Martin Luther King's Speech in Jobs and Freedom

Martin Luther King's Speech in Jobs and Freedom

Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech was presented during the

‘Jobs and Freedom’ March, which was held on 28th August, 1963 near the

Lincoln Memorial in Washington. The march was supported by over 250

000 people and was a great success. About one third of the crowd was

white. That day several speeches were delivered however, Martin Luther

King’s “I Have a Dream” was and still is one of the most powerful and

moving speeches. His speech was broadcasted on TV and published in

newspapers. The march itself is still considered to be a very powerful

event in the history of America’s civil rights.

In his speech, Martin Luther King spoke of the injustice and

discrimination of the different races, especially the black race. He

said how they were segregated from the white community and mistreated

because of their skin color “-the life of the Negro is still sadly

crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of

discrimination.”[1]He spoke of how long the ‘Negro’s’ have fought for

justice and that they will keep fighting until they were ‘satisfied’.

He also mentioned the voting policies in USA, which only allowed 2% of

the black people to vote whereas 42% of the population was black[2].

He hoped all men to be treated equally and justly, “We hold these

truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”[3] He

didn’t believe in violence and hoped to achieve their rights and

places in society in a peaceful and ‘disciplined’ manner.

There were several positive responses to his idea of achieving their

civil rights peacefully. In 1964, he was awarded the very prestigious

...

... middle of paper ...

...----------------------------------------------------------

[1] Lines 9-10 from Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream’ speech.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAdream.htm (full citation in

bibliography)

[2] http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAkkk.htm (full citation in

bibliography)

[3] Lines 91-92 from Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream’ speech.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAdream.htm (full citation in

bibliography)

[4] http://yonip.com/main/peace/luther.html (full citation in

bibliography)

[5] http://douglassarchives.org/king_b12.htm

[6]

http://teacher.scholastic.com/researchtools/articlearchives/honormlk/mlklife2.htm

(full citation in bibliography)

[7]

http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/about_king/encyclopedia/march_washington.html

(full citation in bibliography)