I Have a Dream: Martin Luther King Jr. Essay

There is reason beyond doubt that Martin Luther King Jr. lost his life trying to restore lives of African-American people in the states. With the sculpture of Abraham Lincoln, one of the greatest presidents, soaring behind him, King used the rhetorical talents he had picked up as a Baptist preacher to elaborate how a “Negro is still not free. This speech was a passionate expressive discourse, counterfeited out of the language and essence of democracy. He told of the struggle ahead, emphasizing the importance of persistent action and peaceful protest. He stated that;

Dr. King was jailed for his protests, which the Alabama clergymen called “unwise and untimely.” King responded by telling of the negroes’ treatment from the past 340 years,

There were many people throughout the history of the United States that helped to get equality for African Americans; however, one man's voice moved an entire race. That one man is Martin Luther King, Jr. He has a way of making you listen when he speaks and of making you understand his ideas. Many people did listen and he motivated a whole race of people to strive with him on his quest for equality. The events in his life from early life, civil rights, and later life led him to be one of the most powerful people in the movement towards civil rights.

When informing Americans across the nation of his dream, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. proposed an unforgettable speech that would one day change The United States of America forever. In analyzing “I Have a Dream”, there are a few rhetorical purposes that are reflected throughout. These purposes are repeatedly focusing in on a particular audience in which King speaks to. Using different types of appeals and literary elements, his speech produced a meaningful purpose that the audience could relate to.

After Being Dragged out of their homeland, brought to an unknown country, and forced to be slaves, African-Americans saw a road trip to equality through the eyes of Martin Luther King, Jr. Even after being emancipated from slaves to citizens, African-Americans were not ready to wage the battle against segregation alone. The weight which African Americans carried on their back, was lightened when they began to see what Martin Luther King, Jr. brought to the table against segregation. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the single most important African-American leader of the Civil Rights Movement and was responsible for dramatically improving the chance of equality for African-Americans. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the key individual, which helped

This speech took place on August 28, 1963 millions of citizens, children, law and policy makers attended while 250,000 watched on TV as a Baptist Preacher ,a Boston University Graduate Dr, Martin Luther King stood behind a podium. He established an immediate rapport with an ever changing audience and communicated on a meaningful level, by appealing to moral conscience of Americans standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. He gave the rhetorical demands that racial justice no longer shall people be divided by race or religion. Although at the time it wasn't the case, it was a future vision that " all people are created equal" ( M.L.K.)

King’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, paragraph 13, he says, “Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit…” This is saying how laws may seem just, but can easily be enforced unjustly. They arrested King for having a parade without a permit….. What kind of excuse is that, I’ll tell you, It’s an excuse that someone uses when they want a powerful man in jail because they don’t share the same beliefs. Dr. King was unjustly thrown in jail. In their eyes civil disobedience wasn’t okay, now was it not okay because it was a black man, or just because it was flat out not okay? It’s because he was a black man, if it was some white man the police would have at most given him a warning, if done anything at all. Dr. King was marching for something he believed in, that’s why, King wasn’t upset to be thrown in

During the Civil Rights Movement, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King highlighted the effectiveness of peaceful resistance. When Parks refused to leave a bus seat upon demand of a white man, she was arrested for civil disobedience. Such a simple action triggered a 381-day boycott of public buses and furthered the growing movement. King later described this movement in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” where he explained the bombings that drew him to Birmingham, and how he would peacefully pursue a solution through large-scale civil disobedience. Both Parks and King peacefully revealed injustice to the public, and the violent responses from their opponents allowed the media to highlight the impacts of segregation, mainly poverty, physical threats, and verbal prejudice. Again, civil disobedience broadened social inequality, while also reducing the violence, poverty, and discrimination that African Americans experienced, increasing their involvement in modern government and the overall equality of the

Dr. King had to serve his time in Birmingham jail because he was involved in protest activities to end racial segregation, an act that was said to be violating the laws and orders of his society. During the time that he served, he read an open letter from eight clergymen who mentioned that the objections were “‘unwise and untimely… [and advised the] Negro community to withdraw support from these demonstrations, and to unite locally in working peacefully for a better Birmingham’” (King 425). Dr. King was disappointed by what he read, and in response to the clergymen—and indirectly to the general public—he wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” to explain that his nonviolent protest was necessary. With

King had a vision that one day all races would be treated equally. Being the educated man that he was, receiving his Doctorate from Boston University, Dr. King never saw failure as an option. King was a third generation Baptist Minister and was the Leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Dr. King was from the South and was very familiar with the city of Birmingham which was known as the most violently segregated city in the United States. An affiliate of Dr. King’s invited him to Birmingham to engage in a nonviolent protest to which he agreed. During the nonviolent protest Dr. King was arrested for protesting without a permit. While in a Birmingham County jail cell Martin Luther King explains issues within the past day’s society that needed to be addressed including the church, the white moderates, and how he had been labeled an extremist.

When he was arrested and jailed in Birmingham, Alabama he then fell under criticism by white clergy for coming to Birmingham as an “outsider” to cause trouble and increase tension through public sit-ins and marches. I feel that Martin Luther King was able to both set aside that criticism by establishing his credibility to have not only been invited to come to Birmingham to help end the injustice to the Negro people via peaceful means, but he was able to identify moral, legal and ethical cause to promote his quest to put a stop to what he identified as “the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States” (King, 2017, p, 3). I will provide a summary that will show what Martin Luther King believed were the cause of the injustice that he was striving to end to as well as his concern over the white community’s ability to make the Negro “wait for more than three hundred and forty years for our constitutional and God-given rights.”

During his confinement in Birmingham city jail, Martin Luther King Jr., a man of patience and virtue, wrote, “…we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive” (Ali-Dinar). Throughout his life, King led peaceful protests to further equality and justice in the African American community; many were opposed with police brutality and fierce discrimination. Had it not been for the media, which broadcasted to Americans nationwide, the eyes of the public and the President would have remained shut to the continuing unequal treatment of the law and violent oppression that many African Americans faced. Despite attempts to halt their movement, the protesters

Martin Luther King Jr. fought for African American equality in America during the civil rights movement. His first act of civil disobedience took place in Montgomery, Alabama during the year 1955, where he and a group of activists were boycotting a transportation company that forced African Americans to give up their seats for white people and move to the back of the bus. Following this first protest, Luther began to organize and participate in mass demonstrations and nonviolent protests to demand the equality and civil rights of African Americans. In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. decided to lead nonviolent mass demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama. He and his fellow protesters were met by police with fire hoses and police dogs, which ended up creating a controversy that spread in newspapers throughout the country. On April 12, Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested in Birmingham for

The turning point in King’s career came in 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama. The SCLC launched a major demonstration to protest anti-Black attitudes in the South. Confrontations ensued between unarmed Black demonstrators and Birmingham police and firemen who used clubs, attack dogs, and fire hoses as a show of unnecessary force to quell the crowd. The publication of this demonstration and the incidents that ensued had profound effects across the country. It sparked protests across the country and prompted President John F. Kennedy to push for passage of new civil rights legislation.

Throughout history America has been the arriving place of immigrants searching for a better life. America is perceived as the land were endless opportunities are available. The greatest explanation of the American dream is Martin Luther King, Jr. speech; I Have a Dream. Dr. King speech is more like a testimony of truth, rather than a speech. At the time of his speech African Americans were not free, while the Declaration of Independence states that all men are created equal. Dr. King’s movement established the way for the idea that there is an American dream. The idea that somebody can be anything they would like to be. This idea is still relevant now in America. Americans pursue their dream everyday by having the opportunity to attend