Rhetorical Analysis Of Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream Speech

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Forced from the comfort of their homes and the love and care of their family, the African Americans were migrated to America as ‘inferiors’ to work as slaves for their ‘superiors’ – the Anglo-Saxon ‘white’ Americans. Although slavery was exterminated centuries ago, the suffering of the African American people has, until today, not been extinguished. This is despite the fact that both the great and the ordinary people have fought for their own rights and freedom without abandon. Although prejudice continues, and will always continue, the multitude struggling of the decades has earned African Americans their right as equals to the white Americans. One of the most powerful leaders and speakers of modern history, who has spoken the quoted words in a famous speech which marked one of the key turning points for African Americans, is Martin Luther King, Jr. This…show more content…
King uses a number of motifs and persuasive techniques in order to gently yet powerfully persuade his listeners. He starts his speech by referring to a historical incident (the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1863, during the American Civil War which freed 3.1 out of 4 million of African American slaves existing in America at the time) as a topic that all Americans would relate to and which nobody could contradict, using metaphorical language to explain the hope and happiness Lincoln gave to these people quoting: “This momentous decree is a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice”. He continues by explaining that despite Lincoln’s promise in the Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans continue to experience oppression under the hands of the white Americans. This inflicts guilt on the white American listener, therefore persuading
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