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Speech Analysis: I Have a Dream – Martin Luther King Jr.

“I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the most memorable speeches of all time.

It is worthy of lengthy study as we can all learn speechwriting skills from King’s historic masterpiece.

This article is the latest in a series of video speech critiques which help you analyze and learn from excellent speeches.

Speech Video: Martin Luther King Jr. delivers “I Have a Dream”

I encourage you to:

• Watch the video;
• Read the analysis in this speech critique;
• Study the speech text in the complete transcript; and
• Share your thoughts on this presentation.

Speech Critique – I Have a Dream – Martin Luther King Jr.

Much of the greatness of this speech is tied to its historical context, a topic which goes beyond the scope of this article.

Instead, I’ll focus on five key lessons in speechwriting that we can extract from Martin Luther King’s most famous speech.

• Emphasize phrases by repeating at the beginning of sentences
• Repeat key “theme” words throughout your speech
• Utilize appropriate quotations or allusions
• Use specific examples to “ground” your arguments
• Use metaphors to highlight contrasting concepts

Lesson #1: Emphasize Phrases by Repeating at the Beginning of Sentences

Anaphora (repeating words at the beginning of neighbouring clauses) is a commonly used rhetorical device. Repeating the words twice sets the pattern, and further repetitions emphasize the pattern and increase the rhetorical effect.

“ I have a dream ” is repeated in eight successive sentences, and is one of the most often cited examples of anaphora in modern rhetoric. But this is just one of eight occurrences of anaphora in this speech. By order of introduction, here are the key phrases:

• “One hundred years later…” [paragraph 3]
• “Now is the time…” [paragraph 6]
• “We must…” [paragraph 8]
• “We can never (cannot) be satisfied…” [paragraph 13]
• “Go back to…” [paragraph 14]
• “I Have a Dream…” [paragraphs 16 through 24]
• “With this faith, …” [paragraph 26]
• “Let freedom ring (from) …” [paragraphs 27 through 41]

Read those repeated phrases in sequence. Even in the absence of the remainder of the speech, these key phrases tell much of King’s story . Emphasis through repetition makes these phrases more memorable, and, by extension, make King’s story more memorable.

Lesson #2: Repeat Key “Theme” Words Throughout Your Speech

Repetition in forms like anaphora is quite obvious , but there are more subtle ways to use repetition as well. One way is to repeat key “theme” words throughout the body of your speech.

If you count the frequency of words used in King’s “I Have a Dream”, very interesting patterns emerge. The most commonly used noun is freedom , which is used twenty times in the speech. This makes sense, since freedom is one of the primary themes of the speech.

Other key themes? Consider these commonly repeated words:

• freedom (20 times)
• we (30 times), our (17 times), you (8 times)
• nation (10 times), america (5 times), american (4 times)
• justice (8 times) and injustice (3 times)
• dream (11 times)

“I Have a Dream” can be summarized in the view below, which associates the size of the word with its frequency.

Lesson #3: Utilize Appropriate Quotations or Allusions

Evoking historic and literary references is a powerful speechwriting technique which can be executed explicitly (a direct quotation) or implicitly (allusion).

You can improve the credibility of your arguments by referring to the (appropriate) words of credible speakers/writers in your speech. Consider the allusions used by Martin Luther King Jr.:

• “Five score years ago…” [paragraph 2] refers to Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address speech which began “ Four score and seven years ago… ” This allusion is particularly poignant given that King was speaking in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
• “ Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness ” [and the rest of paragraph 4] is a reference to the United States Declaration of Independence.
• “ It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. ” [paragraph 2] alludes to Psalms 30:5 “ For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning. “
• “ Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. ” [paragraph 8] evokes Jeremiah 2:13 “ for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water. “
• More biblical allusions from King’s “I Have a Dream” speech can be found here .

Lesson #4: Use specific examples to “ground” your arguments

Your speech is greatly improved when you provide specific examples which illustrate your logical (and perhaps theoretical) arguments.

One way that Martin Luther King Jr. accomplishes this is to make numerous geographic references throughout the speech:

• Mississippi, New York [paragraph 13]
• Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana [14]
• Georgia [18]
• Mississippi [19]
• Alabama [22]
• New Hampshire [32], New York [33], Pennsylvania [34], Colorado [35], California [36], Georgia [37], Tennessee [38], Mississippi [39]

Note that Mississippi is mentioned on four separate occasions. This is not accidental; mentioning Mississippi would evoke some of the strongest emotions and images for his audience.

