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How Did Martin Luther King Use Ethos In Civil Rights

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1963, time of the Civil Rights Movement, and the world was one of chaos and the fight for equality was at its end. 250,000 people congregated at Washington D.C. to listen to Martin Luther King Jr. express his and his followers views on the issue of racial injustice. His words persuaded and inspired many to not only end inequality, but to expose of it. However, none of this would of been possible if good ole rhetorical devices didn’t come into play. His superb usage of ethos, logos, and pathos quite possibly changed the outcome of the Civil Rights Movement. King inspired millions to change the situation they were in and end discrimination with his emphatic diction. Unbeknownst to many, allusion was one of King’s most powerful and persuading forms of rhetorical devices in his, I Have a Dream,” speech. “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” is guaranteed to both black men as well as white men, was a phrase spoken by King …show more content…

Pathos is a very key ingredient in the process of persuading people, and while everybody tugs at people’s heartstrings, King used it to change the opinion of all that remain on the fence between inequality and equality. “Let us not wallow in the valley of of despair.” That sounds like torture, and that's why many fought for black rights, it sounded like a life of pure pain and suffering, causing many to hate the idea of blacks being forced to endure such discriminative horrors. He of course doesn’t use all negative words, but words of hope and positive thoughts, “An oasis of freedom and justice… a beautiful symphony of brotherhood...we will be free one day.” This sounds like a world of peace and tranquility, thus many people were persuaded to go and free the oppressed African Americans so they could all live in this world

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King uses pathos to trigger the emotions of his readers to understand the emotional trauma he and his people are going through. In his letter King expresses how he and his people go through tragic events, as he states how “[one’s] first name becomes “nigger,” [and one’s] middle name becomes “boy” (however old [he is],)” or how the police force let “its dogs [sink] their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes.” This shows traumatic emotional trauma in the reader as the reader realizes how horrible people like King have it in their segregated society. This also persuades the reader in believing in what he is saying due to the realization to how disturbing a colored life may be. Yet, King also uses pathos to inspire the people reading.

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During the 1960s, the country was in upheaval which caused division between the government and the citizens. Two influential men of the South, George C. Wallace and Martin Luther King, cry out to America in favor of freedom, nevertheless their understanding of freedom of choice was conflicted. The Civil Rights Movement was at a pinnacle state when Wallace and King clarified their beliefs pertaining to true freedom and who was entitled them. The two contending views attempted to move the people in the direction which they believed was in the best interest of the country. The Kairos, Ethos, Logos and Pathos method will be used to compare the speeches and the impact they had on our country’s history and future.

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Martin Luther King Jr’s rhetorical choices stressed the importance of remaining non-violent as well as trying to view the world in the perspective of the opposition. Those choices proved powerful to people of all races. Martin Luther King Jr. incorporated all three modes of persuasion in his speech but it is clear that pathos is the primary vehicle in which he chose to move his audience. Martin Luther King Jr. uses pathos because of the diverse audience itself. If he were to spend all of his time writing his speech on the legislative aspect of the civil rights movement, his speech would not have had the same impact as it did.

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Martin Luther King Jr. was a strong leader in the Civil Rights movement, the son and grandson of a minister, and one heck of a letter writer. As he sits in a cell of Birmingham Jail in 1963, he responds to criticism from eight white clergymen. Though this letter was intended for the judgemental and condescending men of high faith, his response touched the hearts and minds of the entire U.S. population, then, and for years to come. In his tear-jerking, mind-opening letter, King manages to completely discredit every claim made by the clergymen while keeping a polite and formal tone. Metaphors, allusions, and rhetorical questions are used in the most skillful way to support his argument and ultimately convince his audience of the credibility behind his emotional, yet factual, claims.

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On August 28th, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr gave us one of one of the most rhetorically moving speeches ever given. Titled as the “I Have a Dream Speech,” he read this speech to the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom”. As a civil right mover he gave this great speech to all Americans (black and white) so that he could give off the idea of equality on the same level. Because of his crowd of mix races King made sure to make his speech imploring to all no matter what the race that they may be. He uses metaphorical imagery, powerful diction,and symbolism to create an impact on the audience.

