For all of us in the world, the history of black slavery is one of the biggest parts of the world history. To understand the importance of the history, we need to know as much about “I have a dream” speech by Martin Luther King. Why did the speech make an impact on the history of black slavery? What was the situation of black slavery like? I am going to analyze this speech, making consideration for these questions.
First, begin with the background of this speech. Originally the matter of black slavery began since 19th century with coming of black people from Africa as slaves. The Emancipation Proclamation was announced in 1863 by Abraham Lincoln and that was supposed to contribute the problem. That means to amendment constitution would change the situation and black people could get the same right to live as white people. However, each senate in South part of America established the laws which segregate black people in daily life and Supreme Court of the United States accepted those. There was the fact that the public places like hotels, restaurants, churches, schools and theaters were completely separated into “white” and “colored.” As you can see, it had been difficult to recognize the difference of people’s awareness to the prejudice since The Emancipation Proclamation was announced. In this situation, what a woman did became one of the trigger of the revolution of black history; the woman named Rosa Parks. In 1955, she finished working and was about to go home by bus. At that time, buses were also separated into “white” and “colored” and blacks had to give up their seats if there was no seat for white people. However, Rosa Parks was exhausted so didn’t give space to white. As a result of that, she was arrested by police. Blacks were furious about the affair so they decided to boycott to ride buses which were the most important transportation for them and the revolution of black history began. The campaign had lasted from 1995 to 1963, the year The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom happened, and Martin Luther King announced “I have a dream” speech in the march.
With the background, it is important to understand the purpose of the speech. This speech was given to back the campaign of civil rights. Even though it had passed a hundred year since The Emancipation Proclamation was announced, it was true that blacks had had an unfair treatment and that is why they supported the civil rights movement. The purpose can be found out from the part that the speech says “Let freedom ring ~.” Because of appealing to everyone that let freedom ring from various places, Martin Luther King tries to success the movement by not only him, but also by everyone who is listening to.
Third, I am going to write about the people who were listening to this speech and the place where Martin Luther King gave the speech. This speech was announced in front of the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial to end up the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The number of people who were gathered at the place was about 2500 thousands and there were white as well. The place is between the statue of Lincoln and Washington Monument which was built to laud the founding president in America, George Washington. People chose the place because they wanted to start to change the situation at that time with these two great people; George Washington who gave a big achievement of building United States of America and Abraham Lincoln who announced The Emancipation Proclamation. Also so many people gathered there and there were people who came by even plane from far away. It is considered how important day it was from that.
Next, I will go on the speech has rhetorical strategies and it is useful to talk about the two of them on understanding it; iteration and space order. Firstly, the speech has iteration. Iteration is to reword same words or phrases. That allows for making the speech cadent and impressing the words and phrases on people. Many focuses on how Martin Luther King gives the speech, he doesn’t give a pause between the sentences, but tells the parts of iteration right after the prior sentences and then gives a pause. It helps to make the speech more vigorous. Secondly, the speech has speech order, which means the speech goes along geographical spaces. It can be seen the last part of the speech; “Let freedom ring.” The speech says “Let freedom ring from” from the East side of America such as New Hampshire, New York and Pennsylvania to the west side like Colorado and California. Both iteration and space order are used to make the speech more impressive.
Finally, when we analyze the speech, it is required to discuss social effect of it. Basically this speech was given to solve the issue of black people and support the Civil Rights Movement. After Rev. King gave the speech, John F. Kennedy who was working on the issue of black people was killed. That made all of people who desired to change the situation at that time including Rev. King sad. However, they worked really hard for the campaign after the tragedy, and also the following president, Mr. Johnson, gave them a great support. Thus, The Civil Rights Act was established. It has passed a hundred year since the Emancipation Proclamation was announced so people thought it was an opportunity to start a revolution.
In conclusion there are many factors to make the speech great; the backgrounds, the purpose, the place, the listeners and the rhetorical strategies. However, these are not the only factors, but also the way Martin Luther King speaks affected the listeners with iron will for solving the issue of black people. When I listened to his speech on the video, I was moved by his voice and how he speaks. His voice was deep and cadent so that the words he said sank inside. When he was saying “I have a dream” part, the listeners let out a whoop of joy. I think it shows how many people trusted him and how much they counted on him. I have listened to some great American speeches, but this speech is the best speech of mine. Even though I am not the person who were in the same era as him or people who worked on the movement, his desire got to my heart. I believe this great speech is going to be transmitted by word of mouth to posterity to posterity.
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