On August 28, 1963, American civil rights activist, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., delivered one of the most famous public speeches in American history. During the political rally known as the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, King and over 250,000 civil rights supporters gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The purpose of the march and Dr. King’s speech was to advocate for civil rights for African Americans in the United States. In his speech, King calls for a permanent end to racism and discrimination in the United States and overall, equality amongst all races. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech was ranked number one when communication scholars identified the top one hundred historical speeches of the twentieth century (Isa Engleberg,
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King verbally expressed the feelings of millions of African-Americans living in America in the most graceful and educated way. In his speech, King uses pathos, one of the four forms of proof (or modes of persuasion). Pathos asks audience members to get in touch with their feelings and emotions. Audiences can experience several emotions—anger, fear, pity, love, desire, or hate (Engleberg, p. 414). He also uses ethos and logos to make the audience understand his speech’s message. Dr. King’s preparation, emotional connection to the audience, tone, and delivery were all contributions to this powerful and courageous speech. He uses symbolism and powerful diction to paint the picture of how life as an African American really was. “I Have a Dream” is formed in a parallel structure, which means the repetition of the same pattern of words that are similar in grammatical form. Also, the phrase “I have a dream” is a repeated clause that appears throughout the text of the speech. “This speech is also an example of parallelism for emphasis” (Your Dictionary). Dr. King used audience analysis to connect to his audience, his purpose of his speech was obvious and clear, and his performance was one that will never be
King verbally expressed the feelings of millions of African-Americans living in America in the most graceful and educated way. In his speech, King uses pathos, one of the four forms of proof (or modes of persuasion). Pathos asks audience members to get in touch with their feelings and emotions. Audiences can experience several emotions—anger, fear, pity, love, desire, or hate (Engleberg, p. 414). He also uses ethos and logos to make the audience understand his speech’s message. Dr. King’s preparation, emotional connection to the audience, tone, and delivery were all contributions to this powerful and courageous speech. He uses symbolism and powerful diction to paint the picture of how life as an African American really was. “I Have a Dream” is formed in a parallel structure, which means the repetition of the same pattern of words that are similar in grammatical form. Also, the phrase “I have a dream” is a repeated clause that appears throughout the text of the speech. “This speech is also an example of parallelism for emphasis” (Your Dictionary). Dr. King used audience analysis to connect to his audience, his purpose of his speech was obvious and clear, and his performance was one that will never be