A Transforming Response: Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail"

Abstract

This essay examines the rhetorical situation of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail." It argues that King's "Letter" was an essential response for civil rights to continue as a mass movement in Birmingham and beyond. At a broader level, King's "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 King's 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 and contemporary audiences.