The strength of a speech does not come from the strength of a person’s voice, but the strength comes from the passion of the speaker towards the subject. The film Selma directed by Ana DuVernay, portrays the story of Martin Luther King Jr.’s struggle to achieve voting rights in the south for African Americans. In the film, two speeches that King spoke caught my attention, they are “Give Us the Vote” and “Who Murdered Jimmie Lee Jackson?”. After analyzing both speeches, I have found that both are very similar as they both are relatable by directing his speeches towards his audience emotions, how he persuades his audience to fight for their rights through protest, and how he is able to express his own beliefs in his speeches to further support his argument favoring voting rights. One of the first speeches that King does in the beginning of the film is “Give Us the Vote” which focuses on him telling his audience that they need to fight for their rights. In his speech, King evokes the audience's emotions by describing how children are also being targeted for hate crimes and he introduces this by saying, “We see children become victims of one of the most vicious crimes…within the halls of their own church!”. This is important because he uses children to connect to the audience's emotions, allowing them to understand that if they do not fight for their rights their children will also become victims. Similarly, in his other speech, “Who Murdered Jimmie Lee Jackson?”, King talks
At the time of Lyndon B. Johnson’s speech in 1965, “The American Promise”, conflict over civil rights has been brewing for over a hundred years. A large group of people planned on marching from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, but fights broke out and it quickly escalated into violence. Given shortly after the happenings in Selma, President Johnson spoke before the Congress on the importance of passing the Voting Rights Act of 1965. As a man in a position of power, the desperation of the situation is prominent to him, yet he calmly presses the manner in order to persuade them of his view. President Johnson uses rhetorical devices, such as allusion and connotative diction, to create an ethical and emotional appeal toward his audience during that time of civil unrest.
Like instruments in an orchestra being brought in one by one to a melody that fills the ears of its listeners and drives out any other thoughts, King then targets the white moderate population, the white voters. He tries to place this audience into the shoes of the black people by giving vivid descriptions of the trials they have been going through and invoke empathy in their hearts. He says: "When you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your brothers and sisters at whim . . ." This statement brings up an issue every culture has had to deal with, death. Death in the American culture is one that is associated with loss and grief. King deftly imposes this loss on the shoulders of his white audience making it clear to them the pain the black people have been dealt.
The famous “I have a dream” speech given by Martin Luther King Junior (Jr.) sent a shock wave across the United States and forever changed the meaning of freedom and equal rights for all mankind. The way in which Martin Luther went about bringing change for the black man and woman was brilliant and very effective. Even though many things contributed to the Civil Rights Movement to bring about the radical change, Martin Luther’s rhetorical and stylistic devices throughout his speeches and articles drove his audiences to participate in the movement. He possessed a mastery in the art of motivational speaking and an understanding of language and rhetoric in order to transform an audience from passive bystanders to advocates and leaders of a greater
As the movie began, I noticed the story was not just about King. Many other iconic leaders of the SNCC and the SCLC that helped bring forth an awareness of black inequality and triumph to end voter discrimination aided King. The film showed the struggle of African Americans as they fought for their right to vote. In multiple scenes, King sat with President Johnson to speak of the Black vote and how it is a step to changes in America, giving
He questions the audience about society and what they have done for their community. “We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality; we can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities; we cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one; we can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity,” (King). King knows how to bring the people into the speech to involve every single person standing before him and make them feel like they are apart of the speech. He mentions what has been taken away from them which creates anger within the crowd. King’s ability to appeal to the audience through emotion affected society for decades after and changed the sense of pride the African Americans had.
In a period of time where few were willing to listen, Martin Luther King, Jr. stood proudly, gathered and held the attention of over 200,000 people. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech was very effective and motivational for African Americans in 1963. Many factors affected Kings’ speech in a very positive manner; the great emotion behind the words, delivering the speech on the steps of the memorial of the President who defeated slavery. And not only was this message beautifully written for the hope of African Americans, but the underlying message for white people, revolution and peace. To stimulate emotion from both parties of his listeners, King used a selection of rhetorical devices such as allusions to historical
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech was an astonishing display of language that persuaded the American nation to dissolve the barrier that stood between equality for all in our great nation. The true beauty in Dr. King’s speech rests in his ability to persuade the audience at the Lincoln Memorial, as well as, the nation to believe that it is a necessity to rid the exigence of segregation. Through the usage of metaphors that engage the reader, King uses language as an instrument to control the audience’s emotions and fuel their ideas that they can be the ones to make the change to propel our nation from one mediocrity to greatness. In his speech, King uses an eloquent blend between symbols and emotions through metaphors to persuade the audience that there is no true constraint that can hold them from achieving their goal and use the historical March on Washington as the solution to this exigence that failed to wither away one hundred years ago when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Plato, a great philosopher, once said “rhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men” (Plato). He accentuates the importance of rhetoric in persuading the audience to support a cause or take action. In his speech addressed at the 50th anniversary of Selma march, President Barack Obama uses rhetoric to persuade his audience, Americans as a whole, to discourage racism in the United States. President Obama appeals to the rhetorical strategies, uses rhetorical devices, and applies a presentation style; which make his speech effective in terms of rhetoric.
Barack Obama, Martin Luther King Jr. and Fannie Lou Hamer all delivered powerful, persuasive speeches that will go down in history. The use of these creative individuals’ language and persuasion played a pivotal role within the civil rights movement. We can observe this in the speakers’ rhetoric devices like ethos, logos and pathos.
On August 28, 1963 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a 17-minute public speech to over 200,000 supporters of the Civil Rights Movement. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech was a response to continued racial bias nearly 100 years after the end of slavery and a call to action, meant to unify the country in the fight to end segregation. King used his time at the historic event to urge Americans, of all races, to work together throughout the country to ensure equality for all citizens. Though King’s delivery of the speech is widely recognized as impactful because of his passionate sermon-like delivery, the context of the speech contains many rhetorical components. Those rhetorical efforts
Martin Luther King Jr. was an African American Leader During the Civil Rights Movement. Mr.King was also a pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. He was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. He was assassinated on April 4, 1968 at the age of 39. He had 4 kids and a wife named Coretta Scott King. King was most important during the Civil Rights Movement. He was a very effective Civil Rights leader. He has many many speeches during his lifetime. His last words in public were I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!"
Lastly, King appeals to character as well as establishing his creditability. For starters, the the vocabulary King chose to use shows that he is educated and possesses the knowledge to respond to the clergymen. King also informed the clergymen that he had previous experience in conducting and participating in non-violent campaigns. This provides credibility because it showed that he had prior knowledge of the behavior and purpose of those participating, while also addressing that past campaigns have always been “untimely”, but with desired outcome. The last and most obvious proof of credibility, is that King was a black man that faced the same adversities that he referred to in the last paragraph of this section. The example being of having to personally tell his daughter why she could not be allowed to go to a public amusement park because she was black and looked at as less than.
The Civil Rights Movement was a major part of the American history. This was such a big part of American history because it gave the right to vote to African Americans the right to vote. The book To Kill A MockingBird was written during this time so the way it was written could of been based on what the author seen. This is because there was a rape to a white girl and a black guy was falsely accused. So saying this it could of been because of all the blacks that were falsely accused could of been why this scene even exist. Throughout this story i will be talking about Martin Luther King Jr., The March on Washington-I have a dream Speech and Selma to Montgomery Marches.
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.
Words hold a great deal of power. They have the ability to change someone’s mindset and inspire anyone who listens. With speech, the speaker has the power to grab the audience’s attention and convey a message. They use their words to make a difference in people’s lives and empower their listeners to take action. One of the most powerful speeches in U.S. history is Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech “I Have a Dream”, which he delivered in August 1963 during The March on Washington. What King said in his speech is still relevant today - we must fight together and push onward for equality. One particularly striking line in his speech is “We