ASSEMBLING
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s
LETTER from the BIRMINGHAM JAIL
DIRECTIONS: Read through the letter and fill in the blanks with the missing
information, compile any lists, and answer any questions asked.
#1 – 7---p319-320
King’s fellow clergymen have written to him because __________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________.
King feels he has the right to be in Birmingham because _______________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
But more basically, he has the right to be in Birmingham because ______________
_____________________________________________________________________________.
Choose one of the reasons from above that King says is his right to be in
Birmingham and cite the specific evidence he uses to support or further clarify
his reason.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Americans can no longer afford to live with the “outside agitator” idea because
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
VOCAB: cognizant: How was Dr. King cognizant of the injustices in Birmingham
if he did not live there?
______________________________________________________________________________
CONTRAST: Write the passage in which King uses contrast to explain why,
although he lives in Montgomery, he is concerned about the injustice in
Birmingham.
___________________________________________________________________________.
l.48-52
According to King, the clergymen who criticized him deplore the
demonstrations taking place in Birmingham because they are only looking at
____________________ without understanding __________________________________.
_____________________________________________________________________ is the
underlying cause of the demonstrations.
l.53-55
The four basic steps to a nonviolent campaign are:
1.___________________________________________________________________________
2.___________________________________________________________________________
3.___________________________________________________________________________
4.___________________________________________________________________________
l.57-63
Birmingham’s racial injustice includes:
1.____________________________________________________________________________
2.____________________________________________________________________________
3.____________________________________________________________________________
4.____________________________________________________________________________
# 11-14---l.63-75
____________________________ refused to negotiate with ________________________
about these injustices.
African-American leaders tried to negotiate with _____________________________.
The merchants promised ____________________________________________________.
In return the African American community agreed to _________________________.
VOCAB: What is the vocabulary word for a temporary suspension or agreedupon delay?
__________________________________________________
But the merchants did not honor their promise which left African
American leaders with no alternative but to __________________________________.
List three rhetorical questions that open the paragraph at the top of page 322.
1.____________________________________________________________________________
2.____________________________________________________________________________
3.____________________________________________________________________________
l.105-119
King answers the question “Why direct action?” instead of negotiation by saying
“____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________.
King opposes _____________ tension but feels that a certain amount of tension is
necessary for ______________. Nonviolent gadflies will help men rise from the
_______________________________________________________ to achieve ___________
_____________________________________________________________________________.
l.130
King has not made a single gain in civil rights without __________________________
___________________________________________. Privileged groups seldom ________
_____________________________________________________________________________.
l.140
____________________ must be demanded by the oppressed. Those who don’t
suffer from __________________________________ generally take the view that
King’s demonstrations are always ________________________. But to King the word
“Wait” almost always means “___________________.”
l.146-151
In King’s view, the rights of African-Americans arise from two sources: ________
and _____________________________________________. Asian and African political
independence moves with _________________________________________, but
African-American independence moves at a _________________________________.
It’s easy for people who have never felt _______________________________________
__________________________________ to say “Wait.”
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE: What is the metaphor King uses to compare the pain of
segregation?
________________________________________________________________________
l.152-180
List what you believe are the three most powerful reasons why AfricanAmericans cannot wait for their rights as presented in the text:
1._____________________________________________________________________
2._____________________________________________________________________
3._____________________________________________________________________
ANAPHORA: What is the repeated phrase with which Dr. King begins several
sentences and phrases in lines 150 – 177?
____________________________________________________________________________
What is the effect of this repetitive technique?
______________________________________________________________________________
SEMINAL (historical) DOCUMENTS: To what historical document/event does King
refer in l.185?
_____________________________________________________________________________