Rhetorical Analysis Of I Have Dream In Washington D. C.

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The mid 1900s was an extremely troublesome time for African Americans. They weren’t viewed or treated equivalently to white Americans due to the color of their skin. There were laws known as Jim Crow Laws that enforced segregation, “separate but equal”, African Americans had separate water fountains, restaurants, schools and so much more from white Americans. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Civil Rights activist who fought against Jim Crow Laws and for equality and justice for everybody. On August 28, 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. presented his iconic well-known speech, “I Have Dream” in Washington D.C. This speech was addressed over forty years ago and it is still relevant to this day and will live on for generations. His purpose was to command …show more content…

In the beginning of King’s speech, he starts off with, “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation.” This reinforces his ethos because it alludes to the famous and remarkable Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” which was a speech given after the battle. Using Lincoln’s language invoked his credibility and convinced the audience that are against his vision. He knew that many people supported Lincoln’s message and he wanted that same support, it’s also significant because King delivers his speech at the Lincoln Memorial. Instead of King saying ”I” throughout the speech he says “we” this created a trust between the audience and him so they know he’s reliable and this also gets people to come together as one because the audience is full of people from different backgrounds. He cites powerful points from the Declaration of Independence,” This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." He’s appealing to authority and stating how the government breaks their promise to the American people. They have neglected their duty to ALL people. Many Americans stand with the Declaration of Independence and the …show more content…

King wasn’t trying to persuade the people with mainly facts because he knew that the most effective principles would be showing his reliability and appealing to people’s emotional states. The organization of his speech depicts logic, King begins by referring to history. He expresses how African Americans experienced injustice and then ends the speech with hope by illustrating the dream of a fairer future of racial integration and tranquility. King also uses an analogy, “It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." Money is something everyone can relate to because it’s a necessity in life. He knew that using this analogy would be an easy way for ALL people to grasp what African Americans faced, a sense of reasoning. Another example of logos is used when King says, "One hundred years later the negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the negro is still crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. He used repetition on the phrase, "one hundred years later" to demonstrate that African Americans have not be equal to White Americans for 100 years even when the Emancipation proclamation was

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