i have a dream essay summary

A Summary and Analysis of Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘I Have a Dream’ is one of the greatest speeches in American history. Delivered by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-68) in Washington D.C. in 1963, the speech is a powerful rallying cry for racial equality and for a fairer and equal world in which African Americans will be as free as white Americans.

If you’ve ever stayed up till the small hours working on a presentation you’re due to give the next day, tearing your hair out as you try to find the right words, you can take solace in the fact that as great an orator as Martin Luther King did the same with one of the most memorable speeches ever delivered.

He reportedly stayed up until 4am the night before he was due to give his ‘I Have a Dream’, writing it out in longhand. You can read the speech in full here .

‘I Have a Dream’: background

The occasion for King’s speech was the march on Washington , which saw some 210,000 African American men, women, and children gather at the Washington Monument in August 1963, before marching to the Lincoln Memorial.

They were marching for several reasons, including jobs (many of them were out of work), but the main reason was freedom: King and many other Civil Rights leaders sought to remove segregation of black and white Americans and to ensure black Americans were treated the same as white Americans.

1963 was the centenary of the Emancipation Proclamation , in which then US President Abraham Lincoln (1809-65) had freed the African slaves in the United States in 1863. But a century on from the abolition of slavery, King points out, black Americans still are not free in many respects.

‘I Have a Dream’: summary

King begins his speech by reminding his audience that it’s a century, or ‘five score years’, since that ‘great American’ Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This ensured the freedom of the African slaves, but Black Americans are still not free, King points out, because of racial segregation and discrimination.

America is a wealthy country, and yet many Black Americans live in poverty. It is as if the Black American is an exile in his own land. King likens the gathering in Washington to cashing a cheque: in other words, claiming money that is due to be paid.

Next, King praises the ‘magnificent words’ of the US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence . King compares these documents to a promissory note, because they contain the promise that all men, including Black men, will be guaranteed what the Declaration of Independence calls ‘inalienable rights’: namely, ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’.

King asserts that America in the 1960s has ‘defaulted’ on this promissory note: in other words, it has refused to pay up. King calls it a ‘sacred obligation’, but America as a nation is like someone who has written someone else a cheque that has bounced and the money owed remains to be paid. But it is not because the money isn’t there: America, being a land of opportunity, has enough ‘funds’ to ensure everyone is prosperous enough.

King urges America to rise out of the ‘valley’ of segregation to the ‘sunlit path of racial justice’. He uses the word ‘brotherhood’ to refer to all Americans, since all men and women are God’s children. He also repeatedly emphasises the urgency of the moment. This is not some brief moment of anger but a necessary new start for America. However, King cautions his audience not to give way to bitterness and hatred, but to fight for justice in the right manner, with dignity and discipline.

Physical violence and militancy are to be avoided. King recognises that many white Americans who are also poor and marginalised feel a kinship with the Civil Rights movement, so all Americans should join together in the cause. Police brutality against Black Americans must be eradicated, as must racial discrimination in hotels and restaurants. States which forbid Black Americans from voting must change their laws.

Martin Luther King then comes to the most famous part of his speech, in which he uses the phrase ‘I have a dream’ to begin successive sentences (a rhetorical device known as anaphora ). King outlines the form that his dream, or ambition or wish for a better America, takes.

His dream, he tells his audience, is ‘deeply rooted’ in the American Dream: that notion that anybody, regardless of their background, can become prosperous and successful in the United States. King once again reminds his listeners of the opening words of the Declaration of Independence: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’

In his dream of a better future, King sees the descendants of former Black slaves and the descendants of former slave owners united, sitting and eating together. He has a dream that one day his children will live in a country where they are judged not by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.

Even in Mississippi and Alabama, states which are riven by racial injustice and hatred, people of all races will live together in harmony. King then broadens his dream out into ‘our hope’: a collective aspiration and endeavour. King then quotes the patriotic American song ‘ My Country, ’Tis of Thee ’, which describes America as a ‘sweet land of liberty’.

King uses anaphora again, repeating the phrase ‘let freedom ring’ several times in succession to suggest how jubilant America will be on the day that such freedoms are ensured. And when this happens, Americans will be able to join together and be closer to the day when they can sing a traditional African-American hymn : ‘Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free at last.’

‘I Have a Dream’: analysis

Although Martin Luther King’s speech has become known by the repeated four-word phrase ‘I Have a Dream’, which emphasises the personal nature of his vision, his speech is actually about a collective dream for a better and more equal America which is not only shared by many Black Americans but by anyone who identifies with their fight against racial injustice, segregation, and discrimination.

Nevertheless, in working from ‘I have a dream’ to a different four-word phrase, ‘this is our hope’. The shift is natural and yet it is a rhetorical masterstroke, since the vision of a better nation which King has set out as a very personal, sincere dream is thus telescoped into a universal and collective struggle for freedom.

What’s more, in moving from ‘dream’ to a different noun, ‘hope’, King suggests that what might be dismissed as an idealistic ambition is actually something that is both possible and achievable. No sooner has the dream gathered momentum than it becomes a more concrete ‘hope’.

In his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, King was doing more than alluding to Abraham Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation one hundred years earlier. The opening words to his speech, ‘Five score years ago’, allude to a specific speech Lincoln himself had made a century before: the Gettysburg Address .

In that speech, delivered at the Soldiers’ National Cemetery (now known as Gettysburg National Cemetery) in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in November 1863, Lincoln had urged his listeners to continue in the fight for freedom, envisioning the day when all Americans – including Black slaves – would be free. His speech famously begins with the words: ‘Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.’

‘Four score and seven years’ is eighty-seven years, which takes us back from 1863 to 1776, the year of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. So, Martin Luther King’s allusion to the words of Lincoln’s historic speech do two things: they call back to Lincoln’s speech but also, by extension, to the founding of the United States almost two centuries before. Although Lincoln and the American Civil War represented progress in the cause to make all Americans free regardless of their ethnicity, King makes it clear in ‘I Have a Dream’ that there is still some way to go.

In the last analysis, King’s speech is a rhetorically clever and emotionally powerful call to use non-violent protest to oppose racial injustice, segregation, and discrimination, but also to ensure that all Americans are lifted out of poverty and degradation.

