Before defending direct action, King answers the charge that he is an outsider. What does that opening move accomplish?

King names four steps in a nonviolent campaign before describing Birmingham. Why put that sequence first?

King says direct action seeks to “create such a crisis and establish such creative tension.” What is the function of that tension?

King explains that the campaign was postponed during Birmingham’s mayoral election and runoff. What charge does that answer?

After asking how one can break some laws and obey others, why does King distinguish just from unjust laws?

Why does King turn from the Ku Klux Klanner and White Citizens’ Counciler to criticize the white moderate?

Near the end, King apologizes if his words overstate or understate the truth but keeps his central claims. What does that closing do?

When King identifies himself as SCLC president, notes a local invitation, and writes as a minister, which rhetorical appeal is strongest?

King’s long answer to “wait” includes a daughter being told she cannot go to an amusement park. What appeal does that moment chiefly create?

In the “when you have seen...” sentence, King repeats the same opening again and again. What device is he using?

King compares nonviolent tension to Socrates creating tension in the mind. What device is that reference?

King defines just and unjust laws through moral standards and examples. Which appeal does this reasoning mainly build?

King invokes the prophets and the Apostle Paul leaving their homes. How does that help his reply to being called an outsider?

“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” What device shapes this line?

To whom is King directly replying in the letter?

Although addressed to the clergymen, why does the letter also read as public argument?

What is King’s central purpose in answering the clergymen’s statement?

What occasion gives the letter its immediate setting?

Why does King address the men as “fellow clergymen” while challenging them?

Which evidence best supports King’s claim that Birmingham is deeply unjust?

King begins by recognizing the clergymen as sincere men of good will. What does that concession achieve?

King says he is not afraid of tension but means constructive, nonviolent tension. What distinction is he making?

King says the white moderate “paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom.” What does King reject in this line?

In King’s contrast, what does “negative peace” mean?

In King’s argument, what makes a law “unjust”?