Montgomery Bus Boycott Rhetorical Analysis

Martin Luther King supports non-violence and he tried to preach African Americans to use non-violent strategy against the American despotism regime for segregating African Americans in front of Holt Street Baptist Church. On December 5th, 1955, King gave an address for being the president of MIA (Montgomery Improvement Association) during the days of the Montgomery Bus Boycott at the Holt Street Baptist Church (Carson, 13). The main reason of this speech was to discuss the Montgomery bus boycott whether it should be continued or not. Montgomery bus boycott was initiated by an incident that an African American woman was sending to the jail due to her refusal of offering her seat to white Americans. On December 1st 1955, a woman called

Rosa Parks was arrested and fined because she refused to give up her seat in the front of the bus when the section assigned for African American was full after she got off from her work (Sanders, 3). In the speech, he described how African Americans were mistreated and the civil disobedience of Rosa Parks, and he also justified the nonviolent protest by demonstrating to African American Christian faith in love and justice and the American democratic tradition of legal protest.

This speech’s target audience is African American and he employed rhetorical devices to motivate and courageous African Americans act positively in this protesting activity. “ We believe in the Christian religion, we believe in the teachings of Jesus. (Well) The only weapon that we have in our hands this evening is the weapon of protest” (Holt, 17). King used the imagery of weapon for his non-violent tactic against racism and segregation. At this point, King had linked his non-violent ideology with biblical imagery. He thinks Christian is child of God and God teaches his believers to use non-violent ways to solve any conflicts and problems, which is exactly what King wanted oppressed African Americans to combat their enemies. And then, he interpreted to his audience how to use this tool against segregation in the details, “ we must keep God in the forefront. Let us be Christian in all of our actions… … love is one of the pivotal points of the Christian faith” (Holt, 33). It mirrors the main theme in the Christian religion: love and

faith. This seems to be the stereotype and main elements of his non-violent tactics. MLK always made it clear that he was an advocate of non-violence. In the last paragraph of his speech, “a people who had the moral courage to stand up for their rights,” he reaffirmed that African Americans should use non-violent approach to obtain their rights during this protest (Holt, 37). Those quotes reflect that Martin Luther King is a black activist not only because of his race, but he did speak for all African Americans and taught them how to react to this racial segregation in America.