Additionally, King uses relatively generic geographic references to make his message more inclusive:

• “slums and ghettos of our northern cities” [paragraph 14]
• “the South” [25]
• “From every mountainside” [40]
• “from every village and every hamlet” [41]

Lesson #5: Use Metaphors to Highlight Contrasting Concepts

Metaphors allow you to associate your speech concepts with concrete images and emotions.

To highlight the contrast between two abstract concepts, consider associating them with contrasting concrete metaphors. For example, to contrast segregation with racial justice, King evokes the contrasting metaphors of dark and desolate valley (of segregation) and sunlit path (of racial justice.)

• “joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity” [paragraph 2]
• “the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity” [3]
• “rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice” [6]
• “This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.” [7]
• “sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.” [19]

How can you employ contrasting metaphors in your next speech?

Speech Transcript: I Have a Dream – Martin Luther King Jr.

Note: The formatting has been added by me, not by MLK, to highlight words or phrases which are analyzed above.

[1] I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

[2] Five score years ago , a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

[3] But one hundred years later , the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later , the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later , the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later , the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

[4] In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”

[5] But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

[6] We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

[7] It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

[8] But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

[9] The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

[10] We cannot walk alone.

[11] And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

[12] We cannot turn back.

[13] There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: “For Whites Only.” We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

[14] I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest — quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

[15] Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

[16] And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream . It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

[17] I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

[18] I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

[19] I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

[20] I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

[21] I have a dream today!

[22] I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of “interposition” and “nullification” — one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

[23] I have a dream today!

[24] I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”

[25] This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

[26] With this faith , we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith , we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith , we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

[27] And this will be the day — this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning:

[28] My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. [29] Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride, [30] From every mountainside, let freedom ring !

[31] And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

[32] And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

[33] Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

[34] Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

[35] Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

[36] Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

[37] But not only that. Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

[38] Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

[39] Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

[40] From every mountainside, let freedom ring .

[41] And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

[42] Free at last! Free at last!

[43] Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

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95 comments.

I realize that there are several good reasons that Mr. King had to stay rooted at the lectern with the microphones, yet even if he had a nice stage area with freedom to walk around and still be heard by his audience, I have a hard time imagining his speech being more powerful. It all comes down to the voice, and still more importantly, the content, rhetorical devices and structure.

When a new speaker in my club stays rooted at the podium, and the evaluator encourages him/her to move around as the number 1 critique, I sometimes would disagree. Sure most speeches are more lighthearted than “I have a dream”, and more movement is often called for, yet remaining rooted at the lectern can often give a very good impression of being calm, stable, and anchored. Especially if one is speaking as some form of authority as Mr. King obviously was, these are good qualities.

I just wonder if there has been an unfortunate shift in the way speeches are now perceived (in Toastmasters and everywhere else) that we’ve sometimes lost sight of the fact that at the end of the day, content and substance are the MOST important, and the most memorable elements of a speech. Not whether the speaker moved around or not, not what he or she was wearing, not what he or she did with his hands (and for the record Martin Luther King Jr. did have good usage of his hands in the speech). Those are all just gravy. These classics are a nice reminder of the fact though, so thanks for including it.

One of the greatest speeches of all time and a fantastic anaysis also. Many thanks indeed for the hard work that goes in to producing such valluable insights. Rgds Vince

This was an excellent article. Thank you for posting it here for us, for it really opened my understanding to some things I’d not really seen with the eye of an aspiring, hopeful, future speech writer and speaker, nor even (to my shame), a decent listener!

To explain, I am a new Toastmaster, or Toastmaster Wannabe, I should say, and I need all the tips and help I can get. Public speaking “paralyzes” me. So thanks not only for this particular lesson, but a great big thanks for the entire web site! I have already bookmarked it.

His contribution into equality of races in America that we witness now is tremendous.

And it’s not just my opinion. That’s what famous peers said on Martin Luther King: http://www.tributespaid.com/quotes-on/martin-luther-king

That was a really good video from one of the most hard working men of all time. Without him, I’m sure slavery would be still going on. And it’s sad how right when the freedom started, he was killed, and not able to see his dream. But I’m sure he’s watching from heaven in peace.

this analysis was very helpful and had lots of good note!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Excellent critique on the content of one of the best speeches of all time.

