In celebration of African American
history month I thought I should talk about Martin Luther King Jr. “I have a
Dream” speech. Which as we all know is one of the best pieces of rhetoric of
the modern day. What I realized is that I never actually read or heard it only
heard about or seen brief excerpts. It is crazy that one of the most famous
speeches of all time is rarely read or analyzed. It can be used as a great
teaching device for classes in history, law, politics, English, and obviously
rhetoric. The speech is not only useful for academic purposes, but it is moving
and encouraging.
I am not going to sit here and talk
of the rhetoric devices used anybody can look and see the pathos, logos, and
others. I am going to discuss what the speech went to me. When I read this
speech 48 years after it was recited I realized that his dram has only been
partially realized. I felt the urge to go out and be kind to all my fellow men
and do everything to make the America he dreamed of. Most importantly I wanted
to teach this speech to the other children who do not yet know of it. Just like
his speech encouraged me to jump to action it inspired a generation to march
and protest peacefully in southern states all across the country.
It also encouraged peace which is
the main reason why I feel as though we are not living his dream. He wanted
people to treat each other as brothers without violence or hatred. The amount
of violence not in generally, but in the African American community which is
something that it’s sad to see. It has been 48 years and the community at first
moved to fulfilling his dream. But recently taken a step back and after reading
this speech it truly saddened me.
I agree with you when you said that is speach is rarely read. I think there needs to be more emphasis on this subject within grammar, middle, and high school textbooks. However, in terms of the blog I wish you would have used a quote and focused more on how this is one of "the best pieces of rhetoric in the modern day."
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you took the initiative to read the speech, I have read it myself and I can say it is so powerful. It's so unfortunate that the public society doesn't encourage the youth to study it more.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I have not read Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech in its entirity. I agree with Alexis... it would have been nice to read some excerpts from the speech in your blog. However, we know it is incredible rhetoric just by the revolution it triggered. Now I'm curious... I want to go read the speech!
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