Anaphora In Letter From Birmingham Jail

For as long as anyone can remember, Black Americans have been seen as a race to be pushed and prodded without an outburst. And for a while, it was just that; until many learned to use their voice for good. One person, in particular, was Martin Luther King Jr, a Civil Rights activist and a fighter for his and every other minority’s rights. In the 1900s, racism was at a peak. With the decision of Plessy vs. Ferguson making segregation legal, tension grew amongst Black and White Americans. Martin Luther King and other Black Americans experienced hate crime after hate crime because they were different from White Americans. He thought he should say something on the matter by using his greatest ability; a speech. Martin Luther King’s speech “I Have

King repeated many of his words throughout the speech, but the words he chose to repeat had an impact on his entire address and left the audience thinking about certain things. For example, King repeats the words “we can never be satisfied as long as…” and “we cannot be satisfied as long as…” until he finishes that part of his speech with, “No, no we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream” (King). He repeats “satisfied” over and over to tell the Black Americans they cannot settle any longer and that they have to higher their standards when thinking about their rights. King’s repeating of those same phrases not only makes those sentences memorable but also makes an impact on the audience. Another, for example, “I have a dream…” (King). This phrase not only impacted his audience in the 1960s but also impacted every citizen in America in the 2000s. With the use of anaphora, the words stick and King uses anaphora to get the audience to fixate on what those repeated words mean to them and their future. It gave the audience a sense of inspiration to also dream and have hope for a better future to come and want to fight for