Martin Luther King's Stride Toward Freedom

Stride Toward Freedom Persuasive Essay In America today, the rights of different races are much more equal than they were 50 years ago. A large portion of equal rights for African Americans can be credited towards the work of Martin Luther King Jr. King’s use of persuasion in one of his speeches, Stride Towards Freedom, was effective in fighting towards equal rights. He achieves this by using credibility, appealing to emotions, and logical reasoning.
Martin Luther King Jr’s arguments are persuasive, because he has credibility behind his thoughts and ideas. For example, he states that, “Almost 2800 years ago, Moses set out to lead the children of Israel from slavery of Egypt to the freedom of the promise land” (King). He proves that passively reacting to a situation, known as acquiescence, isn’t effective, by giving an example of
also appeals to different emotions of the listener, causing them to be more likely to accept King’s proposition of how to surpass oppression. One way he goes about doing this is by introducing the feeling of guilt into the listener. At this time in history, “the Negro [could not] win the respect of his oppressor by acquiescing...if he is willing to sell the future of his children” in order to seek personal comfort and safety (King). This statement may make the listener think of how the future of his family could negatively be affected if nothing is he doesn’t risk himself to go against oppression. Another one of MLK Jr’s points is violence, and that it shouldn’t be used because it is impractical and immoral. He explains that “Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love” (King). Incorporating the feelings of hate and love likely makes the listener choose the path of peace, love, and nonviolence over hatred, immorality, and violence. This method of appealing to the emotions of the audience is effective in grabbing their attention and making them more likely to take action against