Martin Luther King Rhetoric

The Power of Rhetoric and the Civil Rights Movement The United States of America exhibited a scene of both racial stress and conflict during the mid to late 1900’s. However, certain characters decided to defy and alter such injustices. One of these characters included Martin Luther King Jr. Through the power of literature and his effective use of rhetoric, he was able to rise to national prominence. Doctor Martin Luther King Jr., in his speech titled “I Have a Dream” effectively utilized rhetorical devices that further fostered the impact of his speech.

Anaphora, being the repetition of a similar word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses, was a device consistently used throughout “I Have A Dream”. This use of repetition highlighted both the urgency of the words and

One example of such emphasis and personification is found in the following statement derived from the esteemed “I Have A Dream” declaration: “Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.” The personification that is facilitated within the statement compares racism to that of a dark and desolate valley and to quicksand, expressing both the oppressiveness and unstable foundations that racism had instituted during and prior to the Civil Rights movement. In addition, King also compared the idea of racial justice to that of the happiness that is associated with sunlight and to that of a solid rock; which is often associated with the concepts of strong and stable. This further promoted his purpose to decimate the constructs that formed the racial barriers of America (King, “I Have a