Martin Luther King Jr.: The African-American Civil Rights Movement

Martin Luther King Jr. inexplicably opened the eyes of Americans across the nation with his role in the movement and his use of resonating imagery, excellent emotional appeal, powerful voice, and evocation of logic in his “I Have a Dream” speech. With such an enthralling rhetoric he gained a vast amount of support and exponentially increased the pride in standing up for what’s righteous and just. Exemplifying the throes of being a colored person, King evoked sympathy whilst simultaneously applying the valid logic that no human should be subjected to lesser standards. His rhetoric wholly changed American history that day and thus conveyed his ability to maintain equanimity throughout all of the

On August 28th, 1963 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King held one of the most powerful and influential speeches in human history. The speech was held in front of more than 200 000 people and concerned the injustices of discrimination of African Americans which was taking place in the United States at the time. In his first statement he says: “I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.” With this introduction Mr. King firmly states what the essence of his speech will be.

Civil disobedience is the act of disobeying governmental commands in a peaceful, non-violent, form of protest. Throughout history, peaceful protest have had a positive impact on free society. Peaceful protest have had the biggest impact during the Civil Rights Movement. During this time, many people have led non-violent protest for their rights, including well known African-American Activist, Martin Luther King Jr.. He was most famously known for his speech, I Have a Dream.

“I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”, is the name of the final speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee, at Mason Temple on April, 3, 1968. The speech motivates listeners to fight against social injustice even at the darkest of times, and to push forward until the light can shine through even the darkest of areas. MLK uses imagery, simile, and antithesis to get his points across to the audience without having it obvious and bland. As well as to get the audience to pay more attention and pull them into what is stated.

“Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.” (King). King calms the African Americans who are being oppressed by using the words, “this situation can and will be changed.” and “Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.” which gives them hope that there will be a new day when a change will take place.

On August 28th, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr gave us one of one of the most rhetorically moving speeches ever given. Titled as the “I Have a Dream Speech,” he read this speech to the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom”. As a civil right mover he gave this great speech to all Americans (black and white) so that he could give off the idea of equality on the same level. Because of his crowd of mix races King made sure to make his speech imploring to all no matter what the race that they may be. He uses metaphorical imagery, powerful diction,and symbolism to create an impact on the audience.

1.) Martin Luther King Jr. writes an open letter, which he calls “Letter from Birmingham Jail” to respond to the accusations made about him from clergymen. The letter initiates by King explaining the reasons for his presence in Birmingham and clarifying that he was invited to the city. Next, King defines the steps of a non-violent direct action and provides the reasoning for this approach.

In his "Letter form a Birmingham Jail" and his "I have a Dream speech, Dr. King uses metaphor, repetition and parallel structure to provide visual images which may evoke empathy in the readers and audience and emphasize the ideas he presents: the argument for civil rights and the goal to end segregation. Dr. King was an educated man with moral values in his speech and letter in that order he stated "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 lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity." When we think of quicksand we think of being stuck and dying if we do not get help. Dr. King recognize the

Martin Luther King Jr., a man that led a movement of peace and equality for all walks of life, faced much criticism during his time in Birmingham, Alabama. He was jailed for participating and leading a peaceful protest after a judge ordered that he could not hold a protest in Birmingham. King called Birmingham, “the most thoroughly segregated city in the country”, and that led him to reach out and to bring out the flaws of racial injustice to national attention. These events led up to King composing the historic 1963 essay, Letter from Birmingham City Jail, King’s essay was written on all sorts of paper from the margins of newspaper all the way to paper scraps; however, that letter was a humble response to the eight clergymen who condemned

King goes on to say that he was stuck in between Negroes that opposed his nonviolent marches and Negroes that have no say in equality for colored Americans. He says, “If one recognizes this vital urge that has engulfed the Negro community, one should readily understand why public demonstrations are taking place. The Negro has many pent-up resentments and latent frustrations, and he must release them. So let him march”.

On April 3, 1968 King delivered his final speech “I’ve been to the mountaintop,” in Memphis Tennessee to a massive crowd at the Bishop Charles Mason Temple Church of God. His speech was to bring awareness to the unsafe working condition and wages that the African American sanitation workers received. Prior to Reverend King’s speech on Feb. 12, 1968 roughly one thousand black Memphis sanitation workers went on strike and refused to work until their demands were met. Unfortunately, their request was denied and King, as well as Reverend James T. Lawson, traveled to Memphis to lead a nonviolent march but some of the participants started to become violent breaking windows of building and looting. This was a setback for the peaceful boycott due to rowdy few one person was shot and killed.

Even in the early twenty first century Martin Luther King Jr’s “Mountaintop” speech was never forgotten. In appreciation of his inspiring and motivational words there have been several monuments built as well as plays been written based on the day and speech before King’s assassination. In recognition and respect of Martin Luther King Jr., his “I have a dream” and his “I have been to the Mountaintop” speech a memorial is planned for the top of Stone Mountain Park, which is suburban to Atlanta Country, DeKalb. Around the establishment of such a building lies a lot of controversy and complication, starting with, that the top of Stone Mountain in the 1940s used to be a meeting point of the feared Ku Klux Klan.

This indicates the increasing importance of the boys, government, and many other people who are in fear. It shows how the war had exponentially affected America, and arouses consciousness to the audience. Lastly, he ends his speech by convincing the audience that the government should not progress the war with a metaphor. “So it is that hose of us who are yet determined that America will be-are- are led down the path of protest and dissent, working for the health of our land.” To sum up, Martin Luther King presents his claim in a persuasive tone

I think If Martin Luther King Jr. were to reappear today he would definitely note that in the almost 50 years since his death, there has been progress with race relations in America, but we still have a long way to go. He wanted the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners to “be able to sit down at the table of brotherhood” (Simon, 2016) and that brotherhood “will be able to work together” and to “stand up for freedom together.” I think he would have helped out with the Black Lives Matter movement, but he would have also made more of an effort to include a greater percentage of other races in the movement and in the conversations that need to happen about injustice, racism, and discrimination in todays society. “About four-in-ten

Many things are different today in 2018, than they were in the year 1968; the price of coke and gas, the rights of women and of course, the act of wrongful dispensation in the Negro community. On February 1st, 1968. Two Memphis garbage collectors Echol Cole and Robert Walker were devastatingly crushed to death by a malfunctioning truck. This situation was the last straw for the black community because of a long pattern of neglect and abuse of the employees of the Memphis Department of Public Works. As a result, 1300 men went on strike to make a difference and stand up for what they believed in.