But most of all, King emphasises the collective endeavour that is necessary to bring about the world he wants his children to live in: the togetherness, the linking of hands, which is essential to make the dream a reality.

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I Have A Dream Speech

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Summary: “i have a dream”.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream'' speech is one of the most celebrated oratory pieces in American history. King delivered the speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963 as the final speech of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Ruston organized the march to advocate for civil and economic rights for Black Americans, which was among the largest political rallies for human rights in history, attracting approximately 250,000 attendants. Following the speech, King was named Time magazine’s 1963 Man of the Year. A recording of “I Have a Dream” has been added to the United States National Recording Registry, and a line from the speech—“Out of a mountain of despair, a stone of hope”—is the inscription on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington D.C.

King opens by stating he is happy to join the audience in a demonstration of freedom. Standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, King notes the Emancipation Proclamation was signed 100 years ago but today, Black people are still not truly free as they lack the same material benefits afforded other Americans. The march is designed to draw attention to that fact.

The marchers are there to redeem a promise, to “cash a check” written to Black people by the US government and the Founding Fathers who promised all men were created equal in both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. “All men” includes African Americans, yet America failed to deliver on its promise. Instead, it has passed a check that cannot be cashed by Black people. King and the marchers, however, refuse to accept that condition and demand the rights promised them.

The marchers are also there to remind the nation that the present is the time to act. Americans should not fall for the trap of making slow and steady progress. Instead, America must today fulfill the full promise of democracy and racial justice. The summer has been one of discontent, but 1963 is a beginning—not an end. The road ahead will lead to an autumn marked with equality for all people so long as the summer’s protests do not result in a return to the complacency of years past.

King interrupts to warn the audience that the road to freedom must not be laid by bitterness, hatred, or bad behavior—especially violence. Instead, those seeking freedom must hold themselves to a higher moral standard and meet acts of violence with acts of love and faith. It is a good thing Black people are now militant about their freedoms, but they must recognize that there are White people in the crowd who have joined the march and who see their struggle for freedom linked to that of Black Americans. Black people must walk with White people as no one can march alone.

As they march, all must promise to continue marching forward. Many will ask if the marchers will ever be satisfied. The answer is no: They will not be satisfied as long as Black men are victims of police violence, segregation endures, Black people have no upward economic mobility and are disenfranchised. The marchers will not be satisfied until justice and righteousness pour through the nation. 

King turns from the general group (who he has been referring to as “we”) to individual groups (who he refers to as “some of you”). Some present have come from worse struggles than others, some from jails, some from areas in which they have suffered police violence and persecution. But to each of them, King asks them to continue to creatively suffer but to ensure the suffering begets change. He asks them to take that faith back to their home states.

He returns to the group as a whole announcing he still has a dream about the nation. His dream is that America will finally live up to the words of the Founders: “that all men are created equal.” He also dreams White people and Black people will be able to sit down together as equals and Mississippi will be turned from a hotbed of injustice to a land of freedom. He dreams that in the future, people will not be judged by the color of their skin but by who they are as individuals, and that Alabama will be a place where White and Black children can join hands together. With this dream, King will return to the South. And with this dream and this faith, everyone present can transform the nation into one of brotherhood—as long as everyone works together.

One day American children will be able to sing “America (My Country ‘Tis of Thee)” with new meaning, for its lyrics will actually reflect the truth. As a prerequisite for America to become a great nation, freedom must ring across all the majestic landscapes of the United States from New Hampshire to California to Colorado to Tennessee and everywhere in between. And when that happens, “all of God’s children” of all races and faiths will be able to sing the old African American spiritual: “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

This study guide refers to the transcript published by NPR .

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I Have a Dream

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• Yale Law School - Lillian Goldman Law Library - The Avalon Project - I have a Dream by Martin Luther King, Jr; August 28, 1963
• Stanford University - The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute - "I Have a Dream"
• NPR - Read Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech in its entirety
• Marshall University - OneMarshallU - "I Have A Dream"
• Teach Tennessee History - "I Have a Dream..."
• Library of Congress - “I Have a Dream” Speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (August 28, 1963)
• The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History - “I Hav e a Dream ” Speech by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at the “March on Washington,” 1963
• U.S. Embassy & Consulate in the Republic of Korea - Martin Luther King, Jr. : I Have a Dream Speech (1963)

I Have a Dream , speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. , that was delivered on August 28, 1963, during the March on Washington . A call for equality and freedom , it became one of the defining moments of the civil rights movement and one of the most iconic speeches in American history.

Some 250,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. , for the March on Washington. The one-day event both protested racial discrimination and encouraged the passage of civil rights legislation; at the time, the Civil Rights Act was being discussed in Congress. The march featured various speeches as well as musical performances before King, a celebrated orator, appeared as the final official speaker; A. Philip Randolph and Benjamin Mays ended the proceedings with a pledge and a benediction , respectively.

Early in his prepared speech, King referenced Abraham Lincoln ’s Gettysburg Address with “Five score years ago….” He then spoke about the Emancipation Proclamation , which “end[ed] the long night of their [slaves’] captivity.” However, he continued by noting that African Americans were still “not free” and that they were “crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.”

According to various observers, however, as King neared the end, the address was failing to achieve the resonance of his more noteworthy speeches. As activist John Lewis noted, King himself could “sense that he was falling short.” Perhaps that compelled singer Mahalia Jackson to call out, imploring him to tell the crowd about “the dream.” It was a theme he had used at earlier events but had been advised not to use in Washington, with one aide calling it “trite.” At Jackson’s urging, however, King abandoned his prepared text and launched into a discussion of his dreams, adopting “the stance of a Baptist preacher.”

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.…I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream that…one day right there in Alabama, little Black boys and Black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

King’s improvisations seemed to strike a chord with the crowd, many of whom called out words of encouragement. The speech built to its emotional conclusion , which was borrowed from a Black spiritual : “Free at last. Free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.” Largely based on King’s extemporizations, the speech was widely considered the greatest of the 20th century, noted for its power and resonance. With its universal appeal, “I have a dream” became an enduring phrase both in the United States and elsewhere. In addition, many believed the speech helped secure passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964.

