Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech was one of the most prolific persuasion/ inspirational writings constructed in history. The fact that the speech was written by a black man in 1960’s America signifies how much power the words had to possess in order to appeal to an opposing audience, furthermore the speech’s delivery from King himself was in direct accordance with what African-American people of the time were feeling; in summary, King felt and captured the pulse of the crowd. The spiritual song-like format in which the speech was written is one explanation as to why the speech inspired change. The southern African-American culture of that time was deeply rooted in the Baptist church, and a significant part of the church’s worship was the singing of songs (the genre’s definition being “negro spirituals”, songs originally sang by slaves while they were working in the fields). If you were to look for patterns within the speech’s lines, you would become aware of the repetitive words which always had a subliminal motive behind them, motives being to enlighten, empower, and encourage the people to take a stand for change, but the speech’s poetic flow was made to sound like that of a traditional song sang in church. For instance, in the second paragraph, King speaks of the “one hundred years” of oppression (after the Emancipation Proclamation) that the black man faced in American society.  The “one hundred years” is a motif within this portion of the speech, what it delivered to the speech was communal flow, meaning that King was speaking the right words, to the right people, at the right time, and in the right fashion. This style of writing and speaking captured the audience’ attention and ultimately was able to keep that attention and make the people relate to the speech. The location where the speech was delivered (the Lincoln Monument in Washington D.C.) was aesthetic to the message that Martin Luther King Jr. was conveying. In the very opening of the speech he said: “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation.”- He goes on to say that the message that Lincoln delivered that day served as a “Beacon light of Hope” to millions of slaves who had been unjustly persecuted in this country, and the rest of the speech was a reminder of what was promised on that day; the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness for all men. The visual effect of being at that location while hearing such powerful words being delivered in such an emotional fashion- obviously had a great impact on (not only those who were in attendance) but on our nation as a whole; that venue, in that time period was perfect for the message being conveyed. No other venue could have stirred up as much emotion for the cause of Civil Rights, it’s sort of like the Woodstock concerts; the original concert promoted free love and expression and ended up being one of the most memorable events for that generation, whereas the 1990’s version was an attempt to recapture the magic of the original, but ended up being a perversion of the original and is remembered as an event that went down in infamy. For the many African-Americans who listened to King speak, one may say that after the speech was done, there was a new feeling of hope in the air; a feeling that had long been suppressed by discrimination. They were inspired to “lift every voice and sing”, protest, and shed blood for the cause of freedom and equality. For those who were white (and likely on the opposing side of the political movement), the speech did provoke thought within them. Whether they liked it or not, they were at least forced to think about what King had said; after which they had a side to choose. Overall, civil rights for all men became a hot topic after the “I Have a Dream” speech, and it could no longer be ignored by anyone regardless of beliefs; it was a speech that changed our nation for the better.