Maybe in a previous post you critiqued the Delivery of Dr. King’s famous speech. If not, it is something you might consider writing about.

He is a master at using all the Verbal Elements of Delivery: Pronunciation and Enunciation, projection, inflectional, cadence, and the pause.

Thanks! Fred

i found this speech very wonderfull and effective because of its words and expressions whiche were very persuasive also the manner whiche marten lother king had delivered the speesh was very amasing because it stems from heart

I have a dream comes up a lot and he wants to get the point through peoples mind and so he uses a lot of sentences because he doesn’t want to live like this or have his family and other families all across the world live the way he had to. what he is saying is I don’t want to put up with this anymore, and we people do not want to be judged by our colour, hair, or the way we look but by the way our personality is.

Metaphor: let the freedom ring. thank you

This was a great analysis. It showed not only what a great speaker Dr. King was but also the depth of his spiritual awareness. I believe that Dr. King was a great man. He along with other brave men and women, transformed American society from a fake democracy into one in which all people can participate and achieve. The miraculous aspect of his great work is that he transformed an openly racist culture into one of tolerance almost overnight and led a spiritual transformation of our nation. I once met Dr. King when I was a teenager. He led a protest/picket campaign against a supermarket chain, in a community where I lived that refused to hire black teenagers as “Bag boys” in its stores. I was one of those teenagers. I met him after a speech he presented at a local movie theater prior to the protest campaign. I got to talk to him one on one. I relive and retell this meeting and conversation in my book, “Talking Penny.” I’ll never forget the words he said to me.

This article is amazing, it really helped me understand King´s speech in a deeper way. Furthermore it is very good structred and short but easy to follow and to understand. Thank you for your help with that article!

Thanks for sharing this resource! I look forward to sharing it with my students.

THIS WAS GREAT HELP. Thank you so much.

i love you right now. biggest help ever on my rhetorical analysis essay for my writing class. biggest life saver. i owe you.

Thanks for your analysis of this powerful speech. I have my HS public speaking students analyze this speech, and you’ve added to what I can help them see.

Great article and website find. I’m subscribed now… How did I miss this before now?? Will promote this too.. Great blog!

It’s not about the words is it? It’s about the delivery/passion? How you deliver it – It’s not about the words?

hello andrew am s fascinated by this analysis infact am gonna peruse through like ten more times. besides am a speaking champion in uganda but still need more of these, am gonna contest for guild presidency this year march 2011 tchao!

Why does he repeat the word justice?

This page was EXTREMELY heplful! Thank you!

Questions: -Some examples of repetition in King’s speech were “we cannot be satisfied” and “now is the time.” This adds to the appeal of the speech because it makes it stronger and more powerful. These terms that King repeats are key words that have to do with ending racism. People remember these words and it wraps the entire speech into a couple of repetitive words. Other examples of repetition in this speech are “we must,” “go back,” and, “I have a dream.” That one repetition example was so important that it became the title of the speech. Something that I noticed about repetition is that it starts at the beginning of the sentence then continue with something different to stress the repeated term.

Wow! This Article really helped me understand this speech at a whole new level. Way to go Andrew!! Thanks so much for your help.

I once never thought that one day the speech will be suitable in my academic study, but it is so important, thank you!

I think martin’ repetition of “I have a dream” ‘s phrase is significant;by stressing on it he wants to assure the audience about his unbreakable optimism viewed as prophesy

Excellent critique. Would like to read similar critiques of his other speeches

The more memorable and more dynamic 2nd 10-minute part of the speech-which starts with the “I Have a Dream” theme-was impropmptu. It was not part of the written speech draft that Dr. King prepared and read on the podium. Essentially, Dr. King was constructing the 2nd part as he spoke.Dr. King achieved this rare feat because of the abundant collection of speech material he has assembled thru the years from prodigious reading and actual speeches delivered in other locations.

Continued…

Invariably, Dr. King was the most dynamic when he is unshackled from the written draft. While the 1st (prepared and written) part of the speech was good, the 2nd impromptu part was much better-more like electrifying.