I Have a Dream Speech

Martin luther king, jr., ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

In his “I Have a Dream” speech, minister and civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. outlines the long history of racial injustice in America and encourages his audience to hold their country accountable to its own founding promises of freedom, justice, and equality.

King begins his speech by reminding his audience—the 250,000+ attendees at the March on Washington in August of 1963—that it has been over a century since the Emancipation Proclamation was signed into law, ending slavery in America. But even though Black Americans are technically free from slavery, they are not free in any larger sense—the “chains of discrimination” and the “manacles of segregation” continue to define the Black experience in America. It is time, King argues, for Black Americans to “cash [the] check” they were promised a century ago and demand “the riches of freedom and the security of justice.” There is no more time to waste in pursuit of a gradual solution to racism, King says—it is the “ sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent,” and the country has reached its boiling point.

Even though King calls for the “whirlwinds of revolt” to spin into action, he urges those on the front lines of the civil rights movement not to let “bitterness and hatred” define their actions. They cannot to let their movement for justice “degenerate into physical violence.” King reminds his listeners to remain in the “majestic heights” of nonviolent resistance and also to not see their white allies as enemies. In order to bring true justice about, King says, Americans of all races will need to unite and remain true to the values of nonviolent solidarity.

King acknowledges the long and difficult struggles that many of his listeners have already faced—he knows that those involved in the movement for civil rights have been beaten, insulted, and incarcerated. Still, he urges them to return home from the march to wherever they may live, be it in the sweltering South or in the “ghettos of the northern cities,” confident in the value and promise of their fight.

Then King invokes the dream he has for America: a dream that one day the country will “live out the true meaning of its creed” and make it a reality that “all men are created equal.” He dreams that his children will one day live in a society where they will be judged not “by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” and that, in the future, Black children and white children will join hands as sisters and brothers.

King urges his listeners to take their faith in meaningful change back to their hometowns—they must continue to struggle together, face incarceration together, and “stand up for freedom together” in order to truly make America a great nation. He calls for freedom to ring out across the country, from the highest mountains of Colorado, to Stone Mountain of Georgia, to “every hill and molehill of Mississippi.” When America collectively allows freedom to ring across its hills and valleys, he says, only then will “black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Catholics and Protestants” be able to sing truthfully and honestly the words of the old Negro spiritual: “Free at last, free at last; thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”

"I Have a Dream"

August 28, 1963

Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered at the 28 August 1963  March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom , synthesized portions of his previous sermons and speeches, with selected statements by other prominent public figures.

King had been drawing on material he used in the “I Have a Dream” speech in his other speeches and sermons for many years. The finale of King’s April 1957 address, “A Realistic Look at the Question of Progress in the Area of Race Relations,” envisioned a “new world,” quoted the song “My Country ’Tis of Thee,” and proclaimed that he had heard “a powerful orator say not so long ago, that … Freedom must ring from every mountain side…. Yes, let it ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado…. Let it ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let it ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let it ring from every mountain and hill of Alabama. From every mountain side, let freedom ring” ( Papers  4:178–179 ).

In King’s 1959 sermon “Unfulfilled Hopes,” he describes the life of the apostle Paul as one of “unfulfilled hopes and shattered dreams” ( Papers  6:360 ). He notes that suffering as intense as Paul’s “might make you stronger and bring you closer to the Almighty God,” alluding to a concept he later summarized in “I Have a Dream”: “unearned suffering is redemptive” ( Papers  6:366 ; King, “I Have a Dream,” 84).

In September 1960, King began giving speeches referring directly to the American Dream. In a speech given that month at a conference of the North Carolina branches of the  National Association for the Advancement of Colored People , King referred to the unexecuted clauses of the preamble to the U.S. Constitution and spoke of America as “a dream yet unfulfilled” ( Papers  5:508 ). He advised the crowd that “we must be sure that our struggle is conducted on the highest level of dignity and discipline” and reminded them not to “drink the poisonous wine of hate,” but to use the “way of nonviolence” when taking “direct action” against oppression ( Papers  5:510 ).

King continued to give versions of this speech throughout 1961 and 1962, then calling it “The American Dream.” Two months before the March on Washington, King stood before a throng of 150,000 people at Cobo Hall in Detroit to expound upon making “the American Dream a reality” (King, Address at Freedom Rally, 70). King repeatedly exclaimed, “I have a dream this afternoon” (King, Address at Freedom Rally, 71). He articulated the words of the prophets Amos and Isaiah, declaring that “justice will roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream,” for “every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low” (King, Address at Freedom Rally, 72). As he had done numerous times in the previous two years, King concluded his message imagining the day “when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing with the Negroes in the spiritual of old: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!” (King,  Address at Freedom Rally , 73).

As King and his advisors prepared his speech for the conclusion of the 1963 march, he solicited suggestions for the text. Clarence  Jones   offered a metaphor for the unfulfilled promise of constitutional rights for African Americans, which King incorporated into the final text: “America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned” (King, “I Have a Dream,” 82). Several other drafts and suggestions were posed. References to Abraham Lincoln and the  Emancipation Proclamation  were sustained throughout the countless revisions. King recalled that he did not finish the complete text of the speech until 3:30 A.M. on the morning of 28 August.

Later that day, King stood at the podium overlooking the gathering. Although a typescript version of the speech was made available to the press on the morning of the march, King did not merely read his prepared remarks. He later recalled: “I started out reading the speech, and I read it down to a point … the audience response was wonderful that day…. And all of a sudden this thing came to me that … I’d used many times before.... ‘I have a dream.’ And I just felt that I wanted to use it here … I used it, and at that point I just turned aside from the manuscript altogether. I didn’t come back to it” (King, 29 November 1963).

The following day in the  New York Times,  James Reston wrote: “Dr. King touched all the themes of the day, only better than anybody else. He was full of the symbolism of Lincoln and Gandhi, and the cadences of the Bible. He was both militant and sad, and he sent the crowd away feeling that the long journey had been worthwhile” (Reston, “‘I Have a Dream …’”).

