Martin Luther King Appeals

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Martin Luther King Jr.'s Speech "I Have a Dream" at Lincoln Memorial
Martin Luther King Jr. writes his powerful speech "I Have a Dream" in hopes of informing the audience of what great problems African Americans are encountering. He wants everyone, not just whites and blacks, but Indians, Chinese, Hispanics, to take a stand to help end slavery and let freedom for all begin. Throughout Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech, he appeals to people's emotions, logic, and character. He uses these appeals in an informative way and to persuade others to help make a change in slavery. Martin Luther King Jr.'s use of all three types of rhetorical appeals, ethos, logos, and pathos, made his speech effective for reaching across continual racial inequality. …show more content…
Yet, there are a few of the appeals to logic. Here are some ways in which Martin Luther King Jr. appeals to logic in his speech. First, he appeals to logic when he talks about how when the Constitution and the Declaration of independence was written. It was written to promise "...all men...would be guaranteed...unalienable rights.." (American Rhetoric). However, this promise was not kept, for African Americans were still slaves in their homeland. People would think with a major document being written then signed, all words promised would be kept, but they were not. Secondly, he voices "Now is the time..", and "One day.." (American Rhetoric), to allow the audience to be aware that nothing is going to change until they take a stand. Now is the time to start working toward change if one ever wants to see …show more content…
lastly appeals to ethos. He appeals to character in multiple ways. One of the reasons he does this is because he is an American Civil Rights activist. This alone lets people know he is worthy of trust because of his effort to establish a change. Martin Luther King Jr. is truthful and credible because of his experience. He went through some of the same hardships that other African Americans had been through at that time. Another way in which he appeals to character is when he says the paragraph "I am not unmindful.." (American Rhetoric, 2001). This lets the audience know he is understanding of both the slaves and the free. He knows not only African Americans have their struggles, but some have struggled from being veterans, while others have come from jail cells. In addition to that, he also talks about having a dream. A dream that one day people will not be judged by the color of their skin and will be treated equally. This dream he has, shows that he is a person of love and perseverance. He loves everyone and will keep going until all are
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