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I Have A Dream Speech

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Segregation had been very common in the South, in the 1960’s. Nobody was treated equally, segregation was everywhere and on behalf of Jim Crow laws, inhumane ideas accumulated. African Americans were treated as if they were animals, which is morally wrong. Both the letter and the speech give examples of emotional and logical reasoning to make the reader think and actually feel how the African Americans felt in the rough world during segregation. The letter and speech that are used to compare and also to contrast in rhetorical devices are “I Have A Dream” and “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Both are written and/or spoken by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Segregation and diversity in the letter and speech are described in logos and pathos to make …show more content…

King uses reasoning to specify the details about the struggles in African American life during the 1960’s. In “I Have a Dream,” King states the facts about how African Americans are still not free many years later: “But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free” (King para. 3). The quote above indicates that after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, 100 years later the African Americans are still treated inhumanely as if the Emancipation Proclamation was never signed. These facts are explained through King’s words as he and many others went through these problems. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” King states why he is in Birmingham and who went with him when he says, “So I, along with several members of my staff, am here because I was invited here. I am here because I have organizational ties here” (King para.2). In the quote above, King explains his reasoning as for why he appears in Birmingham. Invited to Birmingham, King had come to help injustice. He already knew on his way there that many will treat him wrong because of the color of his skin, not by personality. Although, Birmingham is one of the most unfair and highly segregated cities in the United States, King is willing to risk his life for the freedom of African

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307 Words | 2 Pages

“I am in Birmingham because unjustice is here...calling for aid” (Springboard book, 207). The cruel reality was that in Birmingham they were unjustice and they descriminated the blacks. Marthin Luther King Jr. was against the laws and customs, for this reason, he came to Birmingham because he felt like the blacks

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333 Words | 2 Pages

In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King, Jr. is responding to criticism of the peaceful protests and sit-in’s that were taking place in Birmingham, which led to his being arrested and the reason that he was in jail. He first responds to the accusation of being an “outsider” by setting the stage for his being in Birmingham due to being invited because of his ties to the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights organization and due to the fact that he is president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Next, Martin Luther King expands on his moral beliefs that there is “injustice” in the way that Birmingham is “the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States”.

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828 Words | 4 Pages

Dr. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”: Just and Unjust Laws Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is a letter to eight white clergymen while he’s sitting in a jail cell, the result of a protest in Birmingham, Alabama that King, a Georgian, traveled to attend. Due to the criticisms of the clergymen, he commences his letter by explaining why he needed to come to Birmingham. King states that he was there for a multitude of reasons, the first being that he had organizational ties to Birmingham, the second being that he was there because there was injustice in Birmingham. He states that as a citizen of America, injustice in Birmingham is not removed from justice anywhere else because everything is interrelated, and that injustice

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895 Words | 4 Pages

In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. led a peaceful movement in Birmingham, Alabama. The purpose of the demonstration was to bring awareness and end to racial disparity in Birmingham. Later that night, King and his followers were detained by city authorities. While in custody, King wrote the famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” This letter voiced out his disappointment in the criticisms, and oppositions that the general public and clergy peers obtained.

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1263 Words | 6 Pages

Dr. King stood in front of many people and gave his speech, which was created to strike the people’s emotions of how African Americans suffered and why they wanted a change. In contrast, the letter was created to show the reasoning behind wanting a change, because he was writing to his fellow clergymen who said his actions were unwise and untimely. In Dr. King’s speech and letter, he uses rhetorical appeals many times to compel the feelings and reasoning behind the civil rights movement. In Dr. King’s famous speech, “I Have a Dream” he appealed to the audiences’ emotions about the topic of inequality and he proved his logic and reasoning for the Civil Rights movement. When Dr. King gave his speech about the inequality of African Americans, he backed himself up with reasoning to prove why equality was needed.

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623 Words | 3 Pages

He was their voice. Throughout the “letter” Dr. King demonstrated pathos by engaging his readers of the struggle of being an African American descent. Dr. King starts off by letting his readers know that he was confined during the time of the letter was written and he was addressing the eight clergymen who called his action of a peaceful protest “untimely and unwise”. (King Jr., p. 645) However, he continues to explain his reason for being in Birmingham by saying that injustice was present and he could not just sit in another state and watch it;” Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

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1546 Words | 7 Pages

When responding to the eight white clergymen, he states, “Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas,” giving the reader the notion that a plethora of criticism must come across his desk. But, he has chosen to write a response and explain himself simply because King feels they are “men of genuine good will” and their criticism is “sincerely set forth.” After the introduction of his letter, he feels he must next explain his location at the time: Birmingham Jail. “I am in Birmingham because injustice is here,” says King. This quote lets the reader know there is a reason behind King’s arrest, a very good reason, too.

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1522 Words | 7 Pages

A Letter From Birmingham Jail Martin Luther King Jr. is a name that will never be forgotten, and that will go down in the books for all of time. He was foremost a civil rights activist throughout the 1950s and 1960s. during his lifetime, which lasted from January of 1929 to April of 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister and a social activist and was known for his non- violent protests. He believed that all people, no matter the color, have a moral responsibility to break unjust laws and to take a direct action rather than waiting forever for justice to come through and finally be resolved. In the Spring of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. stated in a speech that Birmingham was among one of the most segregated cities in the world.

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886 Words | 4 Pages

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech had a great deal of logos and pathos appeals to persuade his audience to speak out against segregation and to give all men the rights they deserve. He often gave a clear line of reasoning supported by evidence in his speech, like when he says: “This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”... America has defaulted on this promissory note, ... given the Negro people a bad check… which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” (King para. 4)

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959 Words | 4 Pages

Although that was enough reason to be in Birmingham King goes on further to say that he is in Birmingham because injustice is here. King says he couldn’t ignore the fact there was injustice in Birmingham regardless if he was an outsider or not. King goes on to say that “injustice anywhere is a danger to justice everywhere” this builds on the theory that “whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. Defending his belief on just and unjust laws, King uses a quote of St. Augustine the quote says, “A unjust law is no law at all.” King uses this to answer the criticism on how can you advocate people to obey one law but breaking others.

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829 Words | 4 Pages

Injustices in Birmingham While sitting in the Birmingham jail in 1963, Martin Luther King Jr., writes a powerful and emotional letter to the clergymen of Birmingham. In his letter, he responds to the harsh criticism and injustices he received for simply protesting peacefully without a permit. King states in his letter, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

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1013 Words | 5 Pages

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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970 Words | 4 Pages

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech had a great deal of logos and pathos appeals to persuade his audience to speak out against segregation and to give all men the rights they deserve. He gave many reasons in his speech to make the audience excited and want to take action, like when he says: “This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”... America has defaulted on this promissory note, ... given the Negro people a bad check… which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” (King para. 4)

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789 Words | 4 Pages

In 1963 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. protested the racial segregation in Birmingham and got arrested. While he was in jail he read a newspaper and 8 white clergymen stated their opinion of him. That inspired his Letter From Birmingham Jail. After he got out he continued to protest and  he wrote his I Have a Dream Speech. He spoke in front of about 10,000 people in Washington DC.

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642 Words | 3 Pages

In 1963, Martin Luther King delivered one of the most influential and impactful speeches in history. King's I Have a Dream speech was consistently powerful assertions of emotional appeals, repetition and paradox. In King’s speech, he utilizes pathos to build a relationship between his black and white audience. This is evident through his references to both  black and white children and the history of slavery which appealed to the audience members of the older generation.

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