During the mid-20th Century, racism was a huge issue in the United States, the most prominently discriminated against being African-Americans. Although all blacks were supposed to be free as mandated by the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, under a corrupt law system, blacks lost many of their civil rights. Because of this, blacks decided to change the system and multiple civil rights activists and groups appeared with this mission. The most notable activist of them was Martin Luther King Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Throughout the 1960s, King engaged in a plethora of civil rights boycotts and protests, helping to further the movement. At his climax, King gave the “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of …show more content…
It struck directly into the hearts of blacks across America, made whites ashamed of their actions and ready to create a new racially equal society. In just 17 minutes, King influenced and informed the generations upon generations of people about racial equality and discrimination. According to seemingly endless scholars, King’s speech is a “masterpiece of rhetoric”. King carefully structures his speech to appeal to the different types of audiences, supporting it with the three rhetorical modes of ethos, pathos and logos marking King’s name in …show more content…
The speech’s structure is intended to appeal to the three types of audiences most likely to be listening to King’s speech – the average blacks who are discriminated against, the average whites who discriminate, and militant blacks. In the first part of his speech, King carefully paints a picture of the plight of the normal African-American. In the start of the essay, King states that the life of the blacks is “crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination” and that the blacks are living on a “lonely island of poverty” in a “vast ocean of material prosperity.” This forces whites into the shoes of blacks, seeing their own actions and inducing remorse for their trespasses. Later, near the end of his speech, King continues to “preach” this point, by stating that he has a dream that “little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.” Through this, King intends to say that the majority of the civil rights movement does not support the black militants and that the movement is intent on reaching their goals nonviolently. This also makes whites uncomfortable, causing them to think how the blacks are not really the savages they think they are and are instead dignified, honorable people who continue to endure all the cruelty whites have thrown at them.
King proceeds to the latter part of his speech by declaring the need for peaceful resistance. His analogies of man “carving highways of death in the stratosphere” (3) and how non peaceful defiance will contribute to “a civilization plunged into the abyss of annihilation” (3) soundly depicts his ideals of how African Americans should reach true freedom and equality only through pacifism. He mandates this passiveness in order to bring about change insightfully because his goal is not to wage war against their oppressors but to defeat the evil sentiment held by the nation. King’s remarkable aptitude and brilliant intuition in his dialogue enables the reader to appreciate and concede to his ideals.
Alleged by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his “I Have A Dream” speech on August 28, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. Dr. King said “This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. Meaning there shall be equality between one another. Dr. King grew up around pastors in a Baptist Church, so when he gave his speeches he sounded like a preacher. He was a well-educated person who graduated from Boston University and received his Doctorate degree. Plus he was a strong worker for civil rights for members of his race. Being a strong worker and having knowledge of civil rights made him more of a confident and convincing speaker. Therefore, In Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, he pointed out to African Americans, that in the near future the African Americans would have equal rights and liberty like all the other Caucasians have. In this speech I have found Dr. King using logos, ethos, and pathos to get his attention across about equality and to make his speech sound more effective. Out of the three rhetorical appeals I have found that Dr. King used ethos the most predominately followed by the second most effective, pathos, and how King is a convincing speaker to his audience.
In a period of time where few were willing to listen, Martin Luther King, Jr. stood proudly, gathered and held the attention of over 200,000 people. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech was very effective and motivational for African Americans in 1963. Many factors affected Kings’ speech in a very positive manner; the great emotion behind the words, delivering the speech on the steps of the memorial of the President who defeated slavery. And not only was this message beautifully written for the hope of African Americans, but the underlying message for white people, revolution and peace. To stimulate emotion from both parties of his listeners, King used a selection of rhetorical devices such as allusions to historical documents, metaphors, similes, anaphoras and others.
saw racism in his community and felt stirred to act against it. In 1955, when Rosa Parks didn’t give up her seat on the bus for a white passenger and was arrested, King made the decision to organize a boycott against bus transportation. Throughout the 1960’s he became a civil rights activist, participating in multiple boycotts and riots against the mistreatment of blacks. The issue of racism in the mid-twentieth century played a monumental role in Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963, as seen in Source B. The words and meaning in “I Have a Dream” had a progressive impact on the American people and the indeed the world, as it inspired both empathy and hope. This motivational speech provided black activists with a clear vision of racial equality all over the world. Martin Luther King Jr. was a strong political and religious presence that changed many people’s lives, however, it also made him a target and he was sad, assassinated at the young age of 39-years. King spoke out for what he believed was right and promoted equality amongst black and white people in America. Martin Luther King will be remembered as a great leader, who lived and died doing what he believed
First and for most, King devoted himself to the idea of “non-violent non-cooperation,” peaceful protest and no violence toward law enforcement or any one. The most influential act that one single civil rights activist preformed was the famous march on Washington for jobs. The march took place on August 28, 1963. It claimed the title of the largest civil rights convention/rally in history. It attracted upwards of 200,000 people, and needed nearly 300,000 police to control the passionate crowed. It was here that King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech upon the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Among other things, the speech promoted peace and love between all races and religions, as well as economic rights for minorities, African Americans in particular. The positivity and the extreme desire for equal treatment is an appeal to logos for most of the population. This initial act serves as the first major advancement of civil rights simply due to the sheer size of participants it attracted, as well as the mass amounts of media attention it received. With these peaceful interactions taking place, Kings ideologies become more and more universally accepted by the general public. It was estimated that nearly 80 percent of the attendees were of African American decent. This is was crucial because this was the first time the Black community had been united since the end of the civil war. This unionization of the Black community continued to snow ball as King took his campaign for peace to the south.
