More handpicked essays just for you.
History grade 12 civil rights movement
History easy The civil rights movement
Grade 12 history essay civil rights movement
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Civil Rights Essay One of the darkest times in American history includes the time of slavery. Injustice, rights of men, the thought of being “equal,” was all questioned during the time of slavery. The fight for freedom became the main goal of African Americans, to help them with this fight for freedom were three activists. The three activists included; Minister Martin Luther King, and younger activists, Malcolm X, and Stokely Carmichael. These civil right activists all had one goal in mind; equality and fair treatment for black people. While all three activists shared this common goal, their means of achieving it differed. In Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and Stokely Carmichael’s speech different rhetorical strategies and appeals were used …show more content…
In both speeches rhetorical appeals were used. In the speech “I have a dream, “pathos was used to connect emotionally with his audience. Blacks are described as being “crippled” by the “manacles of segregation” and “chains of discrimination.” The use of such diction, possess an emotional tone causing pathos. The use of these words make the audience think that blacks are being punished for some crime they committed, but the “crime” is just the fact that they are black. King states while everyone in the world are in an “ocean of material prosperity,” blacks are on a “lonely island of poverty.” This …show more content…
In the speech “the ballot or the bullet,” Malcom uses logos stating “If they draft you, they send you to Korea and make you face 800 million Chinese. If you can be brave over there, you can be brave right here. These odds aren't as great as those odds. And if you fight here, you will at least know what you're fighting for." This like an eye opener to the audience persuading them to fight for freedom. Malcolm also states: "We're not even as far up as we were in 1954. We're behind where we were in 1954. There's more segregation now than there was in 1954. There's more racial animosity, more racial hatred, more racial violence today in 1964, than there was in 1954. Where is the progress?" This tells the audience it is time for a change because what we have been doing is obviously not working. He says all of this in hopes that people will take the initiative and fight back for what they want.” If violence is wrong in America, violence is wrong abroad. If it is wrong to be violent defending black women and black children and black babies and black men, then it is wrong for America to draft us and make us violent abroad in defense of her.” The use of logos here is explaining to his audience why violence
Achieving Racial Equality On April 12th, 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. was leading a peaceful protest in the city of Birmingham, Alabama that resulted in him being arrested and jailed. Later that day, eight clergymen responded with the statement “A Call For Unity” in The Birmingham News requesting he ends all of his protests. A few days later, King created a response to the statement in the form of an open letter. In this letter, Martin Luther King Jr. develops a well-proposed argument in response to the eight clergymen who published the statement. Throughout the letter, King uses rhetorical appeal in order to give the viewer a sense of King’s credibility, his emotions, and also his logic on why he does what he does.
Dr. King is an emotional, inspiring, and strong speaker. His " I Have A Dream" speech tugs a deep root war of emotions in every American’s heart; therefore, this speech is the perfect display of pathos. Even though pathos overwhelm logo and ethos, they are also very much present in his speech. On August 28, 1963 Dr. King made his way to Washington Mall from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial to deliver his speech to his fellow Americans. Dr. King commands his speech during an ironic time in American history.
king also stated, “whatever affects one indirectly, affects all indirectly.” Dr. King is trying to explain here is, what affects one incidentally will affect everything else no matter what your position or level is. Dr king stated “in any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action. We have gone through all these steps in Birmingham.” Dr king gives a better explanation on logos. here we see the meaning and steps of logos. Dr king portrayed through his words and actions. He portrays that there is a way of persuading the audience by
In the 1960s, the nation was faced tumultuous times. There was racial tension between the white citizens and black citizens of America. Whites could not understand why the African Americans were so upset; they had their freedom from slavery and job opportunities. However, the African American was dissatisfied with the small crumbs of God given rights that all American citizens were entitled to. Two men propelled to the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement as leaders; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. Their agenda was to seek equal rights for all Americans. But both men differ on the approaches needed to reach these goals; one believed using nonviolence was the answer while the other advocated violence Many people argue that the
King uses the phrase "I have a dream today," twice in his own paragraph. This statement was probably spoken with great emphasis since it gave the listeners the desire to change "today" instead of continuing to be discriminated against. Martin Luther King's speech could very well have been titled something else, but because of his use of anaphora which strongly emphasized these words, it earned itself the title "I Have a Dream." Martin Luther King's use of alluding to other historic documents, which also deal with equality issues, helped his speech reach the listener. These allusions were probably geared more towards the white listeners than it was towards the black because it provided textual evidence from past documents which stated that all men were created equal and all people should have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Speeches are a method of persuading people to do something. For Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, their speeches were to bring equality for the people of color. However, their approaches are different. Consequently, the effects may be different. An example of their contrasting differences is a speech from each, King’s “I Have a Dream” and X’s “The Black Revolution”. Their speeches used pathos, a central metaphor, and a warning, but was presented differently.
