Rhetorical Analysis Of Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream Speech

It has been a little over 52 years since Marin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech and today society still struggles with racial issues; however, making significant progress since then, it serves as a reminder for all that still needs to be accomplished. On August 28, 1963 Martin Luther King delivered his renowned speech to over 200,000 people, excluding the numbers that watched from miles away in their homes on their television sets. This speech was given in front of the Lincoln Memorial, succeeding The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. With the attention of government officials focused on him after the march he proceeds to call upon them to take action against racism in the United States by using repetition, historical references, and outlining standards needing to be met. Though this speech has many rhetorical audiences, this paper
One hundred years prior blacks had been freed from slavery under Abraham Lincoln at the end of the Civil War. Now fast forward those years and “the Negro still is not free”. Martin Luther King then further boosts his credibility by mentioning the Declaration of Independence and its clause about “unalienable Rights” guaranteeing “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”. The use of these two historical documents¬¬ justifies the frustrations of the black community to government officials. These two government documents have promises guaranteed to “all men” regardless of color. All should be free, and none should take action to impede any of these freedoms. This makes it more difficult for government officials to deny the plausibility of the Civil Rights movement. Also it points out that their actions to prevent these freedoms, or remaining to be bystanders while these freedoms are withheld, is against what the nation is founded