Martin Luther King Jr's Speech: "I Have A Dream"

I have a Dream
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I have a Dream
American Baptist minister and activist, Martin Luther King Jr, in his speech, “I Have a Dream,” advocates for the eradication of racism in the United States and calls for the economic and civil rights. King’s purpose is to appeal to the African American people not to give up on the fight for equal rights. He adopts a determined tone to express feelings of hope in his African American people. The Speech would turn out to be one of the most recognizable and famous speeches of all time. It not only gave hope to the people but also gave them the belief that with everything positive, all the hardships and social challenges could be overcome. Such persuasive speeches are a product of a combination of things ranging from creativity, fertile imagination, to the use of proper stylistic and literary devices at the most opportune of times throughout their deliveries. Additionally, the speech delivered by Martin Luther King remains to be the greatest in history since it encompasses such elements as ethos logos, pathos, consonance, assonance, and repetition.
King begins his speech to the African Americans by acknowledging that the fight for civil rights started a long time back and that some great Americas had fought this legal fight and made some breakthroughs that brought a lot of hope to the African Americans. He demonstrates authority in his speech by referencing President Lincoln’s act of signing the emancipation proclamation. He uses Lincoln to invoke his power and view on civil rights (Foss, 2017). By this, he establishes credibility with the audience.
Martin Luther King uses Logos to present his reasons for giving the speech. The underlying reason for his speech is to show the unequal treatment of the blacks and other races. He goes on to show how these groups did not have any freedom at all. “It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro.” (The Avalon Project, 2017) Another instance of logos that Martin Luther uses is when he says “Instead of honoring the sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds’” (The Avalon Project, 2017).
The structure forms the most fundamental part of any speech. Martin Luther King presents an exemplary structure in his address through three sections. First, he shows the plight of the black race. He then goes on to give the truth associated with the civil rights movement and lastly bringing in his belief of having hope for the future. The structure of this speech appeals to three types of groups which are the racist supremacists and black militants who view the black as evil, the whites and lastly the blacks who were always facing constant discrimination. King characterizes the first part of his speech by describing the conditions of the black people. He says that their life is “crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination” (The Avalon Project, 2017). Through this, the whites realize the terrible...