Rhetorical Analysis Of I Have A Dream Speech

Martin Luther King Jr's “I Have a Dream'' speech, delivered on 28 August 1963, at Lincoln Memorial, highlights that “with this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day,” (AmericanRhetoric, par 26, 2023). Martin Luther King Jr emphasized the nation’s failure to keep the promises of freedom, equality, and justice, for everyone, for a score of 100 years. King’s speech reminds the audience of the long history of racial discrimination and segregation, then exemplifies the need for unity among all Americans for a peaceful protest for equality. The purpose of his speech is to bring awareness of the problem of inequality

During his speech, King emphasizes his point by speaking at a slow rate, while using appropriate vocabulary to describe the problem and his solutions; the problem being that “the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination” (AmericanRhetoric, par 3, 2023) and to solve the lack of equality, “we must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence” (AmericanRhetoric, par 8, 2023). Although King spoke the truth of inequality in America by underlining the negatives of participating in the protest, that people will get hurt and blamed for wrongful deeds, he failed to provide additional information on the successfulness of the protest. Although the movement was a pyrrhic victory, King should have implemented a better plan and focused on his ideas of the movement rather than telling the audience to follow faith. If King were to speak more about the civil rights movement, he could have gained more supporters, especially White Americans; White Americans did not join the movement because many were afraid to face the same discrimination faced by African