On April 3rd, 1968 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his last speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”, at Mason Temple Church in Memphis, Tennessee. During this powerful speech, Dr. King continued on what seemed to be his lifelong mission to promote equality amongst all, despite the color of a persons skin. What made Dr. King stand out from other civil rights activist was the fact that despite the evils that happened to him and other African Americans, he was determined to uphold his morals and remain nonviolent. King presented this speech as a way to advocate equality amongst all Americans, he stated that “the issue is injustice. The issue is the refusal of Memphis to be fair and honest in its dealings with its public servants, who happen …show more content…
to be sanitation workers. Now, we've got to keep attention on that,” that was the main purpose of his speech. Dr. King addressed the past, present, and the future in this speech to fulfil the purpose of reminding the people of where they came from, where they are now, and how much further they had to go. Not only did he remind the people of the progress over the years, but he was a force of motivation for the primary audience to “rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be.” Dr. King started the speech off by thanking the crowd for being there despite the storm warning in the area, in doing this early on he established pathos between him and the audience. AT the start of the speech Dr. King came in with a great deal of ethos, at this point he had delivered multiple speeches, led marches, and became somewhat of a paragon of the civil rights movement. This ethos made it easy for him to fulfill his purpose of motivating and persuading the audience to not give up because they had already put a great amount of trust in him and seen his actions produce positive outcomes. Another way that he established a positive ethos was by including himself in the action he was asking the audience to take, he also reminded them that they would be able to successfully complete these task with or without him. He uses logos by stating that there is “no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it’s nonviolence or nonexistence,” this showed how urgent it was for the people to step up and take action and work towards finding a solution. There is not a clearly worded thesis in this speech, King approached the crowd by using a call to action. He felt that everyone wanted to put an end to racial prejudices but it was no longer acceptable to just “talk about it,” but it was time for the people to take action. Dr. King used examples from different aspects of history to show how progress has been made when people take action and not sit around and wait for change to come to them. King alluded to marching back in Birmingham when “we were in that majestic struggle there, we would move out of the 16th Street Baptist Church day after day; by the hundreds we would move out. And Bull Connor would tell them to send the dogs forth, and they did come; but we just went before the dogs singing, "Ain't gonna let nobody turn me around,” although they struggled they kept going and because of that they were where they are today. He appealed to reasoning by not only providing examples of struggle but also providing examples of perseverance during the circumstances. Dr. King’s appeal to emotions is what makes this speech as powerful as it was. He tells the story of when he was stabbed by a lady at a book signing, he did not use this story as a way to gain empathy from his audience, but turned it into a method of encouragement and relatability. The stabbing was so severe that had he sneezed, he might have lost his life. Many renowned individuals reached out to him after this incident took place, but a letter he received from a high schooler was one that really resonated with King. The young girl wanted to let Dr. King know “that I'm so happy that you didn't sneeze,” she was happy that he was still alive and appreciative his accomplishments thus far. King then began somewhat of a tangent and repeated the phrase “If I had sneezed…” many times to remind the audience of what he accomplished in his lifetime. The use of this anaphora hit home with many of the people in the audience, because they were able to look back on events that Dr. King had gone through with them. Dr. King used the reason-giving organization pattern, this was a good idea because he was trying to motivate and persuade the audience to take action, and by providing them with reasons this gave the audience justification as to why they should do what he was suggesting they do. The beginning of his speech references different parts of history, this portion of his speech is in chronological order as it starts from the beginning of history up until the point that he was delivering this speech. He transitions from point to point by introducing different stories. This speech would fall somewhere between middle and grand, probably closer to middle than to grand.
