ipl-logo

Social Justice In Martin Luther King's 'I' Ve Been To The Mountaintop

713 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Speeches about racism

In the speech “I’ve been to the Mountaintop,” written by Martin Luther King Junior, King connects economic justice with racial justice. King does this when he says, “Now we’re going to march again, and we’ve got to march again, in order to put the issue where it is supposed to be -- and force everybody to see that there are thirteen hundred of God’s children here suffering, sometimes going hungry, going through dark and dreary nights wondering how this thing is going to come out” (Page 3). King is connecting both economic justice with racial justice when he includes the fact that many black people are starting to starve. This is because, black people were given low-paying jobs because of the color of their skin. This discrimination shows a …show more content…

For example, as King states, “We are choosing these companies because they haven’t been fair in their hiring policies; and we are choosing them because they can begin the process of saying they are going to support the needs and the rights of these men who are on strike” (Page 5). King is saying that if black workers boycott the businesses that refuse to hire them, those businesses will lose business. If they lose business, they will be willing to do anything to help their company thrive. Even if that means supporting racial justice, something they may not be in favor of. This economic justice would lead to the advance of the cause of racial justice. Economic justice would also strengthen black institutions, according to King. King says, “But not only that, we’ve got to strengthen black institutions [...]” (Page 5). By strengthening black institutions, the average man would be able to see how intelligent, and hard-working blacks truly are. If white men see that the blacks are capable of producing something so time-managing such as their own institutions, it would urge them to fight for racial justice, and show that black people can do so much more than what they are limited to

Show More
Related
1001 Words | 5 Pages

In the year of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested on and placed in jail. While there, he wrote a six page letter to the clergymen of Birmingham on why he had a right to be there protesting. In order to persuade them, he used ethos, pathos, and logos in his writing. King’s letter not achieved his original goal in proving his right to protest, but the letter now provides an example to today’s generation on how to peacefully protest the problems that are faced today.

Read More
803 Words | 4 Pages

King shows this social power white control by detailing how the white race does not want justice, they want to maintain order. The order during this time period is having control and power over all other races. The white moderate does not care for justice of the black race, but only for the discipline of these individuals that fight back because it may affect the power that they currently

Read More
756 Words | 4 Pages

On April 3, 1968 King delivered his final speech “I’ve been to the mountaintop,” in Memphis Tennessee to a massive crowd at the Bishop Charles Mason Temple Church of God. His speech was to bring awareness to the unsafe working condition and wages that the African American sanitation workers received. Prior to Reverend King’s speech on Feb. 12, 1968 roughly one thousand black Memphis sanitation workers went on strike and refused to work until their demands were met. Unfortunately, their request was denied and King, as well as Reverend James T. Lawson, traveled to Memphis to lead a nonviolent march but some of the participants started to become violent breaking windows of building and looting. This was a setback for the peaceful boycott due to rowdy few one person was shot and killed.

Read More
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)

Read More
251 Words | 2 Pages

We live in a world with currently many conflicts from the racial disparity in high incarceration rates to gun violence and the war over gun rights. In his letter, King describes that Black Americans have no identity and that the oppressed cannot remain oppressed forever. King implies that they cannot be told to “wait for justice” because if they simply

Read More
829 Words | 4 Pages

We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied to a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly”. King addresses the fact that even though at the time blacks are the ones being segregated upon, it still affects the white community, not just blacks. This quote is relevant to the entirety of the paper because the whole letter is focused on injustices and how they have affected

Read More
732 Words | 3 Pages

“Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.” (King). King calms the African Americans who are being oppressed by using the words, “this situation can and will be changed.” and “Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.” which gives them hope that there will be a new day when a change will take place.

Read More
1013 Words | 5 Pages

He places the strong authority of the declaration on his side to show how the American people are in contradiction to their own “sacred obligation” and the Negros have gotten a “bad check.” A metaphor representing the unfulfilled promise of human rights for the African Americans. King skillfully evokes an emotional response from all races with the use of religion: “Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.” By doing this he finds a common ground that brings black and whites closer with a common belief in God they share, as well as the mention of

Read More
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)

Read More
674 Words | 3 Pages

“I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”, is the name of the final speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee, at Mason Temple on April, 3, 1968. The speech motivates listeners to fight against social injustice even at the darkest of times, and to push forward until the light can shine through even the darkest of areas. MLK uses imagery, simile, and antithesis to get his points across to the audience without having it obvious and bland. As well as to get the audience to pay more attention and pull them into what is stated.

Read More
1272 Words | 6 Pages

King describes a path for the African American people to follow “... to make real the promises of Democracy.” (600), “...to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path racial justice.” (600), and “...to open the doors of opportunity to all of God’s children.” (600). King uses this to provide a plausible, rational path for the equal rights movement to work towards.

Read More
1348 Words | 6 Pages

King uses it in his speech in order to express all his points. First, King writes that “the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.” This antithesis makes the audience realize that the Negroes have been left behind and ignored while the rest of modern society has charged forward into prosperity and fortune. From this revelation, the audience will also realize that it is no fault of the Negro that they have been left behind – in contrast, modern society have been dragging them back through racism. In order to dispel any misguided ideas that whites have of the Negroes’ fortune, King tells them directly that Negroes are in poverty as everybody is blocking them from entering the ocean of “material prosperity.”

Read More
261 Words | 2 Pages

In Martin Luther King’s famous speech, King argued for freedom of African Americans by using metaphors to illustrate the serious effects and tolerance of discrimination in society. To motivate the public to take action, King created a scenario on how the Africans were treated amongst their white peers. “ the negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity” Moreover, King used a metaphor to highlight the ignorance of African Americans by representing their isolation as an “island of poverty”. In addition, he represented the white people’s capability of wealth in the perspective of an African American as being “in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity”. In other words, the effects of

Read More
945 Words | 4 Pages

Two score and 13 years ago people with colored skin were being segregated for everyday activities like drinking from a water fountain and going to school. Martin Luther King and many others were tired of not getting the treatment they were promised as a whole, so Martin Luther King wrote his famous “I have a Dream” speech, to address the problem that was sweeping the nation. He wanted to persuade the nation to treat Black people with equality and respect. The black population was not going to rest until they received their rights that they were promised when Abraham Lincoln said the “Emancipation Proclamation” . King has a dream and has faith that one day everyone will be equal, everyone will have rights, and that there will be everlasting

Read More
730 Words | 3 Pages

King uses this appeal to logic to explain that African Americans can't really do anything to enforce a change and get treated equally because

Read More

More about Social Justice In Martin Luther King's 'I' Ve Been To The Mountaintop

Related Topics

Open Document