Civil Rights Activist: Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Civil rights activist, Martin Luther King, Jr, in his powerful speech, “I have a dream” indicated that even though we own the Emancipation Proclamation, we also had been suffering the discrimination. King’s purpose is to invert the current unfair situation and allow the Negros to have the same rights as white people. He adopts a poignant tone in order to claim that African Americans should have their own rightful place and appeal the Negro people who have the same inequity experiences. The racial discrimination and racial oppression phenomenon was still very serious. Negros were still second-class citizens, living in poverty, and learning inferior education. In this situation, Martin Luther King is one of the most influential civil rights…show more content…
It was just and legal. Then, King reminds the American government that now is the best time to fulfill a promise, so it is important to improve the existing situation of blacks instantly. If the government ignored these problems, and underestimated the determination of the Negros fight for rights, they would bring the Achilles' heel. “The Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and find himself an exile in his own land. So we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition”…show more content…
Next in his speech, King famously says, “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color if their skin but by the content of their character.” (King). Colors, content, and character are underlined by using alliteration. By using this, he expressed the target of the black civil rights movement, and created deep expectation to his black compatriots. It is important that the struggle is thorough. People have to fight with great spirit and resilience, even though the situation is so difficult. “The law of rhyme was once strictly set: in rhyming words, the sounds of the accented vowels and all sounds coming after them had to be identical; the sounds of the consonants preceding the accented vowels had to be different” (Zeiger ). King applies rhyme to embellish his speech and strengthen the effect. “Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana” (King). These listing words can make the audience aware of their struggle for freedom and create enough confidence to brave forward. King urges the stubbornness of people who insist on fighting and do not despair. The victory will come that
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