Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" Speech

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech was delivered before 250,000 people, black and white, who came to Washington, D.C. to protest how black citizens were treated and to promote the passage of laws that would help black people get equal treatment. The author points out that King's strategies were (1) to justify and encourage his black followers, (2) to reassure moderate whites that blacks only wanted their rights as American citizens and did not intend to be violent and (3) to warn the opposition (southern white racists) that blacks would not give up until they were given equal rights and legal protections. The paper relates that the pathos of the speech was delivered in poetic terms, often using Biblical language, repetition and references to famous American phrases such as "... all men are created equal".

From the Paper:

"In the audience at the Lincoln Memorial were both black people (about 80%) who wanted equality, jobs, and freedom and white people (about 20%) who sympathized and wanted to help. King said black members of that audience had come "out of great trials and tribulations." They were people who had endured terrible persecutions, including lynching and police brutality. He called it "creative suffering." He implied that God would reward them because "unearned suffering is redemptive." Many of the people were from the South--Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, and ..."

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