Carey to King, 7 June 1955, in  Papers  2:560–561.

Hansen,  The Dream,  2003.

King, Address at the Freedom Rally in Cobo Hall, in  A Call to Conscience , ed. Carson and Shepard, 2001.

King, “I Have a Dream,” Address Delivered at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, in  A Call to Conscience , ed. Carson and Shepard, 2001.

King, Interview by Donald H. Smith, 29 November 1963,  DHSTR-WHi .

King, “The Negro and the American Dream,” Excerpt from Address at the Annual Freedom Mass Meeting of the North Carolina State Conference of Branches of the NAACP, 25 September 1960, in  Papers  5:508–511.

King, “A Realistic Look at the Question of Progress in the Area of Race Relations,” Address Delivered at St. Louis Freedom Rally, 10 April 1957, in  Papers  4:167–179.

King, Unfulfilled Hopes, 5 April 1959, in  Papers  6:359–367.

James Reston, “‘I Have a Dream…’: Peroration by Dr. King Sums Up a Day the Capital Will Remember,”  New York Times , 29 August 1963.

I have a dream

By Martin Luther King Jr.

‘I have a dream’ by Martin Luther King Jr. is a public speech the civil rights activist delivered on August 28th, 1963. In it, he called for an end to racism in the United States and all its related policies. 

Martin Luther King Jr.

His writings and speeches about the Civil Rights movement are studied worldwide and honored to this day.

Poem Analyzed by Emma Baldwin

B.A. English (Minor: Creative Writing), B.F.A. Fine Art, B.A. Art Histories

The ‘I have a dream’ speech was delivered to 250,000 supporters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Today, the ‘ I have a dream ’ speech is acknowledged as one of the defining and shining moments of the Civil Rights movement and as a masterpiece of public speaking. It is constantly quoted and used as continual inspiration as the fight for equal rights continues in the United States and around the world.  

Explore I have a dream speech

• 1 Summary 
• 3 Structure and Form
• 4 Literary and Rhetorical Devices 
• 5 Famous Quotes from the I have a dream speech
• 6 Detailed Analysis 

Summary  

‘I have a dream’ by Martin Luther King Jr. is a powerful rhetorical call for equal rights for all American people regardless of their race. It is a continual source of inspiration for those fighting to continue what the Civil Rights movement began.

In the first lines of this famed speech, King discusses the Emancipation Proclamation. That is the speech that freed the slaves in 1863, one hundred years in the past. Now, he stated, still, “the Negro is…not free.” He also references the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence, reminding all those listening that America is supposed to be the land of the free. But, in America today, freedom hasn’t been achieved. The phrase “I have a dream” is used numerous times throughout the piece. He says that the United States needs to make immediate changes, or the protests will only heighten. He also says that the Black community will never be satisfied until they are granted full and equal rights with white Americans.  

Throughout this piece, King engages with themes of freedom, justice, and the future. He acknowledges the past and present as a way of alluding to the promise of the future. His determination that no one rests until all people are truly equal comes through in his calls for justice and freedom.  

Structure and Form

‘I have a dream’ by Martin Luther King Jr. is an incredibly important text to study for those interested in understanding the Civil Rights movement and this specific pivotal moment. It was delivered in around seventeen minutes, using numerous rhetorical devices that are noted below. King uses repetition , seen through instances of anaphora and epistrophe , to drive home his poems. In this analysis, the speech has been separated into six sections. These are not sections created or noted by King. Instead, they’re used in this analysis to make the poem easier to analyze and understand.  

Literary and Rhetorical Devices  

Throughout the speech, King uses numerous literary and rhetorical devices in order to deliver the most effective speech possible. For example:  

• Ethos : used in an argument by appealing to the audience through the speaker ’s credibility. King, as a Black man living in the United States, and working within the Civil Rights Movement, is in an ideal position in order to speak about what the contemporary American experience is like. King also uses the other modes of persuasion , logos , and pathos .
• Anaphora : the use of the same word or words at the beginning of multiple lines, in succession. Throughout the speech, King repeats “I have a dream” eight times, successively, at the beginning of lines. “One hundred years later” is another example, appearing at the beginning of numerous phrases early on in the speech. “Now is the time,” “Go back to,” “With this faith,” and “We can never (or cannot) be satisfied” are all other phrases that begin multiple lines.
• Allusion : throughout this piece, King alludes to prior American history, important political moments, and contemporary events. The latter includes protests that he was famously a part of. He uses phrases like “Five score years ago” as a reference to the Gettysburg Address and “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” is an allusion to the Lincoln Memorial. There are also biblical allusions scattered throughout the speech. Such as “It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity” which comes from Psalms 30:5
• Repetition : in addition to examples of anaphora, there are other kinds of repetition in King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech. For example, repeated phrases, references, and calls to action. He also repeats common themes. These include: freedom, justice, and the power of dreams.  
• Imagery : another powerful rhetorical and literary device. It occurs when the speaker uses phrases that appeal to and trigger the listener’s senses. For example, “slums and ghettos of our northern cities,” a phrase that also alludes to the contemporary moment King is living through.  
• Metaphor : comparison between two seemingly dissimilar things that do not use “like” or “as.” For example, in the second paragraph of the speech, King uses the phrase “joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.” Here, he’s connecting Black American’s social and political restrictions and the racisms that still plagues the country to a “long night of captivity.” When freedom is truly given to all people it will be a “joyous daybreak” and end to that night. Another example can be found in paragraph 19, in which he uses the phrase “sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.” Here, oppression is compared to “heat” and freedom and justice to “an oasis.” He’s using imagery in this metaphor to evoke the beauty of one state of being and the pain or another.
• Alliteration : the use of the same consonant sounds at the beginning of words. For example, King uses “trials and tribulations,” “dark and desolate,” “sweltering summer,” and “marvelous new militancy.”  

Famous Quotes from the I have a dream speech

Below, readers can find a few of the most famous quotes from this speech.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

In this quote, King is starting the most famous section of his speech in which he uses “I have a dream” at the start of several lines. He is looking into the future and envisioning a life for his children that’s different than his own.

We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back.

Here, King acknowledges that while there is power in the numbers they have, it is important that the Black community does not walk alone. There are people of all races in the audience, men and women, who support their movement. It’s crucial that they accept their support and do not allow bitterness to drive them.

When we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: “Free at last! Free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

These are the final lines of the ‘I have a dream’ speech. In this paragraph, King uses anaphora to emphasize the way that freedom is going to travel through the country, bringing men and women together. All races and religions will one day join hands and be able to sing out “Free at last!”

We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

This line is King’s answer to the question of “When will you be satisfied?” That is, when will the Civil Rights movement be content with the freedoms it gained the Black community. His answer is eloquently phrased and spans more than just this one line.

Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.

Here, King brings in one of the running metaphors that can be found in the speech. That is, the use of the sun as an image of hope and the future, as well as darkness as one of oppression and the past.

Detailed Analysis  

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. […] It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note in so far as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”

The first lines of the speech contain King’s initial address to the audience, numerous metaphors, allusions, and examples of repetition that bring in the most important themes of the speech, justice, and freedom. He speaks about the “Constitution and the Declaration of Independence” and the “architects of our republic” thought when they wrote them. They promised that “all men” were “guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”  

In this line, it’s interesting to note the moment at which King pauses and says, “all men, yes, black men as well as white men,” in order to confirm before anyone has a chance to second guess him. These political documents gave men of all color the same rights. This is a great example of a more colloquial moment in the speech.  There is a great example of a metaphor in these lines at the end of this section. It reads: “America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”’  

Part II  

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we have come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. […] will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

In this section of the speech, King uses some of the same examples of literary devices seen above. This includes anaphora. It is seen through the use of “Now is the time” in paragraph three. The repetition of this phrase is a call to action, inspiring the audience and reminding anyone listening that “Now is the time” that the past ends and that a new future starts. The image of “heat” comes into play with King using phrases like “This sweltering summer.” Other natural images are also used, like “blow off steam,” “whirlwinds,” and “bright day.” These all allude to what the next stage in American justice and freedom is going to look like.  

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the worn threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. […] There are those who are asking the devotees of Civil Rights, “When will you be satisfied?”

In the next lines of the speech, he reminds those listening, his “people,” that they must stay on the correct path as they seek justice. It’s important that they do not “drink…from the cup of bitterness and hatred” and instead “conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.” These beautiful lines bring in the fact that there are many who support King’s desire for a new world of freedom, black and white. Knowing how hard this fight is going to be, it’s important that “We cannot walk alone,” King says. One of the most famous quotes from the speech follows.  

We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality; we can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities; we cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one;   […] the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

The next lines are some of the most commonly quoted for the speech. King asks a question that he proceeds to answer. When will they be satisfied? He determines that they won’t be satisfied as long as “the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality” and “we can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.” He brings in several more phrases that lay out the goals of his speech and the entire Civil Rights movement. In the brighter future, he imagines, these are things that are no longer going to be a concern.

In another powerful part of the speech, King tells those listening to go home and not “wallow in the valley of despair.” Instead, “Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.” He tells them to “Go” back to their respective states, Georgia, South Carolina, etc.

Part V  

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today! […] With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brother-hood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. And this will be the day.

The next section contains the repetitions of “I have a dream,” truly the most famous section of the speech. King emphasizes that he has a “dream” that the future is going to be different and that one day his children “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” and that “little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.” These images of hope are juxtaposed with the difficulty of the present moment. For example, with this description of the Governor of Alabama and others in the state: “with its vicious racists, with its Governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification.”  

Part VI  

This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning, “My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my father died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, […]   we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: “Free at last. Free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”

In the final lines of the speech, King says that today is the day when “all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning” when they sing the lines of the national anthem. He repeats “Let freedom ring” in reference to various places around the country, uniting those listening in a common goal and reminding the audience of his desire to have all of God’s children stand and “join hands and sing.” The final line comes from “the old Negro spiritual” that encompasses the passion of the Civil Rights movement: “Free at last. Free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”  

On August 28th, 1963. It was delivered to 250,000 supporters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

It brought the Civil Rights movement into the public spotlight and made King a public figure. It may have hastened the passing of the Civil Rights Act .

He wrote and delivered the speech in order to call for an end to social and economic racism in the United States.

King’s main message is that all people are created equal and that although they aren’t treated as such in the United States at the moment, it’s important that everyone continue working towards that goal.

King was a Baptist minister and social rights activist. He was a leader of the Civil Rights movement in the ’50s and ’60s in the United States. He organized the March on Washington in 1963.

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What is it’s phonological feature?

I’d say the refrain acts as a phonological feature as the repetition added a rhythm to what MLK said.

Amazing Job!

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Read Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech in its entirety

Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. addresses the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., where he gave his "I Have a Dream" speech on Aug. 28, 1963, as part of the March on Washington. AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. addresses the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., where he gave his "I Have a Dream" speech on Aug. 28, 1963, as part of the March on Washington.

Monday marks Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Below is a transcript of his celebrated "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered on Aug. 28, 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. NPR's Talk of the Nation aired the speech in 2010 — listen to that broadcast at the audio link above.

Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders gather before a rally at the Lincoln Memorial on Aug. 28, 1963, in Washington. National Archives/Hulton Archive via Getty Images hide caption

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.: Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But 100 years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check.

Code Switch

The power of martin luther king jr.'s anger.

When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men — yes, Black men as well as white men — would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds.

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.

Martin Luther King is not your mascot

We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.

Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

Civil rights protesters march from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington on Aug. 28, 1963. Kurt Severin/Three Lions/Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. 1963 is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.

There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

Throughline

Bayard rustin: the man behind the march on washington (2021).

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny.

And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, when will you be satisfied? We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.

We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: for whites only.

We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.

No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

How The Voting Rights Act Came To Be And How It's Changed

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our Northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

People clap and sing along to a freedom song between speeches at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. Express Newspapers via Getty Images hide caption

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day down in Alabama with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right down in Alabama little Black boys and Black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

Nikole Hannah-Jones on the power of collective memory

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This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning: My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims' pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California. But not only that, let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, Black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free at last.

Correction Jan. 15, 2024

A previous version of this transcript included the line, "We have also come to his hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now." The correct wording is "We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now."

I Have A Dream Summary, Notes And Line By Line Analysis In English By Martin Luther King Jr

Table of Contents

Introduction:

‘I Have A Dream’ is a speech given by Martin Luther King Jr. It was his acclaimed “March on Washington” speech delivered in Washington, 1603. As he himself puts it, it is “the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation (America).”

About the Author:

The “bad check”:.

He begins the speech by referring to how he was giving this speech under a great American’s “symbolic shadow”, referring to Abraham Lincoln. He expresses his distress over how, 100 years later, the Blacks were still oppressed and discriminated against in America, as can be seen from the usage of his word “Negro”.

The Fierce Urgency:

He beseeches the people to put an end to the eternal, scorching summer the Negroes had to suffer and grant them an “invigorating autumn of freedom”. He asserts that America will know no peace and only revolts until the Blacks received equality, fraternity, and freedom. 

No Satisfaction:

King states how the Negroes will never be satisfied until they were free of ‘police brutality’, can gain equal accommodation, and their children could lead a dignified life. He declares how they will be satisfied only with equal voting rights and justice prevailed. Putting aside the unspeakable suffering the people were subjected to, he asks them to march on until the goal was attained- equality and freedom.

He now talks about his famous ‘dream’. He states that he dreamed of an America where racial discrimination was eradicated and the Blacks and Whites could sit together and dine. He dreams that one day, his four children could live without being judged on the basis of their colour. He dreams that one day in Alabama, children of both races come together and break this oppression imposed by “vicious racists”.

Conclusion:

This is an inspirational speech by King. His powerful, yet moving words gently coaxed the people of America to see reason, to come out of their mindset clouded by deep-rooted prejudices on the basis of race. 

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Essay on Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream Speech

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I Have a Dream: Essay Introduction

Martin luther king’s speech: essay conclusion, reference list.

One of the finest explanations of American’s dream is the powerful speech of Martin Luther King, Jr. He delivered the speech at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963, in Washington D.C. The speech is mainly centered on racial equality and stoppage of discrimination.

At that time, racial segregation ruled in almost all places: be it schools, neighborhoods and even in social places. With violence and riots so often, it was a disturbing moment for America although the U.S government was doing nothing to change the situation. Through the speech, Dr. King was educating inspiring and informing both the civil supporters and the unborn generation in the world to reach out to their dreams and giving his audience hope for a better future.

Up to the time when he was delivering the speech, African Americans were still under slavery from the white people as indicated in the below excerpt.

One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination…….One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land (Luther, 1963, para. 2).

The speech depicts the idea that someone can actually be anything that he dreams of becoming. Dr. King suggested that America is a land full of opportunities and that Americans should maximize on them. Before transforming the world, he saw the need to begin in America. Dr. King began the speech with a rhetoric phrase, ’Now is the time’, a tool that he used throughout speech. In the sixth paragraph of his speech, he used the phrase six times.

He was echoing to his audience to get hold of the moment. More so he used the phrase, ‘I have a dream eight times. By so doing he was echoing future hope for the people that will make them forget about all the slavery sufferings and injustices that they had faced while under slavery.

This is a sign of hope for the future too. He brought in the idea of slavery to suggest that it is still operational in today’s world. By using the word ‘slave-owners’, Dr. King was referring to the white, however to calm any tension between the black and the white people, he re-unites them by saying, “… will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood” (Luther, 1963, para.12).

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners ………, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice…. I have a dream today (Luther, 1963, para.12).

The dream in the above context symbolizes the aspirations that Dr. King had of America setting the stage for the rest of the world. He also says that ‘this nation will rise up’ meaning that he had fathomed a revolution time when the Americans will be accepted as right persons in the States (Luther, 1963, para.12).

There was an established racial discrimination that is why he sent such a strong message to the white. More importantly is the fact that his words were advocating for peace hence providing the vision that anyone would buy it. There above discussion hence shows that Martin Luther King, Jr was really, an effective public speaker.

Luther, M. (1963). I have a dream. Web.

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Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — I Have a Dream — Speech by Martin Luther King Jr. I Have a Dream: Rhetorical Analysis

Speech by Martin Luther King Jr. I Have a Dream: Rhetorical Analysis

• Categories: I Have a Dream Martin Luther King

About this sample

Words: 907 |

Published: Oct 22, 2018

Words: 907 | Page: 1 | 5 min read

Should follow an “upside down” triangle format, meaning, the writer should start off broad and introduce the text and author or topic being discussed, and then get more specific to the thesis statement.

Provides a foundational overview, outlining the historical context and introducing key information that will be further explored in the essay, setting the stage for the argument to follow.

The topic sentence serves as the main point or focus of a paragraph in an essay, summarizing the key idea that will be discussed in that paragraph.

The body of each paragraph builds an argument in support of the topic sentence, citing information from sources as evidence.

After each piece of evidence is provided, the author should explain HOW and WHY the evidence supports the claim.

Should follow a right side up triangle format, meaning, specifics should be mentioned first such as restating the thesis, and then get more broad about the topic at hand. Lastly, leave the reader with something to think about and ponder once they are done reading.

Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., Dr. King, Dream speech, Dr. King’s earlier speeches, African Americans, first rhetorical devices King, stone of hope, part of the civil rights movement, jangling discords of our nation, Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, important rhetorical devices Dr. King, beautiful symphony of brotherhood, Civil War, King’s audiences, civil rights movement

Martin Luther King Jr Essay Outline

Introduction

• Overview of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech and its historical significance
• Mention of King’s use of rhetorical devices to influence and inspire his audience

Use of Allusions

• Discussion of King’s allusions to the Declaration of Independence and their impact on the audience’s patriotism and sense of moral values
• Emphasis on how these allusions contribute to the vision of equality

Use of Metaphors

• Explanation of King’s metaphors, particularly the banking metaphor, to convey the need for civil rights and justice
• Analysis of how metaphors strengthen King’s argument and call to action

Repetition for Emphasis

• Examination of King’s use of repetition in phrases like “we can never be satisfied,” “let freedom ring,” and “I have a dream”
• Explanation of how repetition builds intensity and reinforces key ideas in the speech

Tone and Passion

• Discussion of the emotional tone of the speech and King’s careful balance between passion and dignity
• Emphasis on the lasting impact of King’s words and his role in inspiring change
• Recap of Martin Luther King Jr.’s influence and legacy
• Affirmation of the importance of addressing social issues and striving for change, as demonstrated by King
• Weitzel, A. (1994). King’s “I have a dream”; speech: A case study of incorporating orality in rhetorical criticism. Communication Reports, 7(1), 50-56. (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08934219409367583)
• Zheng, S. (2014). A Stylistic Analysis on” I have a dream”. Journal of Studies in social Sciences, 9(1). (https://www.infinitypress.info/index.php/jsss/article/view/931)
• Weitzel, A. R. (1991). A Pedagogical Treatment of King’s” I Have a Dream” Speech: Toward Incorporating Orality in Rhetorical Criticism. (https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED344248)
• Lei, E. V., & Miller, K. D. (1999). Martin Luther King, Jr.’s” I Have a Dream” in Context: Ceremonial Protest and African American Jeremiad. College English, 62(1), 83-99. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/378900)
• Alvarez, A. (1988). Martin Luther King’s” I Have a Dream” The Speech Event as Metaphor. Journal of Black Studies, 18(3), 337-357. (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/002193478801800306)

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Marvel made my dream mcu wolverine casting come true & i want more.

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Warning! This article contains spoilers for Deadpool & Wolverine.

• Henry Cavill made a brief but impactful appearance as Wolverine in Deadpool & Wolverine.
• Cavill would be the ideal replacement for Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in the MCU.
• Cavill's popularity, experience, and age make him a perfect fit for the future X-Men reboot.

Deadpool & Wolverine introduced the perfect replacement for Hugh Jackman as Logan, and I want him to be more than just a cameo in the Marvel Cinematic Universe . A lot of surprises in Deadpool & Wolverine 's cast were hidden until the movie was finally released in theaters. One of those included the actor that I — and many others — have thought for a long time should be the one to play the new Wolverine. I absolutely love Hugh Jackman's Logan and was ecstatic when he was announced to come back for Deadpool & Wolverine , which led to a realization.

The MCU movie once again confirmed that Jackman is the definitive live-action version of Logan, making it very hard for anyone who takes on the role after him. However, Deadpool & Wolverine 's surprises included someone who might be the best possible solution to the problem of recasting Jackman after 24 years of playing Wolverine. Now that we have gotten Jackman and Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool — both comic book-accurate — in a full movie together, with Jackman donning the iconic yellow and blue Wolverine suit with the cowl, I'm ready for the X-Men reboot to bring back the Cavillrine .

Deadpool & Wolverine Ending Explained

Deadpool & Wolverine’s ending is filled with multiversal stakes, insane cameos, and big teases for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Henry Cavill Was Perfect As Logan In Deadpool & Wolverine

The cavillrine made his presence felt.

Months before the release of Deadpool & Wolverine , rumors started to emerge about Henry Cavill playing a Wolverine variant in the movie. That turned out to be accurate, with Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool trying to recruit Cavill's Wolverine to help save his world , only for the Cavillrine to "reload his arms" — a motion made famous by the actor in Mission: Impossible - Fallout — and hit Deadpool hard with his claws. Cavill looked on point as Wolverine, with the character's hairstyle and facial hair, as well as showed off Logan's signature cigar-loving persona.

I loved seeing Cavill as Wolverine after spending a long time thinking he would be great for the role. While his appearance in the movie was short, it was still incredible that Marvel Studios managed to bring in the actor who had played DC's greatest hero, Superman, in the DCEU for a cameo as Wolverine in the MCU. If Cavill agreed to appear in Deadpool & Wolverine , perhaps the actor would be open to returning for a meatier role as Logan. After seeing Cavill do great as Wolverine, I need more , as that short appearance wasn't enough.

10 Fox Marvel Cameos In Deadpool & Wolverine That Made Me Cheer In Theaters

Deadpool & Wolverine included many explosive cameos from Fox Marvel characters, with some of them being more surprising than others by a wide margin.

What Henry Cavill Has Said About Joining The MCU

The superman/wolverine actor is game for more superheroes.

While Cavill has yet to comment on playing his version of Logan in Deadpool & Wolverine , the actor previously talked about whether he wanted to play a character in the MCU. When asked about the possibility, Cavill revealed he would like to play Captain Britain . According to the actor, he would have fun doing a " modernized version of that — like the way they modernized Captain America ." Cavill also revealed that he would never say a character that someone else was already playing " because everyone’s doing such an amazing job ."

I think it would be very cool to have Cavill as the MCU's Captain Britain. The character is part of a team that has ties to the multiverse and thus would fit right in with the MCU's Multiverse Saga. That said, after watching Deadpool & Wolverine , I can't help but want Cavill to leave the desire to play Captain Britain behind and go all in on a future as the new Logan. While Cavill's comments mean he wouldn't play the MCU's Wolverine right now , as Jackman is likely to return for Avengers: Secret Wars , he could for the X-Men reboot.

Marvel's X-Men Movie: Everything We Know

Anticipation is high for the MCU's X-Men movie reboot, but details are still scarce about when the movie will be released and what it will be about.

I Think Henry Cavill As Wolverine Would Help The X-Men Reboot In Multiple Ways

The x-men movie needs to be a huge success.

Marvel needs its X-Men movie to be a big hit. The project currently has no director or cast attached, though The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes writer Michael Lesslie will pen the script for the anticipated movie. The MCU will need some big names to serve as the foundation for the X-Men reboot, and Cavill is as big as they come. The actor is beloved by superhero movie fans, and after DC failed to make his time as Superman as special as it should have been , Marvel could make Cavill's Wolverine a major part of the MCU.

