Examples Of Ethos In I Have A Dream Speech

On August 28, 1963 thousands of people gathered in Washington, DC during the March on Washington Lincoln Memorial where Dr. Martin Luther King gave the famous “I Have a Dream” speech, which was recognized for assembling supporters of desegregation and prompted the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Dr. King’s speech was tremendously significant during this period and today, because he spoke about the injustices of racism, segregation, and discrimination of African Americans in this nation, which still exist today. Dr. King knew his speech would resonate and serve as a purpose for change in this nation for centuries to come, as he began his speech and said “I am happy to join with you all today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration

One time he used ethos in the sixth paragraph of the speech when he talks about how african americans are not truly free an example of hm saying that is “ One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free. They are not yet freed from the bonds of injustice. They are not yet freed from social and economic oppression. And this Nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free.” this quote uses ethos to talk about how it is unethical that

I Have a Dream - Rhetorical Analysis Inspiration and exuberance were the emotions that people felt as they listened to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s. , “I Have a Dream” speech. The momentous speech was delivered on August 26th, 1968, shocking the world with its influential expression of emotion and implication of social injustice. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. proclaims courage to the civil rights activists as he speaks passionately about the need to end racism.

Analyzing the Strategies of “I Have a Dream” A speech is often used to convey tone in a way a written piece cannot. When writing and giving a speech, a speaker may use certain rhetorical devices and other techniques in order to get a message across to an audience. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, King addresses the social injustices faced by African Americans and minorities in the 1960’s.

In the 1960s the African Americans were freed, but did they really have all the rights they were promised? Racial conflicts were everywhere. Lyndon B. Johnson was current president and was trying to encourage congress to pass a bill called The Voting Rights Act. To influence the vote he gave the speech “We Shall Overcome.” In “We Shall Overcome” President Lyndon Johnson used ethos, pathos, logos, and other rhetorical devices such as allusions, repetition and appeals to authority to persuade congress to pass the act.

I Have A Dream For one hundred years, the negro community has lived under the repression of the majority of the white people. Negro rights had slowly become abolished and ignored for the benefit of the whites. But one brave African American decided to speak above it all, in one famous speech called “I have a dream”. Martin Luther King successfully uses figurative language because the complex metaphors serve to not only explain the injustices that negroes have gone through, but they touch on the white audiences patriotic tendencies from a nonviolent standpoint King’s use of elaborate extended metaphors is effective because it translates the many repeated complaints of black people who have been oppressed, for metaphors that express the same meanings in a fresh, profound way.

The first rhetorical device he uses is repetition, "... the Negro still is not free... the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled…the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty…the Negro is still languished…” This part of his speech is an example of repetition because not only is it repeated. He wants to emphasize this feeling of how the Negros were being treated so others can stand up and help defend their rights.

King makes an allusion of the Declaration of Independence by saying “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (King) furthermore he makes an allusion to the bible “I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted” (King) which comes from Isaiah 40:4-5. King uses metaphors throughout his speech. One example is “America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come backed marked “insufficient funds. ””(King) therefor he is saying that the check was the promise of equality but the government hasn’t given them any equality. Also he compares racial injustice to quicksand.

Martin Luther king was known for stepping forward and speaking up when not many others would. He has great contributions that prove his legacy and how much of a hero he is. The king center.org states, “ in 1963, Dr. King achieved perhaps his most important accomplishment when he helped lead over 200,000 people to the Lincoln Memorial overlooking the Washington Monument. The march was organized by King and groups of civil rights, labor and religious organizations in order to gain civil and economic equality for African-Americans. It was here where King made his historic “I Have a Dream” speech which called for an end to racism.

King Jr. finds a way to emphasize his point by using the stylist technique of repetition. Repetition is used in order to make an idea stand out and show the importance of his words. In the speech in paragraph 9 he talks about how a Negro will never be satisfied. The appeal that was best used was pathos because he is asking for change. He is also expressing his emotions and what his fellow African Americans are feeling.

Baldwin was at the center of the civil rights movement. In 1963 Baldwin assembled a group of Black leaders to meet with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to discuss race relations. Baldwin came to write this book because he wanted to and was able to give a firsthand account of what it was like to be a “Negro” growing up and then living in a “white” America of the 1960s. This book was James Baldwin’s plea to "end the racial nightmare" (p. 156). It is shocking to read this and to realize how little has changed between 1963 and now.

Having experienced the struggle of unaffordable and inaccessible health care, he was able to put himself in others shoes and provide a real solution to the everlasting problem of uninsured health care for African Americans, as well as the residents of America as a whole. President Obama has done so by signing The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, into law on March 23, 2010 (NBC, 2015). Before this health reform was passed, 19% of Americans were not able to afford health insurance (NBC, 2015). This law has significantly impacted the African Americans who lacked health care coverage by providing healthcare for the 8 million African Americans who lacked it (White House, 2015). It was reported that the African American uninsured health coverage rate decreased by 9.2%, therefore providing coverage for 2.3 million adults.

MLK’S Speech How did Martin Luther King’s speech change the world? “I Have a Dream” changed our world because he had many followers and believers. He spoke for people to have rights and to be equal. Not judged for skin tones. People were just people.

Inspiration can be found anywhere, from the littlest of moments to the most memorable human beings. Regardless of how come it is, Martin Luther King Jr. has always been an inspiration to me. MLK has proven himself to nobel, intelligent, and firm in his beliefs. I have always believed that violence is never the answer. MLK help improve the basic rights for African Americans without resorting to violence, instead MLK used nonviolent civil disobedience.

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy” (King, Jr.). Martin Luther King Jr. exceeded this “measure of a man” during his civil rights acts as a strong soldier in a very volatile time. During this time of “challenge and controversy” King made himself heard in his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. In some of his civil rights acts that occurred in Birmingham, resulted in him ending up in jail. During his time in jail, he wrote his also famous “Letter From Birmingham Jail.”