Just under 17 minutes, King influenced the generations and generations of people about his dream for America’s future and planted seeds of anti-racism and racial equality in them. King has employed three rhetorical elements of ethos, pathos and logos which are reinforced with metaphors in his ground-breaking speech.
Dr. King produced many popular and powerful pieces throughout the Civil Rights Movement. Also King led many demonstrations against the Jim Crow Laws.While reading “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and The Drum Major Instinct Speech, I analyzed the different uses of the rhetorical strategies Dr. King used in his writings. Dr. King uses rhetorical strategies to promote racial uplift and social change.
From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial more than two score years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King electrified America with his momentous "I Have a Dream" speech. Aimed at the entire nation, King’s main purpose in this speech was to convince his audience to demand racial justice towards the mistreated African Americans and to stand up together for the rights afforded to all under the Constitution. To further convey this purpose more effectively, King cleverly makes use of the rhetorical devices — ethos, pathos and logos — using figurative language such as metaphors and repetition as well as various other techniques e.g. organization, parallel construction and choice of title.
On August 28th, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a speech to more than 200,000 people during the March on Washington. King's speech was one of the most influential during the era of the Civil Rights Movement and is to this day recognized as a masterpiece due to its effect on the audience as well as for its eloquence and language. Many components went into this passionate speech that portrayed King's hopes for racial equality and a brighter future made the speech as moving as it was. It is doubtful that any person can guess that this speech was written without forethought regarding what goals King wished to accomplish in this speech. Martin Luther King Jr.'s eloquent language was perfectly suited to his audience, both his immediate and secondary audience, and his carefully chosen diction helped to shape arguable one of the most touching works ever spoken.
We may compare this to what we read before in “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” If we look at the situation that King was facing at that time, we can see a stark similarity. The people of America had been conditioned to believe that black people did not deserve the same rights as white people. They were conditioned to believe that black people were less than white people. King points this out in his writing, and he points out that the people have conformed to something that they should already know is not right. He points out the hypocrisy of adhering to
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)
King peacefully pleads for racial tolerance and the end of segregation by appealing to the better side of white Americans. His attempt to persuade America about the justice of his cause, and to gain support for the civil rights movement was emotionally moving. He spoke to all races, but his rhetoric was patriotic, and culturally similar to, and focused on African-Americans. He was able to make practical use of a history many Americans are proud of. The use of repetition reinforced his words making it simpler and more straightforward to follow. His speech remains powerful because it is still relevant today, like economic injustices and stereotyping. This reading can be applied to remedying current issues of stereotyping, racism, and discrimination by changing white racial resentment and eliminating racial
Throughout King’s speech, he uses the rhetorical mode, pathos, to give the audience an ambience of strong emotions such as sympathy. For example, whites had sympathy for African Americans and parents had sympathy for their children. The way that King tells his speech takes the focus off of race and reestablishes it on the aspiration of a world without racism. “…by making his audience no longer hate Negroes and instead hate racism and wish for a new, better world…” (L., Anson). Dr. King made the audience sympathize with African Americans, helping the audience realize that racist people and bias ideas caused the true dilemma of discrimination. Through making the audience realize this, he also gave them hope for a world reborn without racism, without segregation, without discrimination, and without hate. King wanted his children to live in a world without judgment of race, but with the consideration of personality, for nobody should not endure judgment because of the way that they look. He spoke of his own children, which introduced a reinforced emotional attachment to the audience; this gave many parents a scenario to relate to because no parent wants ...
On August 28, 1963 more than 250,000 civil-rights supporters attended the March on Washington. Addressing the protesters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Profoundly, he proclaimed for a free nation of equality where all race would join together in the effort to achieve common ground. King stated his yearning for all colors to unite and be judged by character, not by race. African Americans would not be satisfied until their desire for freedom from persecution, bitterness, and hatred prevailed. Not only were the points in his speech powerful, but also the delivery he gave was so persuading and real that it changed the hearts of many people across America. By using four artificial proofs, mythos, logos, ethos, and pathos, Martin Luther King was able to open the eyes of people who were blinded by the color of skin.
King begins his speech by referencing important historical documents such as the Constitution of the United States and the Emancipation Proclamation. This is emphasized when he states, ”Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation...But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free”. Which shows how even though the Emancipation Proclamation freed the African Americans from slavery, they still are not free because of segregation. He then transitions to the injustice and suffering that the African Americans face. He makes this