NEW
Font size
WorksheetsLetter From Birmingham Jail
Total questions: 20
Worksheet time: 40mins
Which of the following is not a step in Dr. King's nonviolent campaign?
negotiation
collection of facts
direct action
disappointment
Why was King in Birmingham?
he was invited to help fight the segregation there
he lived there
he gave a speech there but drove over the speed limit on his way out of town
he picked Birmingham as the next place to hold a non-violent protest
What counterargument does Dr. King present to the advice to wait?
Democratically elected officials would not require African Americans to wait.
Socrates would not have waited under the same circumstances.
African Americans already have waited for more than 340 years.
The 1954 Supreme Court decision has made it impossible to wait.
How should someone break an unjust law?
openly, lovingly and with a willingness to accept the penalty.
confidently, aggressively, and unwilling to back down.
fearfully, timidly, and with a willingness to surrender.
arrogantly, proudly, and with a willingness to use violence.
Who was the Negro's "great stumbling block," according to MLK Jr.?
Birmingham Police Department
Ku Klux Klan
White Citizen's Council
White Moderate
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice...
...in some places."
...in the south."
...everywhere."
end of sentence.
What does MLK believe about breaking the law?
Laws should not be broken under any circumstances.
Only the wealthy are allowed to break the law because they can afford to pay the price.
If a law is deemed unjust, then it must be broken.
Laws may be broken if the Bible says so.
According to MLK, what is civil disobedience?
a struggle between two social groups
breaking the law in a peaceful manner
breaking the law with the use of violence
a struggle between branches of the government
Identify the rhetorical appeal Dr. King employs:
"...when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking: 'Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?'..."
ethos
kairos
logos
pathos
What is the definition of the underlined word?
"We have some eighty-five affiliated organizations across the South and Georgia."
white supremacist
alienation
joined in close association
self-contradiction
"I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state..." is an example of
ethos
pathos
logos
"I say this as a minister of the gospel, who loves the church; who was nurtured in its bosom;..." is an example of
simile
metaphor
personification
alliteration
In paragraph 24, King notes that "...they [white moderates] fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress". Identify the rhetorical device present above.
Simile
Metaphor
Juxtaposition
Irony
" . . . and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco-Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid."
ethos
pathos
logos
“The purpose of our direct-action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue
rather than dialogue."
ethos
pathos
logos
Which statement is a position of Dr. King's opponents?
Racial injustice in Birmingham must be stopped at all costs.
The Boston Tea Party was an act of civil disobedience.
Dr. King's peaceful actions are wrong because violence results from them.
Demonstrations are necessary to break down segregation.
In his opening paragraph, King says that he rarely pauses to answer criticisms, but he is replying to the clergymen because
their actions were unwise and untimely.
their letter shows them to be extremists.
he believes them to be sincere and good.
he wants his letter to bring about change.
What is a moratorium?
a temporary stoppage
an unjust law
a burial site
an unacceptable excuse
