Letter From Birmingham Jail

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the below bulleted outlines. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. In response to living in a segregated US society, King affirms that supporting The Interrelatedness of All Humanity should be the most important goal for institutions, including churches. 

• What is the “white church’s” response to segregation in general? (topic sentence)
• Provide examples from the text to support your answer and discuss evidence of King’s tone on the topic.
• In your concluding sentences, briefly sum up what King says the “white church” can do better to support The Interrelatedness of All Humanity.

2. King references the church’s changing role in relation to political and societal issues throughout history.

• How has the relationship between Politics and the Church changed over time? (topic sentence)
• Discuss the examples King uses in his letter that support your topic sentence.