Roy Peter Clark I Have A Dream Speech Analysis

Martin Luther King Jr. addresses his audience, he uses powerful statement to make the listeners more engaged in his speech. A representation of this would be in paragraph four of Dr. Kings “I Have a Dream” speech, where he expresses, “Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.” Dr. King motivates his audience by using a metaphor. He compares the unfair segregation towards African Americans as a dark and desolate valley. Subsequently, he goes on to compare the freedom to come for African Americans as a sunlit path of racial justice.

Many people listen to him and use him as a source of hope to fight against racial issues. He is a symbol to African Americans as Wapshott stated, "Africans found a particularly poignant message in King’s plea for racial tolerance and his declaration that “the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.” " His speech put forth the harsh realities African Americans face and wants to fight against them. King realizes that his people are wrongly treated and that they should not be put into separate schools and bathrooms just because of the color of one's skin. The beauty of King's speech is that he did not incite violence to fight against the horrible treatment of African Americans as he explained, "Since being in India, I am more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to

King also discusses his personal life, along with his family and children, to show the crowd that he is fighting for the same things as them. In his I Have a Dream speech, Martin Luther King, Jr. used ethos to increase his credibility with his audience, pathos to appeal to his audience’s emotional side, and logos to appeal to his audience’s logical side. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s use of ethos begins in the first few lines of his I Have a Dream speech. He begins the speech with a direct reference to Abraham Lincoln and his Gettysburg Address. King speaks of Lincoln as an admired figure in the Civil Rights Movement when he states “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand, signed the Emancipation Proclamation” (King 84).

Malcom X is able to capture his audience by using three rhetorical strategies: an appeal to ethos through his humbleness, logistically exploiting the flaws of his opposition, and an appeal to pathos and emotion. Malcolm X gave his The Ballot or the Bullet speech on April 3, 1964 at a meeting sponsored by the Cleveland, Ohio, chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality during a period when “race” dominated America’s domestic agenda. At that time, a bill that outlawed segregation

People consider him as one of the greatest political and spiritual leaders who struggled for black people and Muslims. Also, he had contributed to the spread of Islam in the society of the black people in United States. After his trace, radical black activists in the late 1960s, they had followed the movements on his teachings and speeches. For instance, the Black Power movement, the Black Arts Movement, and the widespread adoption of the slogan “Black is beautiful” are all rooted to the consciousness of Malcolm X. Like his revolutionary ideas, it had challenged civil right activists to overcome the oppressions in all

Abstract: I Have a Dream is public speech made by Martin Luther King in Lincoln Memorial, 1963. It mainly talked about the equality problem of African American. Since Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans were waiting for the day when they were really free. However, even a hundred years later, the black people were still discriminated and their life still the same. I Have a Dream was written in such condition to fight for their own rights.

Cox examines “I had a dream” by Martin Luther king junior. Discussing the various types of rhetoric that MLK uses throughout his speech, making it one of the most moving speeches of our time. But Cox focuses on the urgency and time in which the speech as delivered, claiming that the MLK speech is redemptive to the struggles of the civil right activists. Cox identifies the significance this speech had at its specific time of delivery through the truths concept of evaluation.

The best example of using a speech to exercise leadership is the President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Voting Rights speech. President Johnson set leadership by addressing publicly and broadcasting in TV pressure against Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act. As Professor Witherspoon explained, this speech is an example of interdependence of leadership and communication. President Johnson’s speech led to the change of African American voting rights. Our text indicates the special form of human communication when it comes to leadership to be: who you are, act, do, and how you work with others.

Booker T. Washington has long been recognized as a pioneer and a leader in the fields of civil rights, African-American literature, education, and politics. Long remembered for his speeches, his book Up from Slavery, and his bootstrap concept. Booker T. Washington contributed to the cause of civil rights and social equality in manner formats and discourses. Booker T. Washington’s life story also helps explain and translate the African-American experience in America, at both a specific historical moment, and in the context of American history in general. Washington’s text Up from Slavery is an autobiographical account of his life, and acts as a literary and historical argument in favor of equality and civil rights.

In the speech “I Had a Dream” the speaker Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speaks to the crowd of his own kind and explains how they are not treated equally. During the occasion of the speech, African Americans were treated poorly by the white people. The major influence of this speech was to help persuade his people to not give up their fight for an equal chance to be as equal as any human being. In every line that Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speaks, he discusses the changes that were slowly happening and how his people must not give up. His tone is strong with the feelings of hope he has for the future.

“We are wrong to think of democracy as a gift of freedom it is really a kind of discipline that avails freedom.” (Steele 458) Shelby Steele is an author, professor, and well known commentator on race relations. He has a Ph.D. in English, an M.A. in sociology, and has written several books on racial issues. He focuses mostly on race relations and the issues that ensue from racial biased programs. His mother and father were both active for the civil rights movement and the things they did during it made an impression on his values, the article he wrote displays these values.

As far as minority groups playing a role in a democratic republic, what role do they play? I mean, what are their actual rights, and to what level will these rights be asserted, while also benefitting the whole society? Mr. Volk explains the answers to these questions in this book Moral Minorities and the Making of American Democracy. Volk focuses this study and book on the protest groups that were actually active during the thirty years leading up to the civil war. And while this was all happening, there were the majorities that were getting into it with the newly confident minorities, giving Volk a perfect storm to study their not so perfect integration together.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a great leader before,during The Civil Rights movement. Martin Luther King Jr. had a purpose by giving his “I Have A Dream” speech. King gave the speech August 28, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial. One of his purposes was to changed some people’s minds about racism. Martin Luther King Jr’s speech was for equality, and justice.

The History Channel lists several famous speeches on their website. Of the listings, I chose to discuss two speeches related to the Civil Rights Movement. The first speech I chose to listen was titled “A. Philip Randolph on Struggle for Racial Equality.” The second speech I chose to listen to was titled “Lyndon Johnson Signs Civil Rights Act of 1964.” I believe that these speeches are listed as some of the greatest speeches according to the History Channel because they address the long time struggle of racial inequality in the United States.

He delivered his speeches fearlessly with new ideas, hope and vision. His speeches were more about changing of old ideas and to adapting to a modern social way of life. He convinced that racial barriers are an outdated form of system. His successful election campaign proves the American people wanted change. In the book “At This Defining Moment” by Eden Logan, she says, “Americans of all races were drawn to Obama by the sense of redemption that he seemed to offer, and by the desire to feel good about the United States again.”