King used a plethora of literary devices throughout this speech. The one that stood out the most was the use of symbolism, especially the symbolic meaning of “the mountaintop.” The mountaintop was symbolic of the vision that Dr. King saw, it was the light at the end of the tunnel. Throughout his entire mission, he has been working toward a world where everyone was treated equally and everyone can be seen as the individuals they were. King was a pastor, so the mountaintop could also be interpreted as the biblical mountaintop, which is used in the bible as a platform to spread important messages. King concludes his speech with a powerful statement that summed up the entirety of his speech, he states “Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!” Dr. King made it to the mountaintop, used his platform to spread an important message. The mountaintop encompassed all of King’s life, when he saw the mountaintop he was able to dwell on the horrors and successes of his life, he was also able to look forward and see the future he had longed
for. Overall, I think this was a very powerful and iconic speech. Dr. King took a very interesting approach at addressing the issues at hand and providing the people with the motivation to not give up hope. All of the rhetorical elements, word choices, allusions, and personal narratives used in this speech contributed to the success of King’s arguments and intended outcome of the speech. The speech was empowering, exciting, believable, and provided hope to not only the audience but to King as well, he was delivering the speech to make sure the people wouldn’t give up, but you could tell at the same time he needed that same reminder and motivation for himself. While the audience had the opportunity to listen and take action after the speech which many were inclined to do, Dr. King’s mission was unfortunately cut short after he was shot and killed hours after his speech was completed. It is safe to say that the impression he left behind with this speech was not forgotten, it is considered one of the best speeches in American History, and he can rest assured that his legacy and mission was not wasted.
It is no secret that Martin Luther King Jr. did great things. We have learned in school that he was a leader in the movement to desegregate the South. He has served as a role model for people across the globe. But even though Martin did change the world for the better, it was not without hardships. We gathered new information on Dr. King in the essay, “Heeding the Call” by Diana Childress. From his childhood to his last days, Martin faced massive opposition. Still, all of these challenges brought Martin the wisdom and idealism he used throughout his life.
King gets his point across, that segregation is unfair and morally not right, and that man has a responsibility to act against unjust laws, by using many different strategies throughout the letter. He uses logos, pathos, and ethos to do so. While using these devices he shows emotion, gives logic to his reasoning’s and gives credibility as well. First and foremost, King calmly responded to the statement from the clergymen that his non-violent direct action was “unwise and untimely”. King logically does so by describing the situation where the negro leaders tried many times to negotiate with the city fathers to remove racial barriers, but the promises never held true.
Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, was well known for his nonviolent movement to bring justice and to an end to the segregation of the people in the United States back in the 1950s. With King being the leader of a peaceful protest, it failed to bring equally to the colored people. Martin Luther King, Jr. was labeled as an “outsider” who was “hatred and violence” and that his actions were “unwise and untimely” from the Public Statement by Eight Alabama Clergymen (clergymen). In response, on the day of April 16, 1963, he wrote the Letter from Birmingham Jail to declare and defense his movement was not “unwise and untimely” at all. To analyze his points, King used the powerful literary devices of pathos- use of an emotional appeal.ethos-
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the greatest civil rights leaders to ever live. Through his empowering speeches, he made a huge impact on the world for the equality of all races. Throughout King’s life, he showed everyone how he believed equality should be acquired. With his peaceful protests and amazing speeches, he influenced people both during his time and after he passed. Many believe that King’s work in the Civil Rights Movement was the final push that America needed to finally respect people no matter their skin color.
talks about how African Americans in the South were being arrested and publicly chastened by the police force for their nonviolent protests. But, he extols these protests because of what they stand for. He says they “…preserve the evil system of segregation…I wish you had commended the Negro demonstrators of Birmingham for their sublime courage, their willingness to suffer, and their amazing discipline in the midst of the most inhuman provocation” (94). Because these people were aiming to end the discrimination they were facing, and did this in a peaceful manner that respected their Judeo-Christian values that all men are created equal, King saw it as exactly what this oppressed group needed. They needed a push of confidence to know that they were being treated unjustly, and that they did have the power to stand up to
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was the most widely known civil rights activist of the 1960s. Although most famous for his I Have a Dream speech, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote several more influential speeches for the Civil Rights Movement – an American movement that sought to extend equal rights to all U.S. citizens. During his lifetime, he was known for practicing nonviolence in the hopes to obtain social and economic equality of all African Americans. While equality exists amongst the races today, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did not get to see the fulfillment of his dream. On April 4, 1968, he was assassinated on the balcony of his hotel room in Memphis, Tennessee.
