I Have A Dream Ethos Pathos Logos

"I have a dream" by Martin Luther King is one of the most well-known speeches that radically changed the landscape of the Civil Rights Movement due to the impact it had on the listeners in attendance as well as the articulate and fluent language. It was on the date August 28th, 1963 that Martin Luther King proudly presented his unforgettable speech in front of over 200,000 people assembled around the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington. To many African Americans in the 1960s, his speech was uplifting and encouraging. The factor motivating King to write this speech was that he saw how African Americans were not treated equally even though the Declaration of Independence stated that "all men are created equal, that they are endowed

These beginning lines help connect King to the audience and lays the foundation for the rest of the speech. Following these introductory lines, King alters his center of attention and starts to focus on America's history and the beginning of our nation. He states "five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice........". In this section of the speech, King alludes to Abraham Lincoln and the history of America to gain credibility with his audience. He also touches on what Lincoln's actions meant to the African American community and the impact of the signing of the emancipation proclamation. This is where he is heavily relying on ethos. King alludes to the founding fathers later on in the speech and mentions their actions and intent in order to further exhibit his credibility. The founding fathers vision of a nondiscriminatory nation had not yet been completed. King pointed out "When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent

This is can be seen at many different points in his speech. "I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trial and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest – quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality." Here he is showing how there is tremendous racial inequality towards African Americans and how they did not have the same liberty and freedom. His logic clearly exists with racial equality. "It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro." He knew that in any nation, African Americans must have equal standing with whites. "I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" - one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers." He knew that for a nation to be truly free, there must be racial