In 1963 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. protested the racial segregation in Birmingham and got arrested. While he was in jail he read a newspaper and 8 white clergymen stated their opinion of him. That inspired his Letter From Birmingham Jail. After he got out he continued to protest and he wrote his I Have a Dream Speech. He spoke in front of about 10,000 people in Washington DC.
It even persuaded the Roman catholic Bishop Joseph Aloysius Durick. Originally a conformist cleric, Bishop Durick, along with his seven colleagues wrote the letter "A Call For Unity", calling on Martin Luther King Jr. and his "outsiders" to go home during the Birmingham protests of 1963 and let the courts work toward integration. King responded with his Letter from Birmingham Jail, voicing his disappointment in the white clergy, who should be "among our strongest allies". This, and a message from Vatican II, led Bishop Durick to become a strong voice for civil rights in the segregated South! He did this in the face of severe persecution by his own congregation.
The United States was very prominent with the racism and unjust treatment of African Americans in the 20th century. Because of the law that was corrupt and because of the victimization of African Americans, civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech on August 28, 1963. He gave a speech to thousands of people in order to end segregation, racism, and the unjust treatment of African Americans. Not only did King have a goal to end racism across the nation, but he fought so that there would be equal rights throughout the nation as well. King uses rhetorical features such as repetition, metaphors, allusion, hyperbole, along with both ethos and pathos throughout his speech.
He wrote the famous, “I Have a Dream” speech and the “Letter From Birmingham Jail”. Dr. King stood in front of many people and gave his speech, which was created to strike the people’s emotions of how African Americans suffered and why they wanted a change. In contrast, the letter was created to show the reasoning behind wanting a change, because he was writing to his fellow clergymen who said his actions were unwise and untimely. In Dr. King’s speech and letter, he uses rhetorical appeals many times to compel the feelings and reasoning behind the civil rights movement. In Dr. King’s famous speech, “I Have a Dream” he appealed to the audiences’ emotions about the topic of inequality and he proved his logic and reasoning for the Civil Rights movement.
While dealing with the same disrespect all Negroes were receiving. He spoke out his hopes and wishes for the world, hoping to change the ways by many. He got through to people by using persuasive and inspiring words, which people eventually listened to. King brought himself and African American the right to freedom of speech. King uses logos in his text to share information to the people, about the difficulties that African Americans have to deal with.
He does represent the black community very well by giving them motivation to keep pushing for their rights and keeping the peace. He talk about how they have gone through a lot of pain and tribulations to get where they are and they can’t stop now, and that they are close to their goal and they have the world’s attention. He talks about how america has given a “bad check” the bad check being their right and they tried to cash it in but they say it is “insufficient funds” and he talks about how they refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. This is some of the metaphor that Mr. King uses in his speech of “I have a dream”. He talk about how black people are like a brotherhood and that they need to unite, “ Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood”.
The term we cannot be satisfied is repeated throughout a portion of King’s speech, followed by various examples of hatred acts towards the Black community. This repetition emphasizes his constant motif of unity and equality, as well as freedom for his fellow people. A more effective piece of repetition is the title of Dr. King’s speech, in which he addresses all the problems of discrimination bestowed upon the African Americans. Each problem is only the beginning of what the African Americans endure every day. The phrase “I have a dream…”(King) is preceded by dreams of a better future by each and every Black person in America.
His powerful words in his famous “I Have a Dream” speech and “Letter from Birmingham Jail” moved his followers to take charge and earn their freedom. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, another incredible man, affirmed in his inaugural address that he would do anything to insure “survival and success of liberty” for Americans and it cost him his life (jfklibrary). Beyond his wealth and power, Kennedy was always considerate of the common man. This essay will explain how both Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy wanted to end segregation with faith and cooperation, but their ideas of achieving change were different; this essay will also connect their sacrifices, like going to jail or having the will to die, for the sake of the people. Initially, King and Kennedy had similar views on freedom.
King Jr. reveals the harsh condition to his audience to provoke sympathy and emphasize the difficulties the poor went through. “So, I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such.” The way Martin Luther King uses the word “enemy” to show antipathy the poor had towards the war, was very affecting. Moreover, the King’s speech was full of pathos that led to be very persuasive. The statement that most stuck out was one that not only comprised his message, but also gave another chance to think about the civil rights. “And so we have
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Only when it is dark enough can we see the stars,” meaning that hope can only exist when there is adversity. The quote was taken from King’s, “I 've Been to the Mountaintop,” speech. During the time this speech was given, inequality was the darkness and speakers such as Martin Luther were the stars. King and his words drove mistreated sanitation workers to go on strike, kept the civil rights movement going in the right direction, and pushed the fight for equality several steps forward. First of all, Martin Luther was the cause of a very important strike by the sanitation workers of Memphis.