of the Black Panther Party,
a militant black political organization founded by Huey Newton
and Bobby Seale in Oakland, California in 1966. Stokely
Carmichael was also closely involved in the group’s
development. The Party called for black self-defense and
demanded equality for blacks in political, economic, and
social arenas nation-wide. In their militancy, the Black Panthers
differed with King and his non-violent direct action tactics.
Black Power : At a march in 1966 the chairman of the Student Non-violent
Coordinating Committee, Stokely Carmichael, used this slogan
before a national audience, putting it into currency as a widely
used term. “Black Power” came to denote a brand of civil
rights activism more militant than that of King, and King
and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference refused
to use or endorse the slogan for fear of alienating white
sympathy.

Civil Rights Act of 1964 : The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination in
employment and in public facilities, and gave the federal
government greater power to enforce the desegregation of

44 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY