Influences of Mlk's I Have a Dream Speech Example

Racial segregation along with social equality has been of the many issues in the United States since the nation was formed. Unlike most other issues in this country, segregation was dealt with to an extent but eventually came to a complete halt. Blacks were still being treated unequally in the United States, forced to abide by unreasonable rules or would face cruel punishment. These rules were present in nearly every public facility, sidewalk, buses, and even bathrooms. Although every person of the white race did not agree with the use of segregation, no one had the courage to stand up and convince the people of the United States that the way they are treating the African Americans was wrong. The Negroes of this time felt as if there was not any hope of being completely free until a brave and intelligent man stood up in front of thousands of people on August 28, 1963 in Washington D.C. Martin Luther King Jr. opens the eyes of many Americans with his words of wisdom in his I Have a Dream speech, explaining how the Negroes of America are being treated and what is about to happen to give the Negroes the freedom they have been promised. His persuasion and direct demand of their freedom will make the people of the United States change their ways or severe consequences will come. One hundred years before King addressed his I have a dream speech, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, meant to gradually free all slaves of the territories who were still in rebellion against the Union. Along with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, the Emancipation Proclamation was written to allow all people of the United States to be free. King mentions in the first few paragraphs of his speech that the Declaration of Independence was a “promissory note” to every American guaranteeing their “unalienable rights” of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Explaining that the government’s promise still has not been fulfilled,