There are many similarities between I Have a Dream and the Letter from Birmingham Jail. Both of the pieces have many rhetorical appeals in common, whether it is pathos, logos, ethos or even repetition. In the speech, “I Have a Dream”, one pathos part that had stand out the most was, “ I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character”. This quote is so emotional because it was not about what King wanted for himself but for his children, it also stand out because it make the audience thinks about their children and how they wouldn’t want their kids going through what they was going through, which makes it even more important to put end to racism. In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, one pathos part that stand out was when King said, “For there is the more excellent way...
The 20th century was a definitive time period for the Black civil rights movement. An era where the status quo was blatant hatred and oppression of African Americans, a time when a black son would watch his father suffer the indignity of being called a “boy” by a young white kid and say nothing in reply but “yes sir”. Where a Black person can be whipped or lynched for anything as little as not getting off the sidewalk when approaching a white person, for looking into their eyes, or worse, “for committing the unpardonable crime of attempting to vote.” In the midst of the racial crises and fight for social equality were Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. who despite their difference in philosophies were “icons of social justice movement both in the United States and around the world” .
In King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, he uses rhetorical strategies to capture his audience and to keep their attention as well. One style that Dr. King used when he delivered his speech was Ethos, which is establishing his own credibility to
Thought the 1950s and 1960s, the tension between those who agreed and disagreed with segregation and discrimination of African Americans increased. The African American community was sick and tired of just being pushed around, so they began to stand up for themselves. Many people didn’t warm up to this idea, but, due to the many inspiring speeches given throughout the movement by Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and others, they started to involve themselves in the movement. Two of those speeches were “Message to the Grassroots” by Malcolm X and “I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King. Even though both people had very different view on how this movement should have been like, they used similar rhetorical techniques in there speeches as a way to
King conveys his audience by the type of context he uses. He chooses the best time frame to speak, it wasn’t too early, and it wasn’t too late. People were ready to listen and see what the future had in store. King uses many methods to connect to his audience, but he uses over 60 metaphors that were easily related to so people could relate and understand. The “I Have a Dream” made the speech more welcoming because he wasn’t trying to demand something, he was just saying what the ideal situation would be and what he wishes it would be. Throughout the speech, King deftly repeats key phrases, including "Let freedom ring" and "I have a dream." Though in some situations using the same words and phrases would be considered “redundant”, in this speech, it is used to emphasize and get the point across to the listeners.
King continues with his letter, he is able to continuously use pathos to appeal to the emotions of his audience. In another example, Dr. King explains “You warmly commended the Birmingham police force for keeping ‘order’ and ‘preventing violence.’ I doubt that you would have so warmly commended the police force if you had seen its dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes. I doubt that you would so quickly commend the policeman if you were to observe their ugly and inhumane treatment of Negroes here in the city jail” (608). This is another effective way to persuade his audience since his audience has commended the Birmingham Police Department for the way they handled the peaceful protests in a non-violent manner, but they were not made aware of the violent and hostile tactics the police department used when they had the opportunity. On a human level alone, one can not advocate for the use of force when it comes to the treatment of peaceful protestors. Not to mention that these clergymen are commending an organization that they believed handled the manner appropriately, just to realize that they were wrong about that belief. This is an effective way to evoke emotion from his audience yet again. Dr. King’s continuous use of pathos effectively appealed to the emotion of the clergymen, and he continued his argument by using logos to further cement his
Nearly three centuries ago, black men and women from Africa were brought to America and put into slavery. They were treated more cruelly in the United States than in any other country that had practiced slavery. African Americans didn’t gain their freedom until after the Civil War, nearly one-hundred years later. Even though African Americans were freed and the constitution was amended to guarantee racial equality, they were still not treated the same as whites and were thought of as second class citizens. One man had the right idea on how to change America, Martin Luther King Jr. had the best philosophy for advancing civil rights, he preached nonviolence to express the need for change in America and he united both African Americans and whites together to fight for economic and social equality.
In Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech, King makes use of an innumerable amount of rhetorical devices that augment the overall understanding and flow of the speech. King makes the audience feel an immense amount of emotion due to the outstanding use of pathos in his speech. King also generates a vast use of rhetorical devices including allusion, anaphora, and antithesis. The way that King conducted his speech adds to the understanding and gives the effect that he wants to rise above the injustices of racism and segregation that so many people are subjected to on a daily basis. Throughout King’s speech, he uses the rhetorical mode, pathos, to give the audience an ambience of strong emotions such as sympathy.
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.