Sequoyah Weems
Dr. Attis
AP Lang/1B
October 2, 2014
Ethnical Appeal Analysis While in jail for one of his protest King wrote a response to an audience of white religious leaders from the south. In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther King uses ethnical appeal to convince his audience that his actions are moral and fair. Throughout the letter we can see that King wants freedom for African Americans. He associates himself with relevant authorities, makes allusions, and establishes a relationship between himself and the audience.
King is attempting to appeal to the audience’s knowledge of famous religious characters and their actions. King states that “Just as the eight century prophets left their little villages and carried their ‘thus saith the Lord far beyond the boundaries of their hometowns; and just as the Apostle Paul left his little village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to practically every hamlet and city of the Greco Roman world, I too am compelled to carry the gospel of the freedom beyond my particular hometown.” King is saying that he is going around the country spreading the idea of freedom. The audience he is writing to should have a strong religious mindset therefore this could have a strong persuasive appeal.
Dr. King also uses allusions in his letter. He says that “I am in Birmingham because injustice is here.” King uses this biblical allusion because it helps his argument. He is telling them that he has credibility on the