Martin Luther King Jr. came from a middle class home with two loving and supportive parents. He was born in Georgia, January 15, 1929. Dr. King Jr. was one of three children. The impact he had on black and white audiences changed the way they viewed segregation and unity. He was such a revolutionary orator that he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. Martin Luther King Jr. was the living definition of a prototypical nonconformist, which is a person who does not change their initial thoughts or actions based off of what others do. The reason prototypical nonconformist defines him so well is because his speeches were written to inspire all races, especially young African Americans to use non-violence to resolve any issues and to never lose sight of their dreams. His most famous “I Have a Dream” speech spoke about uplifting one another to help achieve each other’s goals with the absence of hatred and violence. He also brought forth the knowledge that God does not see any race more superior than an...
Dr. King brilliantly weaves so many subtleties into such a relatively short speech that almost 50 years later it still must be analyzed to no end. Dr. King was a southern Baptist preacher before he was sucked into the leading role of the civil rights movement, I’m sure that had a great effect on his ability to give a speech. Dr. King knew just what to say, when to say it, and how to say it. From this we can see Dr. King’s lasting effect, and the fact that although we have come far in the area of civil rights, we still have a long way to go and it will be Dr. King’s timeless words that usher us into a new era of prosperity and brotherhood.
In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the speech “I have a Dream,” in attempt to end all racism throughout the United States. Baptist minister and Civil Rights Activist, Martin played a pivotal role in ending the legal segregation of African American Citizens throughout the south and other areas of the nation. Not only was he a part of that, but he also was a part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and he fought for African Americans voting rights in 1965. King craved for a nation that accepted each other for their personality, rather than their skin color. He wanted all men to be equal, as the Bible says to do. He took the first step in achieving his goals and voiced his opinion to everyone who had the ears to listen.
King peacefully pleads for racial tolerance and the end of segregation by appealing to the better side of white Americans. His attempt to persuade America about the justice of his cause, and to gain support for the civil rights movement, was emotionally moving. He spoke to all races, but his rhetoric was patriotic, and culturally similar to, and focused on African-Americans. He was able to make practical use of a history many Americans are proud of. The use of repetition reinforced his words, making it simpler and more straightforward to follow.
Dr. King utilized personal experiences that helped the audience relate to the message that the speech conveyed. Dr. King referred to the different acts and instances that proved that Negros were not equal to the white man. In these quotes: "The Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.”, “our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only."” and, “a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.” In which, at least one person in the audience had experienced firsthand and this is how Dr. King drew their attention and jeering. Dr. King brought this to the attention of the audience by explaining how America is not equal and Negros should acknowledge and demand to be treated fairly. The Lincoln Memorial and the first line of the
He felt that all Americans should be equal and that they should forget about injustice and segregation. He wanted America to know what the problems were and wanted to point out the way to resolve these problems. In his speech, King uses different types of rhetorical guidelines. He uses them to show his points in a better and easier way to understand. At the beginning he successfully uses mythos. A myth has a deep explanatory or symbolic resonance for the audience.
Dr. King had been one of the greatest leading person during the 21st century. Fifty years later till this day, the message he has portrayed, is still being reviewed today. The ideas that King had brought along in his speeches would still be relevant to civil problems that are occurring in the United States currently. One of the most incredible moments in his life at the time was when he conveyed his tendency from human rights onto the stage of the world; educating the listeners, while obtaining the Nobel Peace Prize Award.
Martin Luther King Jr. was the most influential leader of the American Civil Rights Movement as he fought for the freedom of African Americans. King’s most influential speech is his “I Have a Dream” given on August 28, 1963.1 King himself was a man whom thousands of people admired. Martin Luther King Jr. uses an expressive tone in his speeches by using verbal powerful imagery toward his audience, reminding them of the challenges facing them and defeating racism. Martin Luther King Jr. inspired others to take action, lead by example, as shown in his speeches and promoted non-violence as a method for change.
The purpose of the speech was to address the issues of segregation and racism as a whole. King speaks about the issues of racism and segregation in America during the 1960’s. He encourages the use of non-violent protests and to fight for equality to help America solve the issue. King begins his speech by referencing important historical documents such as the Constitution of the United States and the Emancipation Proclamation. This is emphasized when he states, ”Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation.