Martin Luther King, Jr was the leader of civil rights in United States. He has dedicated his life to the struggle for the racial equality of African Americans. In August 28th, 1963, King gave one of his most influencing speeches entitled "I Have A Dream." The speech was a critical step toward civil rights movement, because without it, King's opinions of freedom and equality would never reach the hearts of his people, and they would never stand up as a whole to defend themselves. During the speech, King successfully expressed his opinions, and emotionally affected many listeners. This success came from his sensitive approach to audience, his ingenious use of style, and his inspirational tone.
Primarily, the speech was given publicly to a huge number of audiences of both live and televised. King was fully aware that in order to let his audience to favour his point of view, he has to be sensitive to them in every possible way.
First of all, King demonstrated sensitivity by selecting a universal topic: racial rights and freedom. This was an issue not only to the black community, but also to rest of the world. When King declared: "all of God's children...sing, free at last", it is evident that he included all the people: blacks and whites, in the matter of freedom, and therefore became more appealing to his audience. Furthermore, King tried to approach his audience through their emotions. He described his vivid dreams in which blacks and whites are able to live together in harmony and peace. "I have a dream...." The audience were obviously deeply touched by these images, and they could all imagine what a new and joyous world they could be living in. King successfully achieved his emotive purpose through these words, and bonded with the...
Martin Luther King
Of the "I Have a Dream" speech, this writer says, "without it, King's opinions of freedom and equality would never reach the hearts of his people, and they would never stand up as a whole to defend themselves." Actually, there was comparatively little attention paid to this speech at the time it was given. Most of the attention at the great civil rights rally that day was focused on another speaker, Stokely Carmichael of the Student Nonviolence Coordinating Committee, who had become so radical that many of the more mainstream civil rights leaders feared that he would completely disrupt the rally. (He didn't.) However, by this time, King was widely known throughout the nation and the world for his leadership of civil rights. Probably more influential was his "Letter from Birmingham Jail," a more extensive exposition of his views. King spoke frequently throughout these years, and almost any of his sermons are models of powerful rhetoric, delivered by a very thoughtful and learned man, who knew how to use his voice with the skills comparable to a master musician.
The "I Have a Dream" Speech is rightly remembered as one of his finer speeches, but to suggest that the civil rights movement would not have gone forward had King not spoken that day is simply incorrect.
0 out of 0 people found this comment useful.