Rhetorical devices are essential in developing a form of persuasiveness to an audience. Freedom fighters are examples of individuals who utilize rhetorical devices. They strive to achieve this goal of persuading listeners to grow their voices due to the fact that it benefits them to have more people assist to fight for the rights of minorities. Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, and Fredrick Douglass are some of many freedom fighters. During their time, the U.S. did not treat African Americans with the same respect as they did white Americans. As a result of this, African Americans started to fight for equality by organizing protests, boycotting, and giving speeches. Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, and Fredrick Douglass all fought for …show more content…
was one of the most significant African American freedom fighters in America. He gave his well-known speech, “I Have a Dream”, on August 28, 1963, to an audience of about 250,000 people. King presents his speech using symbolism, personification, and euphemism to convey to his audience how he feels about how African Americans are being treated. He says, “It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.” [King, 1963]. King symbolizes the “long night of captivity” to slavery to give his audience a feeling of what it might’ve felt like to be enslaved. King also states, “...the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.” [King, 1963]. To summarize his words. King is saying that African Americans are trapped due to the treatment of white Americans. They can’t escape the segregation, discrimination, and poverty America has put them in. Lastly, he says, “America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.’” [King, 1963]. Martin Luther King Jr. uses euphemism in this quote. He doesn’t give a direct answer but instead describes the feeling or action, almost like