The Rhetoric of Martin Luther King, Jr.: Letter from Birmingham Jail

Mott, Wesley T.

doi:10.2307/274640

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Toward Stakeholder Responsibility1

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1992

2021

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“…For example, in King's 1963 "Letter from Birmingham Jail," issues of social, political, and economic equality were directly confronted as central to the issue of social and moral responsibility. Mott (1975) argued that in King's letter power was properly understood as fundamentally about one's ability to bring about not only political change but also social and economic change. As Mott stated, "But the great impact of 'Letter from Birmingham Jail' does not arise from King's being a clinical logician.…”

Section: Toward Stakeholder Responsibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond “I Have a Dream”

Logsdon

Murrell

2008

Business & Society

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Section: Toward Stakeholder Responsibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond “I Have a Dream”

Logsdon

Murrell

2008

Business & Society

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Narrative in Martin Luther King'sI've been to the mountaintop

Rosteck

1992

Southern Communication Journal

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Martin Luther King Jr. on Democratic Propaganda, Shame, and Moral Transformation

Krishnamurthy

2021

Political Theory

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This essay develops an account of Martin Luther King Jr.’s justification for and use of what I will call “democratic propaganda”—truthful propaganda that is aimed at promoting and fostering democratic political action by stirring readers’ emotions. I interpret King’s famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in the broader context of his work and argue that it is a piece of democratic propaganda. I give an account of what led King to support the use of democratic propaganda and why he hoped it would help to overcome a central problem in the civil rights movement: the political inaction of the white moderates. King emphasizes shame in the Letter, and I argue that this concept offers us a new way of thinking about the efficacy of democratic propaganda. I close by considering the relevance of King’s approach for today’s Black Lives Matter movement. Despite the innovativeness of King’s use of shame, I suggest it may be time for a new approach to Black politics and activism.

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The Rhetoric of Martin Luther King, Jr.: Letter from Birmingham Jail

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Beyond “I Have a Dream”

Beyond “I Have a Dream”

Narrative in Martin Luther King'sI've been to the mountaintop

Martin Luther King Jr. on Democratic Propaganda, Shame, and Moral Transformation

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