DOCUMENT ANALYSIS – Martin Luther King, “Letter From Birmingham Jail” You will read Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” whose text can be found below. Before you begin reading, spend several minutes absorbing your assignment. Analyze King’s “Letter” by 1.) identifying and describing the ethical issues addressed in this letter, 2.) identifying and describing the different choices available to the author, and 3.) identify and describe the consequences of the different choices. completed the reading, write a brief response paper (one-to-two pages; 300-600 words) in which you do your very best to answer the questions below. The most important part of the assignment is that your answers reveal evidence of critical thought. 1. Identify in detail and thoroughly describe the main ethical issue(s) identified by Martin Luther King, Jr. in this assigned reading. Show that you understand the ethical question(s) King is confronting. 2. Identify and describe the choices available to King. Show that you understand different options. Which does he choose? Why? 3. Finally, identify and describe the consequences of the choices the author makes in addressing the ethical issues identified above. Document: “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” (1963) On April 16, 1963, 34-year-old Martin Luther King, Jr., sat alone in his jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama, reading a newspaper advertisement taken out by eight locally-prominent white religious leaders. The writers called on African Americans to cease the anti-discrimination protests and marches that King’s organization—the Southern Christian Leadership Conference—was organizing in the city. King began answering their claims point-by-point, writing carefully in the blank margins of the Birmingham newspaper. Today his reply, “Letter from the Birmingham Jail,” is often cited as a masterpiece of the art of rhetoric.
