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Analyzing dr martin luther king speech
Analysis of dr martin luther king speech
Martin luther king jr speech summary
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Power Analysis Exercise Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., gave one of the most powerful persuasive speeches of the 1960’s if not ever called “I Have a Dream”. King is an influential, educated black man who spoke in front of the Lincoln Memorial which is only fitting considering who his audience is and who he is mostly speaking to or persuading. He spoke to black and white, male and female, some who agreed and some who may not. The key point here is King knows the psychology of persuasion and pulls it off with ease. Here “it occurs in a situation where two or more points of view exist.” (Lucas 2014, p307). In his speech, he has a dream. He wants freedom for all. Reverend King’s figurative language is backed up all throughout this powerful descriptive …show more content…
speech. Lucas describes it as, “reinforced ideas within a speech, but it is too ambiguous for a specific purpose statement.” (Lucas 2014, p 85).
King refers to the Declaration of Independence as a “promissory note”, never have I heard it described quite that way. He continues to state, “All men, yes black men, as well as white men, be guaranteed the malleable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” (King 1963). As I am watching his historical speech, I am wondering did he have any idea what impact this speech would have on people, nevertheless, the impact 50 plus years later. Watching and listening to his voice, he has mastered everything Lucas instructs us to do per our textbook to perform a sensational speech. His volume is a little louder at times to get his intensity and passion of his dream across to the audience. His pitch is pleasing. He does have some inflections in his pitch, however, this keeps your attention. His rate is steady and his pauses are planned. The moment he pauses, he almost always looks up into the …show more content…
crowd which is captivating. The best example of vocal variety is during his conclusion, where King repeats “I have a Dream” over and over, his voice elevates with extreme intensity, power, and passion. The whole time the audience feels his passion while giving this speech. His pronunciation is clear. This shows how educated and skilled he is in the art of speech or because he has preached for years, he has had numerous years of practice speaking before a large audience.
I like Lucas’s descriptive words about articulation, “Sloppy articulation is the failure to form particular speech sounds crisply and distinctly.” (Lucas 2014, p 246). King does not have a problem articulating any of his words. Dialect is what King has mastered the most overall the other things listed. He has overcome his southern accent and how most black men were raised in that era which is amazing within itself. I am in awe of how he mesmerized me and his audience and millions after the fact and continues to do so after his death. Do we really grasp the fact that anyone of us could perform a speech like this one day and it lives on beyond us? It makes me strive to think more about what I need to say in my speeches. I want to make them meaningful. Words are important whether we write them or speak them, we should as believers be more intentional in all things. Another thing that is important during the speech process is the speaker’s body; personal appearance, movement, gestures, and eye contact. King’s appearance is sharp, crisp, and clean. He is very dapper. He really did not have much movement or gestures, but he had good eye contact, especially when he was repeating “I have a dream” at the
end, He looked up a lot. I want to say it was mostly memorized at the end, however, I felt the passion as he spoke, that was from the heart! As he repeated these words over and over it did build a persuasive power, I could feel it today. What awesome passion he has!! I personally believe that Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. has influence from being a preacher in his use of language and to contribute to his persuasive skills. First, it is a God given gift and he used it for God’s honor and glory and it is still being used after his death! Second, he has had multiple years to practice in persuasion from behind the pulpit to persuade the lost to become saved. Third, the more you speak in public the more confident, the less nervous, the better your vocal variety, pronunciation, articulation, and dialect will become and you will eventually be successful at giving speeches like Reverend King has shown us.
In the "Letter from a Birmingham Jail", Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. responds to an article by eight clergymen, in which he explains the racial injustice in Birmingham, and reasons why King's organization is protesting for Civil Rights. He introduces himself and his actions at the beginning of his letter. He states that the purpose of his direct action protest is to open the door for negotiation on the Civil Rights. He tries to convince his audience by providing evidence in order to gain his audience to be involved in his movement and support him. He also highlights police actions against nonviolent Negros and crimes against humanity in Birmingham city jail.
Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, was well known for his nonviolent movement to bring justice and to an end to the segregation of the people in the United States back in the 1950s. With King being the leader of a peaceful protest, it failed to bring equally to the colored people. Martin Luther King, Jr. was labeled as an “outsider” who was “hatred and violence” and that his actions were “unwise and untimely” from the Public Statement by Eight Alabama Clergymen (clergymen). In response, on the day of April 16, 1963, he wrote the Letter from Birmingham Jail to declare and defense his movement was not “unwise and untimely” at all. To analyze his points, King used the powerful literary devices of pathos- use of an emotional appeal.ethos-
King also uses another very powerful speaking style; irony. He uses this when he talks about when he was at a book signing, and a woman came up to him and stabbed him in the chest. He was rushed to the hospital only to find out that the tip of the knife was on his aorta, and if it were to be punctured, he easily could have died. While he was in the hospital, he got letters from people all over the country-all over the world and this is what he said, “ I had received one from the President and the Vice-President. I've forgotten what those telegrams said. I'd received a visit and a letter from the Governor of New York, but I've forgotten what that letter said. But there was another letter that came from a little girl, a young girl who was a student at the White Plains High School. And I looked at that letter, and I'll never forget it.”(King 1). Although he had received a letter from the President...he only remembers what the little girl wrote to him. This shows how much he cares for rights and equality to all. His use of irony in this way again, brings more power to the speech- and shows the crowd that anyone- even that little girl from high school, has the power to make a difference and to make their
In King's Letter, he clearly states his views and beliefs to not only stand up for himself, but also to stand up for equality and justice for all. His actions also show his commitment to his belief. King later goes on to tell how he was going to achieve his goal. He states that he will be doing it in a non-violent manner which was influenced by Mahatma Ghandi. He also says that this will be done in a well-thought-out, civilized manner. Next, he begins to show them some of the actions that the police force took, such as letting dogs loose on the people and their harsh treatment of the people. Dr. King states that he saw the dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes. They refused the give them food because they wanted to sing
Martin Luther King Jr’s most compelling point was that every person has the same rights
Dr. King brilliantly weaves so many subtleties into such a relatively short speech that almost 50 years later it still must be analyzed to no end. Dr. King was a southern Baptist preacher before he was sucked into the leading role of the civil rights movement, I’m sure that had a great effect on his ability to give a speech. Dr. King knew just what to say, when to say it, and how to say it. From this we can see Dr. King’s lasting effect, and the fact that although we have come far in the area of civil rights, we still have a long way to go and it will be Dr. King’s timeless words that usher us into a new era of prosperity and brotherhood.