Besides his status as Superman bringing fans to theaters for the X-Men reboot, Cavill's other popular role as Geralt of Rivia in Netflix's The Witcher , as well as his Wolverine cameo, show he would be perfect as the MCU's Logan. I think Geralt shows Cavill could deliver the same level of vicious fight scenes Jackman did in his latest two Wolverine movies, all with the same gruff attitude. Adding to that, his characterization as Logan in Deadpool & Wolverine was pitch-perfect. At 41 — 14 years younger than Jackman — Cavill is in the prime age for the MCU's Wolverine.

Deadpool & Wolverine

A follow-up to the highly successful Deadpool and Deadpool 2 films starring Ryan Reynolds as the Merc with a Mouth. The third film will be the first in the franchise to be developed under the Marvel Studios banner following Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox.

What is Project 2025? Inside the conservative plan Trump claims to have 'no idea' about.

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate in November, says he knows nothing about Project 2025 Presidential Transition Project , a detailed political plan by the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation that proposes radical changes in the federal government.

“I have no idea who is behind it,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post July 5. “I disagree with some of the things they’re saying, and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal."

Read more: How Project 2025 could affe c t lives of students ; Heritage Foundation president says the second American Revolution will be bloodless " if the left allows it to be ."

“Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them,” Trump wrote.

While the Trump campaign has its own plan, called Agenda47 , Trump has a history with many of the Project 2025 contributors. At least 31 of the project's 38 creators – writers, editors or directors – were connected with the Trump administration.

What's the connection with Trump?

What is project 2025.

Project 2025 is one of many how-to guides for a new Republican administration. Under federal law, the Biden administration must cooperate with Trump's team now as it prepares for a potential transition. Those efforts will speed up after Election Day should the Republicans win the White House. 

" Mandate for Leadership, The Conservative Promise, Project 2025 " is the Heritage Foundation's blueprint for a second Trump administration. More than 100 conservative groups were consulted.

It includes significant changes in the federal government, a database of potential administrative employees and training to help them carry out those changes out, and a plan of action for Trump's first 180 days in office.

"It is not enough for conservatives to win elections," the project site states. "If we are going to rescue the country from the grip of the radical Left, we need both a governing agenda and the right people in place, ready to carry this agenda out on day one of the next conservative administration."

President Joe Biden and other Democrats have said the plan, which would expand presidential powers, " will destroy America ."

The plan recommends the reinstatement of Schedule F , an executive authority that would change the classification of as many as 50,000 federal workers to political appointees in civil service.

Trump imposed Schedule F on Oct. 21, 2020. Biden repealed it on Jan. 22, 2021.

Other suggestions in the document include :

• Outlawing pornography. (page 5)
• Dismantling the Department of Homeland Security , the agency responsible for protecting the country's borders, helping with disaster responses, and cybersecurity, and combining it with units in other agencies. (page 133)
• Eliminating the Department of Education , which maintains federal policies on education and oversees educational assistance to states. (page 319)
• Eliminating the Head Start program, which helps preschool children from low-income families prepare for school. (page 482)
• Making it illegal to mail abortion pills across state lines. (page 562)
• Eliminating the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , the agency that provides weather forecasts, storm warnings and monitors climate change. (page 664)

Trump used Heritage Foundation policies in first term

Trump accepted guidance from the Heritage Foundation in the first year of his administration. The administration used 64% of the policy recommendations found in the foundation's " Mandate for Leadership " publications, according to foundation officials.

Even if Trump wins the election, it remains to be seen how many of the Project 2025 recommendations his administration will adopt. Any real policy will come from agencies in his new administration, and through legislation written by members of Congress.

Aside from Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation is a " revolving door for Trump officials ," according to The Washington Post, which noted that the foundation is a sponsor of the Republican National Convention.

If Trump wins in November, many of those connected to Project 2025 " would likely help fill out his administration," Reuters reported.

SOURCE USA TODAY Network reporting and research; Heritage Foundation; Reuters

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The Election Is Crucial to the Supreme Court’s Future. Biden’s Reform Plans Are Not.

By Erwin Chemerinsky

Mr. Chemerinsky is the dean of the Berkeley School of Law at the University of California and the author of the forthcoming book “No Democracy Lasts Forever: How the Constitution Threatens the United States.”

President Biden on Monday proposed term limits and an ethics code for Supreme Court justices. Those reforms are unquestionably desirable but they have little chance of being enacted. The laser focus for Democrats and others alarmed by the direction of the court should instead be on the November election.

I say this because the potentially disastrous consequences of a Donald Trump victory — which no doubt would mean the expansion of the court’s conservative wing and more decisions that fundamentally compromise constitutional rights — are of urgent and imperative concern.

In 2021, Mr. Biden formed a bipartisan commission of lawyers and legal scholars to study and appraise possible changes to the court. It worked diligently and presented a lengthy report. Mr. Biden and most lawmakers ignored it. Now, he has rediscovered the issue.

The most important proposal by Mr. Biden is to impose term limits of 18 years for Supreme Court justices, which would allow a president to make two regular appointments in a single term. That idea makes enormous sense. Life expectancy now is much longer than it was in 1790 when the court first assembled. From then until 1970, the average tenure of a Supreme Court justice was approximately 15 years. For those appointed since 1970 who have left the bench, the average tenure was 26 years. Many of the current justices are likely to serve more than 30 years. That is too much power for too long in one person’s hands.

Lifetime tenure also leaves too much to accidents of history as to when vacancies occur. Mr. Trump appointed three justices in four years. Two of those appointments followed the deaths of sitting justices, Antonin Scalia, who died at 79 after nearly three decades on court, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was 87 and had spent 27 years as a justice. Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama served a combined 16 years as president, but appointed only four justices during that time. President Jimmy Carter had no opportunity to make an appointment.

The problem with term limits for Supreme Court justices, and certainly ones that would apply to the current justices, is that they would require a constitutional amendment. The Supreme Court has long said, starting with McCulloch v. Maryland in 1819 and increasingly in recent years, that history and tradition are important in interpreting the Constitution. The tradition has always been that a Supreme Court justice holds the position for life, unless the justice resigns or is impeached and removed. Article III, Section 1, makes that clear: “The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour.”

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