Martin Luther King's Techniques Used In I Ve Been To The Mountaintop

One of many people who peacefully fought for civil rights was Martin Luther King Jr. “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” was a speech given on April 3, 1963. Martin Luther King Jr. gave this very grand, powerful speech to a church of people in Memphis, Tennessee. During the 1960’s the rights of African Americans were extremely limited and unfair. An effect of this was protests, boycotts, and many speeches. These protests eventually achieved the role of equal rights for all, but only after unjust persecution. One persuasive technique used during King’s speech was logos. One example logos used in “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”: “...there are thirteen hundred of God’s children here suffering, sometimes going hungry, going through dark and dreary nights wondering how this is going to come out.” This is a good use of logos because thirteen

One example of ethos that Martin Luther used in his speech, “And every now and then we’d get in jail and we’d see the jailers looking through the windows being moved by our prayers, and being moved by our words and our songs.” This makes him credible because it is stating how he had been jailed previously, and he is also willing to go back, if it meant getting a change in civil rights. “But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right.”, is a quote from “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”. This example of ethos is referring to the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights directly state's equal rights for men and women regardless of race in the United States. Since Martin Luther King Jr. indirectly quoted a part of the Constitution it made his speech more arguable. The more credible King made his speech the stronger the speech would be. Transition