Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" serves as an exemplar for a mini-lesson on semicolons. Working alone or in small groups, class members first circle all the semicolons in the letter, and then consider how this punctuation impacts the meaning of the letter.  The essential question is in each instance, why did King use a semicolon instead of a period or comma?

Concepts

punctuation, martin luther king jr., the civil rights movement

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Additional Tags

letter from birmingham jail, punctuation, dr. martin luther king jr, english language arts

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Pros

• A link to what is considered the definitive text of King's speech is provided
• A shorter passage from the letter is included in the resource
• Discussion questions are included
• An interesting way to include punctuation study into a lesson on the letter

Cons

• Integrate the exercise into a broader study of the letter and its context

Common Core

RI.11-12.10a W.11-12.5 L.11-12.2.a