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During the era of the civil rights movements in the 60s, among the segregation, racism, and injustice against the blacks, Martin Luther King Jr. stood at the Lincoln Memorial to deliver one of the greatest public speeches for freedom in that decade. In Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech he effectively uses ethos, diction and powerful metaphors to express the brutality endured by African American people. Yet his most important method of reaching his audience, and conveying his enduring message of equality and freedom for the whole nation was his appeal to pathos. With these devices, King was able to move thousands of hearts and inspire the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Opening his speech Martin Luther King Jr. sets up his credibility with his use of ethos, referring to the Declaration of Independence saying, “This note was a promise that all men… would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life.”

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The use of these elements is highlighted in the sentence, “Now it is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.” The use of emotive language is observed with the incorporation of the words “dark” and “desolate” when describing segregation. This reminds his audience of the present time where African Americans and White Americans are divided and this causes his target audience to remember the times when they are treated unfairly because of their skin color and they will be urged to look for a positive change. As for the use of glittering generalities, this is observed when King uses the words “sunlit” and "justice” when describing the future he desires for African Americans. This use of positive words causes his audience to yearn for it more as they will want a positive change from their wretched present filled with racial inequalities.

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In August of 1963, the civil rights activist, Martin Luther King Jr., made his infamous “I Have a Dream” speech. King confronts the absence of free will that African Americans had in civilization. He assertively argues and emotionally states to his audience with the use of sympathy, repetition, and logic that African Americans went through a large amount of discrimination and how it is time for injustice to end. These rhetorical strategies allow the audience to sufficiently connect with Martin’s message. Martin Luther King Jr. appeals to the sympathy of his listeners through his abrupt and bold tone with the way a slave owner treated African Americans.

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Allusions are used in this speech to create associations with the American ideals of freedom, equality, and justice, and to persuade MLK’s audiences of his belief in civil rights. King uses allusions throughout the speech to create ethos by quoting from historical documents that express the American values of freedom and equality,

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King speaks volume and reflects on injustice because it basically means that no matter what we do for justice there’s always gonna be a threat, a problem, a concern no matter what and its been like that for over 400 years and nothing to stop the threat. That’s taking our families apart, hurting innocent blacks. As we are children of a higher power , our faith and destiny are convoluted and what happens to one human being happens to all of us. Dr. King was willing to lead and put his foot first on the front line exposing him to violence rather than obey unjust laws of segregation. “Give justice to weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute” (Psalm 82:3) “But i tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:43-48).

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961 Words | 4 Pages

used both logos and pathos in his speech and in his letter. He used pathos to appeal to the people 's emotions and logos to appeal to logic,to evidence and to support reasoning. He used pathos to show how unfair and unjust it was and how cruel they are treated. King used logos to show how long it has been that they have silently took this unjust treatment and how it is ruining society and tarnishing the people. In conclusion, King showed how using both pathos and logos can inspire change and shows that sometimes the pen is mightier than the

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853 Words | 4 Pages

The “I Have a Dream” speech is well known throughout history to be one of the most famous speeches to be on the subject of civil rights. Throughout the entirety of “I Have a Dream”, Dr. King uses pathos more than logos. “We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.”

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On August 28, 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a famous speech during the March on Washington for Jobs and freedom, this speech was called “I have a dream.” This speech was focused on ending racism and equal rights for African Americans during the civil rights movement. He displays a great amount of pathos, logos, and ethos in his speech. Martin Luther King Jr. displays pathos by targeting the audience’s emotion by talking about his American dream that could also be other peoples too. He shows logos by giving a sense of hope to the people that better things will come in time.

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To achieve this, he used rhetorical strategies such as appeal to pathos and repetition. His passionate tone flowed through these strategies, increasing their persuasive power on the people and encouraging them to follow/listen to his message on racial injustice. While pathos elicits an emotional response from the audience to make them more accepting of King’s ideas, repetition structures the speech and emphasizes key ideas for the audience to take away from listening. These two techniques played a crucial role in furthering his purpose and in provoking a powerful response from the audience that made this speech memorable and awe-inspiring. To this day, King’s speech remains one of the most famous and influential speeches in

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used allusion, metaphors, and repetitions in his speech to try to convince Americans to open up their door of selfishness and welcome change. Dr. King used metaphor to let people better understand things that they don’t necessarily know. KIng also used allusions to show people his ideas compared to theirs, and to make people remember certain things that those people said that goes against what the audience is doing. Finally, Dr. King used repetitions to show people something that is really important, and to remind them about things in the past that should be remembered. In the end, Martin Luther King Jr. “I have a dream” speech used many rhetorical devices to try to convince people to change their ways, open the doors of selfishness, and invite change.

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