On August 28, 1963, the legendary Martin Luther King Jr. gave his empowering speech, demanding equality among the African American and white race, and the injustices that have proved the conditions unequal between the two races. In his speech, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. uses many rhetorical devices to convey the idea that whites have brutally mistreated blacks for hundreds of years, even though, as a group, they have paved the nation, laying the foreground of the United States.
Dr. King uses ethos, logos, and pathos effectively throughout his letter to address a large audience. He intertwines the three rhetorical strategies seamlessly to support his argument. Although Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has his critics in the clergy who argue against his civil rights demonstrations in Birmingham, he effectively uses all three types of rhetorical strategies to effective persuade his critics by explaining why his actions are just and timely in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”
Overall, Martin Luther King’s purpose of this speech was to unite African Americans and Caucasians to fight together for the same cause, equal rights for all people no matter the color of their skin. To successfully convey this purpose, King employed several tools of persuasion in his speech. He did indeed present an example of what could qualify as the "greatest demonstration" of arguments for true freedom for all Americans. He employed the techniques of ethos, pathos and logos with such skill that his audience likely was only aware of a single steering man towards a national unity.
We then get to the area the speech was being held and we see a statue of Abraham Lincoln sitting in a chair with Martin Luther King Jr. standing in front of it. When he began his speech King was monotone in voice and stature. There was no emotion showing through the beginning stages of his speech. He made little to no eye contact with people during the beginning parts of the speech, and he seemed tired, dim but not defeated. The more in depth he got into it the more emotions he started getting out, he spoke with passion when it came to certain parts. This happened mainly on the section s of how slavery was affecting their lives. He could not get out certain words, choking on raw emotion that would come upon him emotionally or when he saw the looks on people’s faces. He almost could not believe, looking out over the vast crowds that the movement was even going to be a thing at all. That his words were meaning
From time immemorial, the promoters of social justice utilize rhetorical strategies to persuade theirs opponents of theirs claims. The proponents of the movement for civil rights for African Americans have made an intensive use of those strategies to advocate their cause. On April 16, 1963, from the jail of Birmingham, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote an extensive missive to eight clergymen who had attacked his work for civil rights in a public statement released on April 12, 1963. Martin Luther King, Jr. primarily aimed this letter at those eight leaders of the white Church of the South. However, the eight clergymen's letter and the response from Martin Luther King, Jr. were publicly published. Martin Luther King, Jr. wanted to convince of the utility of his commitment in this particular area at this specific moment. To persuade his readers, Martin Luther King, Jr. predominantly employs Aristotle's three types of persuasion that are appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos. First, he appeals to his own reputation and wisdom. Second, he tries to arouse emotions or sympathy in the readers. Finally, he appeals to logic, supported with evidence and citations from influential thinkers.
Martin Luther King did not know that his “I Have a Dream” speech would still be iconic 50 years later. In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington. He was facing the problem of racial injustice for himself and everyone like him. He needed to create a speech that everyone could and would understand, could learn from, and could draw inspiration from. He had to address blacks and whites, he had to say things that everyone could relate to and he had speak in a way that he get the
On August 28th, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. gave one of the most notable speeches in American history, at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. King started off his famous “I Have a Dream” speech by stating the impact it would have on America’s civil rights movement: “I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation” (King 1). With knowledge of rhetoric and persuasion, King had a substantial impact on the civil rights movement. Martin Luther King Jr.’s use of ethos, pathos, and logos appeals enable King to persuade the audience to achieve equality.
In his speech, King uses different types of rhetorical guidelines. He uses them to show his points in a better and easier way to understand .At the beginning he successfully uses a mythos. A mythos has a deep explanatory or symbolic resonance for the audience. In mentioning the Emancipation Proclamation he shows that our ancestors signed a contract, in which all human beings are created equal, and therefore should be treated in the same way as others. He also visualizes his ideas with visual examples, which everybody can understand. “America has given the black population a bad check, which has come back marked insufficient funds”( I Have a Dream)
...message and purpose of the speech. The speech has great impact on people generation after generation. Dr. King’s speech is powerful and passionate. King's speech is for all Americans. The speech carries a message of hope and promise for freedom and equal justice. The goal of King’s speech is to end racial discrimination. He hope for the better future and unity between two races. “... little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers” (King). Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech has a positive influence on America because of the powerful messages it contains.