46 pages • 1 hour read
Martin Luther King Jr.Letter From Birmingham Jail
Martin Luther King Jr.Nonfiction | Essay / Speech | Adult | Published in 1963A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Discussion/Analysis Prompt
A few months after this letter was written in 1963, King delivered one of the most famous and compelling oratories in US history, his “I Have a Dream” speech. After watching an online video of the speech, compare King’s use of rhetorical devices between his speech and his letter. Does he use all three parts of the rhetorical devices triangle (pathos, ethos, and logos) in both texts? If so, how? Provide examples in your analysis; explain if one is used more than the others.
Teaching Suggestion: This prompt challenges students’ analytical skills in making connections with rhetorical devices. Students might review the terms pathos, ethos, and logos with brief notes or examples before beginning their discussion or written response.
Differentiation Suggestion: Depending on class members’ familiarity with rhetorical devices, this activity might serve instead to introduce definitions and examples of pathos, ethos, and logos; students might then work as a group to identify devices within both of King’s works. Students who would benefit from practice in public speaking skills might apply the rhetorical devices found in the speech to an oral presentation of a short selection from the “Letter from Birmingham Jail.
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