ABSTRACT
In "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" Martin Luther King creates a direct-discourse logical argument with the following conclusion: "King, his followers, and all people should break the unjust Birmingham law now for the sake of real law and justice." While confined in the Birmingham city jail, the author came across their recent statement calling the author's present activities "unwise and untimely." Seldom do the author pause to answer criticism of his work and ideas. If he sought to answer all the criticisms that cross his desk, his secretaries would have little time for anything other than such correspondence in the course of the day, and he would have no time for constructive work. But since the author felt that people are men of genuine good will and that their criticisms are sincerely set forth, he wants to try to answer the statement in what he/she hopes will be patient and reasonable terms.
