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Rhetorical Analysis Of I Have A Dream Speech

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Martin Luther king Jr.'s " I Have a Dream" Rhetorical analysis

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a civil rights activist of the 1950s and 60's who was well-educated and fought peacefully for equality. On August 28, 1963, King gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech which was very historical and influential. He gave the speech in Washington D.C, at the Lincoln Memorial in front of more than 200,000 people. Dr. King was a Baptist minister who worked to try and end racial discrimination. His main purpose in of the speech was to tell others on human equality and why everyone should be treated equally despite race. Throughout the speech he uses rhetoric to influence his audience to believe that all men are created equal. When he uses Ethos, he is convincing the audience that he is credible. He uses Pathos to get the audience to have the same emotions as him. Lastly, he uses logos to be persuasive to the audience by reasoning and having evidence. Martin Luther King jr. effectively uses all three rhetorical appeals to help his audience better understand the experience of African-Americans.
Martin Luther King jr. begins his “I have a dream” speech by talking about American history. He starts by referring to the Emancipation Proclamation to get off to the speech “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today signed the Emancipation Proclamation”. This is important because Abraham Lincoln helped end slavery. By him referring to Lincoln’s speech, he

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