Birmingham Reassessment

Why does King write "Letter from Birmingham Jail"? Choose one option.

• to propose a peaceful settlement with the white police force of the city

• to ask for volunteers who are supporters of the civil rights movement

• to make his argument to everyone who will read the letter after its publication

• to accuse the white clergy of Birmingham of secretly supporting black nationalists

According to "Letter from Birmingham Jail", what is the main reason King and his followers are demonstrating and protesting in Birmingham, instead of negotiating with city leaders?

• because King is affiliated with certain organizations in Birmingham

• because King does not trust the white clergy to host fair negotiations

• because a significant political election has just taken place in Birmingham

• because Birmingham failed to keep promises made in earlier negotiations

In "Letter from Birmingham Jail", King cites T. S. Eliot’s observation about doing “the right deed for the wrong reason.” How does Eliot’s observation apply to actions that King describes in his letter?

• It applies to the seventy-two-year-old African American woman who supports the boycott of Montgomery's segregated bus system even though she is tired and oppressed.

• It applies to those Birmingham police officers who use legal, nonviolent means to handle demonstrators in public but do so to maintain the injustice of racial discrimination.

• It applies to the "Negro sit inners and demonstrators" who show amazing discipline in their nonviolent protests, even when they face great provocation.

• It applies to those Birmingham police officers who show restraint in handling the demonstrators in public but treat them very harshly in the privacy of the city jail.

According to "Letter from Birmingham Jail", why is King “so greatly disappointed with the white church and its leadership”?

• King believes that the leaders have become entirely absorbed in secular rather than religious concerns.

• King believes that the leaders have not stood up boldly in support of civil rights.

• King believes that the church has nothing relevant to offer to the youth of the 1960s.

• King believes that the church has stolen and misused donations given by its poorest parishioners.

Which of the following situations best illustrates the meaning of yearning?

• taking a break from work to get a breath of fresh air outdoors

• picking up speed in a race when the finish line comes into view

• wishing for signs of springtime during the depths of an icy winter

• celebrating an achievement that represents long and patient effort

In Letter from Birmingham Jail, King expresses discontent with the “moderates” who sympathize with but take no part in the civil rights struggle, saying:           

Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

Which statement best explains why King would rather face outright opposition than “lukewarm acceptance”?

• He believes that those who oppose the movement may persuade the moderates to join them.

• He believes that as long as the moderates stand passively aside, conditions cannot improve.

• He believes that because opposition is violent, it does much more harm than passive acceptance.

• He believes that moderates who play no active role in the movement are secretly working against it.

Read this sentence from Letter from Birmingham Jail:     

     

[T]here are two types of laws: just and unjust.

Which statement best describes the distinction King draws, in the letter, between two types of laws?

• Just laws are rooted in universal principles of fairness, while unjust laws are not.

• Just laws vary in harshness according to circumstances, while unjust laws do not.

• Just laws can realistically be enforced in actual life, while unjust laws cannot.

• Just laws apply to deep-seated human prejudices, while unjust laws do not.

Near the end of Letter from Birmingham Jail, King says, “I have no despair about the future. I have no fear about the outcome of our struggle. . . .” Which statement best explains why King feels so certain of ultimate victory?

• He senses that allies in other nations will soon rally to the cause of civil rights.

• He knows that the civil rights movement is better funded than those who oppose them.

• He knows that the size of the movement ensures that it can elect candidates who will abolish segregation.

• He believes that he and his followers are stronger than those who oppose them.

Which excerpt from Letter from Birmingham Jail best supports the answer to Part A?

• Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity.

• For more than two centuries our forebears labored in this country without wages . . . and yet out of a bottomless vitality they continued to thrive and develop. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail.

• Their witness has been the spiritual salt that has preserved the true meaning of the gospel in these troubled times. They have carved a tunnel of hope through the dark mountain of disappointment.

Which of the following sentences from "Letter from Birmingham Jail" is an example of antithesis?

• My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking.

• We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

• One of the basic points in your statement is that the action that I and my associates have taken in Birmingham is untimely.

• My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure.