preview

Summary Of I Have A Dream Speech

Satisfactory Essays

The speech “I Have a Dream”, written by Martin Luther King Jr. is intended for all Americans. He was an activist who became a well-known leader of the Civil Rights Movement. It was delivered on August 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. This speech about equality for black people consists of dreams, freedom, satisfaction, and justice. The purpose of this speech is to persuade the United States to believe that black people need to have the same rights and be treated the same as any other race. One literary technique the author uses is anaphoras which he uses to emphasize his points on creating equality and freedom. King converses about the Emancipation Proclamation which is a document by Abraham Lincoln that concludes that “all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free". After speaking about the Emancipation Proclamation, King repeats “One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination...One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land” (1). By using the anaphora of “One hundred years later”, King argues that black people are still being discriminated, segregated and are considered powerless in a society where the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. Additionally, after telling some of his audience that it is okay to go back to their states

Get Access