"Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.]"

profilesanjs
Untitleddocument.docx

Topic: Civil Rights and Equality

Participation in our weekly discussions is the heart of our class. It is also 25% of your grade, so engage in the topic and with your peers!

Instructions: Your first weekly post should be made by Friday of the week (it is strongly encouraged to start on Wednesday or Thursday, but Friday is the latest in order for you to meet the posting requirements). It should be intuitive, thoughtful, and based on the content you are reading. Your next two posts (which are responses to other students' posts or in response to my questions), must be done on separate days. Thus: three posts on three different days throughout the week (for example, one post on Tuesday, one post on Thursday, and one post on Sunday). These responses to other posts should also be well-written and intelligent. The week closes on Sunday at 11:59 PM and you will no longer have access to the discussion.

Grading criteria:

· You must post on 3 different days during the week for full credit. If you only post on 2, then you can only obtain a maximum of 70 points; if you only post on one day, then you can only obtain a maximum of 40 points. On any given day, you are certainly welcome to post multiple times. Keiser University uses this format to ensure that you are participating throughout the week, interacting with me and with your classmates.

· You must post at least 200 words for your first post and 150 words in each of your following posts. It is a good idea to write it in Word first, do a word count and post that at the end of your posts. Remember to list a reference at the end of your first post. APA format is preferred.

· While opinion can be important in politics, it needs to be an informed opinion--one that relies on our readings or discussions.

Please list your reference(s) at the end of your initial post.

Here is how to reference King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail":

King, M. L. (1963, April 16). Letter from a Birmingham jail. University of Pennsylvania. http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html

Here is how to reference your textbook, if you use it in this discussion:

Harrison, B., Harris, J., & Deardorff, M. (2022). American democracy now (7th ed.). McGraw Hill.

Post

Length Requirement

Day Requirement

Score

First post –

reply to prompt in your own words, with no more than one short direct quote.

200 Words, scholarly references required*

By Friday (but try to make it earlier)

35 points

Reference at end of initial post included, APA format preferred

5

Second –

reply to peer

150 Words, references recommended but not required

By Sunday

30

Third –

reply to peer

150 Words, references recommended but not required

By Sunday (but on a different day than your first or second post)

30

Total Score

100 points possible

*A scholarly source for this discussion is King's letter as linked below, your text, and any source from the Keiser library databases except for encyclopedias

MLK

In April 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested for participating in a planned non-violent civil rights campaign in Birmingham, Alabama. Local clergy had criticized the movement and King's involvement in it. In Letter from a Birmingham Jail , King discusses his views on civil rights, the role of the church, and his involvement in non-violent protest.

Read the letter.

You can also listen to the letter while you're viewing it online. Click this link to listen to it , and open another tab to view the letter at the same time.

In your first paragraph, summarize what King's major points are in the letter. Consider:

What was the purpose of the Letter from a Birmingham Jail?

Why was King more troubled by the White moderate than the KKK?

What does King view as the reason for law and order, and how is that different from how the white moderate was viewing it?

What is King suggesting by acts of civil disobedience, and what does this involve? Can it be considered legal action?

Can this type of non-violent campaign be successful?

In your second paragraph, address how King's main ideas in his letter could be applied to today:

What are some modern-day civil rights struggles?

How do the points in his letter relate to modern-day civil rights struggles?

If King lived in this era, what would he be saying about these movements and regular people's responses to them?