Martin Luther King Freedom Speech Analysis

Three score years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. taught us the true meaning of the word freedom, leaving an indelible mark on America. During the Civil Rights Movement, King preached that nonviolence and civil disobedience are the only way to fight for freedom, successfully leading Blacks in their quest for the “unalienable rights” promised by our Founding Fathers. “We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline,” he urged. Freedom, he believed, is the ability for all men to think, speak, and act in the public sphere. Education is the key to thinking, speaking, and acting in a coherent and persuasive manner. Like the biblical parable in which Jesus preaches the benefit of teaching a man to fish, rather than

Freedom will not be given by those who are in authority and power; we need to take it for ourselves. This is martin Luther king’s general message, one that has universal application to all of us is irrespective of race. King understood that America was not free despite the claims of the Founding Fathers and Abraham Lincoln. He believed that the principles that inspired the American Republic are sound. What he sought for the Black community was access to the public sphere so that Blacks might enjoy the benefits of politics inspired by freedom, justice, and equality, and bear the burden of responsibility for maintaining the American Republic for the long term. He encouraged Black and White Americans alike to throw off the yoke of immaturity and tries to spread freethinking throughout the world. He preached, “Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand’s of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children”. Freedom, King realized, must include justice for all. He saw the very concept of “second class citizenship” fostered by segregation as a danger to the health of the American Republic, and a threat that undermined the legitimacy of the founding documents and the principles that inspired them. Social norms are not always acceptable. We have to stand up to the injustices that plague our