Summary Of Martin Luther King's I Ve Been To The Mountaintop

From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial more than forty years ago, Martin Luther King electrified America with his momentous "I Have a Dream" speech. This speech demanded racial justice towards the mistreated black community of America. The theme of the speech was that all humans were created equal and that this should be the case for the future of America. King's words proved to touch the hearts of millions of people and gave the nation a vocabulary to express what was happening to the black Americans. This did not happen by chance. Martin Luther King's speech was carefully constructed so it would have the most appropriate diction to propose his facts and ideas. His speech involved multiple different literary techniques which were very

King uses logos in paragraph seventeen, when King is defining an unjust law. He describes an unjust law as “a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal.” In defining the term “unjust law”, King is appealing to one’s logic because definitions are a sound idea. Another example of logos is in paragraph twenty five, in which King is defending his position that he should not be arrested on charges of violence when his direct action plan is the opposite of violent. He compares this to another situation, stating, “Isn’t this like condemning a robbed man because his possession of money precipitated the evil act of robbery?” This is an excellent example of logos because no just person would say that it makes sense to arrest the robbed, not the robber. These examples help develop the purpose of the letter because they show how illogical it is that the African Americans are treated this way.

Historiography is the written account of a person. The idea of public memory is the contemporary representation of a historical figure and event, across different forms of media. According to Clayborne Carson, Paradoxes of King Historiography, “more than 1,000 scholarly articles concerning Martin Luther King junior have been published representing various disciplines (Carson, 7).” Therefore, the idea of new information about King would be quite complicated to find. However, why are almost all of Martin Luther King Jr. biographies literally the same? Is it because of the short life of the Civil rights leader or has the research material for King life being exhausted? According to, The Unfinished dialogue of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, “scholars have subjected Martin's life to meticulous, critical examination based on a wealth of archival materials (Carson, 22).” Therefore, the Legacy of the King from the Montgomery to Memphis has become a huge part of his narrative, neglecting some of the smaller, less known details of his life. Harvard Sitkoff’s, King: Pilgrimage to the Mountaintop, is an increasing body of work that serves to challenge the polished King life. The book seeks to challenge the images of King in modern day popular culture, grounded in a perfect saint like leader.

The issue of racism in the mid twentieth century played a huge role in Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Throughout the 1960’s he gradually became a civil rights activist, participating in multiple boycotts and riots against

Near the end of Martin Luther King’s speech a gospel singer Mahalia Jackson shouted to Dr. King saying, “Tell them about the dream, Martin”. At this point Dr. King stopped reading the speech and expressed his inner feelings saying “I have a dream..”(Mlk, 4). He continued to tell the crowd of his dream for the Negros to be free and equal and that they would be able to live happily and do as they pleased. He had a dream that America would live out the meaning of the constitution stating “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal”. He tells the crowd that at the end “We are free at last”. Dr. King’s choice of words and the tone in which he delivers his speech is enticing and pleasing to the crowd of America.

Shortly before Martin Luther King was shot, he gave a powerful speech on civil rights. Martin Luther King’s last speech, ‘I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”, was given during the Memphis sanitation strike in which almost 1000 black workers were on strike for not being treated fairly. On April 3rd, 1968, MLK gave his final speech during the times of nonviolent civil rights protest, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” is remembered by people as MLK asking the black population to go out in the streets with him and non violently protest for what they deserve. In his speech, Martin Luther King effectively uses many allusions, repetition, and metaphors to indicate his key point of calling the African American community to action; as he told them

The beginning of King’s speech starts with his address to “[his] fellow clergymen” (1). Throughout and with multiple examples, King attempts to back up his argument with the appeal of logos. One of King’s main arguments in his letter

In “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, King established the logos within the second paragraph when he explains the reason why he is in Birmingham, Alabama, and compares his actions to the actions of several prophets and apostles in the past. King mentions that “injustice is

Many African Americans in the 1960's were facing a rough time because they were being treated differently than non-colored Americans. African Americans did not have equal privileges as whites and many took a stand about it. Martin Luther King Jr was one of many who stood out about it and who made a difference in history. In his speech named Why We Cant Wait, he describes the attitudes and social conditions towards African Americans. Martin Luther King also uses rhetorical questions, examples of what Black Americans face everyday, and uses examples in history of how African Americans have done more than their fair share of part to earn their freedom.

At the beginning of Martin Luther King’s speech, he says, “But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free, one hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination…” (Martin Luther King speech, 1963, para. 3). King keeps saying “one hundred years later”, to show that no matter how much time passes, African Americans will never be equal to the whites. Even after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. Logos is shown all throughout his “I have a dream” speech. He is letting the audience know that they have not been given equal opportunities, like the whites have been given.

Logos means reason. Martin Luther King Jr. uses logos to show why he is delivering this speech and why he wants things to change. He is delivering this speech to show how many blacks and other races, that weren’t being treated equally, really didn’t have freedom like they should. “It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro.” (King, M. L. Jr. (1963, Aug.28) Para 6) “Instead of honoring the sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.’” (King, M. L. Jr. (1963, Aug.28) Para 5) These quotes are just a couple of the logos quotes Martin Luther King said in his speech.

Early in the speech Martin Luther King Jr demonstrates logos. He clearly states, many logical examples,he starts by imaging himself in different centuries going back to different areas like Mount Olympus, where he would see Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Euripides and Aristophanes where he would watch them gather around to discuss real issues. First he went on to say that he would go to the Roman Empire to see the development of leaders and emperors. Second he’d go on to the Renaissance to see the what this time period did for the cultural and aesthetic life of man. Then would go on to see the men tack on the ninety five theses onto the church of Wittenberg. But then he wouldn't stop there, he would go on to 1863 to see President Abraham Lincoln to sign the Emancipation Proclamation. He said lastly he would go on to see the early thirties to see a man grappling on bankruptcy. As he goes on he uses the quote “we have nothing to fear but fear itself”. He uses logos really well on a showing that the nation is sick and trouble is in the land and confusion all around. He quotes “But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars. And I see God working in this period of the twentieth century in a way that men, in some . strange way, are responding.” which takes him back to saying that the world is changing in every which way.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was the predominant leader of the Civil Rights Movement to end racial discrimination and segregation in the latter half of the twentieth century. As a world-renowned spokesperson advocating nonviolent protest, many of his speeches were centered on peaceful ways to change the unfair treatment and segregation of blacks. His hope was to use these methods of nonviolent protest so that one day all of God’s children, whites and blacks included, would live, and treat each other, as equals. On April 3, 1968, he delivered what would be his final speech, I’ve Been to the Mountaintop, in Memphis, Tennessee, at the Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters).

Martin Luther King Jr is an African American civil rights activist during the 1960s. I decided to do my analysis on his speech "I Have a Dream" because this speech is very important in American history. The speech has a simple context. "I Have a Dream" speech was given during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. Dr. King's main purpose was to make a change in white and black citizens during the Civil Rights era. He wanted to end racism in the United States and wanted everyone to accept the change in a non-violent way. “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed. We hold those truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” (Jr).

America in the 1960s was not the finest time for African Americans, especially in the South. There was racism, injustice and inequality. However, the ‘devotees’ of the civil rights movement were dedicated and passionate about making a difference. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of those pioneers that remained true in what he believed in no matter what the circumstance.