Dr. King’s rare genius results from his rare ability to seamlessly merge his own eloquence with the eloquence of others (direct quotes, allusions or paraphrases)> The whole eventually appears as if written by him in one coherent whole.

There are those who propound that the more memorable 2nd part was inspired at a higher level. Some use the words “divinely inspired.” Whatever its genuine nature,it is amazing than a speaker could craft an impromptu portion that would be considered a oratorical masterpiece.

How did Dr. King come to deliver the 2nd 10-minute improptu part that starts with the “I Have A Dream” segment? A gospel singer, Mahalia Jackson, sitted at his right, blurted out: “Tell them about the dream, Dr. King.” Dr. King must have heard it, as he began to articulate his “dream.” The rest is history.

it is a very nice speech

great work andrew,i am taking a course in public speaking and i absolutely love your work. i look forward to be like you one day – an excellent public speaker..

This article was very interesting and very helpful in a paper I had to write for school. Thank you for posting this.

Martin luther king jr. uses repetition to get his point across. to stop the segregation between white and african americans. one way he uses repetition is when he says “let freedom ring” four times in a row to give african americans all the rights that a white man has. the most common use of repetition is when he says “i have a dream” to show what he thinks is right, and what should change wich can grab peoples attenion

Thank you for sharing this insightful, detailed, and illuminating analysis. I will be recommending your site to my speech students.

Thank you for this excellent analysis, Andrew. I saw it in the Ragan newsletter and referenced it in my blog. I especially like your focus on repetition in speaking, a subject I harp on quite a bit.

I find this man inspirational and am choosing to wirte about him for an english literature piece. This has really started me off and has really helped. Dr. Luther King was an amazing man and he changed the way that we look at the world. He changed the world and is arguably the worlds most significant person.

this work is absolutely amazing!

I found this feature very helpful with my current linguistics topic of study.

“I have a dream” that you would be my teacher, I understand the speech after looking at your website keep up the good work.

Thank you for sharing this amazing masterpiece. It is well clarified and well presented and organised. I agree that it is one of the high standard and posh speech. Thanks again

that was a very good speach and that martin luther king was still mostly famoum. martin was an insperation and that we should all have a dream that the nation will rise up to meet the standeds of america

thats a very good speach and my grandad would be proud of this website and of the creator

Why did King say “Five score years ago” when he could of said “One hundred years ago” and then later, why did he say “One hundred years later” instead of “Five score years ago”? I’m analyzing his language in this speech and I came across this, so it made me wonder… anyone care to answer?

Here five scores means 20 years ago..

I studied Rev. King’s I Have a Dream speech in a writing class; it is a speech, a piece of writing, that always moves me. The anaphora is so pronounced, so captivating, the listener cannot help but be swept away. I am always in tears by the time I reach the end, and I have read this speech many times. I hope every student is given the opportunity to study these words, to understand them, and to appreciate the sacrifices made since then.

This is an excellent analysis of Dr. King’s speech! I have learned a lot, and will use it as a reference for future speeches I make.

I enjoyed this analysis. I would love to this speech highlighted with different colors like the critique on Churchill’s “iron curtain.”

I thought all five lessons were important, and easy to understand. They broke each part of his speech down in a way I wouldn’t have thought to. However, I particularly liked and took an interest in lesson 1 and 2. The repetition was strategic and purposeful rather than like in high school we were always told to use synonyms and expand our vocabulary. It was making a point, and it is true, when I think of this speech “I have a dream” is the very first thing that comes to mind, and this was a strategy and exactly what he wanted when he wrote this! Excellent!

I have read MLK’S speech several times. It is always fresh and timeless.It is the master of all speeches. The above analysis helped me to appreciate the speech than ever before.

The visual representation and summary of the frequency of word usage in the speech is a great idea. It appears to be similar to concept maps, and would be useful for both writing and analyzing speeches. It could serve as an initial framework to clear up ideas and ensure that a speech is centered around the intended themes. The quotations used, especially those from the Bible, add extra power to the speech. At that time, more Americans were familiar with the contents of the Bible and would be motivated to action at the quotations and allurement to scriptural passages. Religion is a subject that is always taken very seriously and is something people are highly passionate about, so a well-used quotation or reference can do more to persuade people many techniques.

A very good analysis of this famous speech that not only gave good advice on speech writing in general, but also helped me understand the speech on a deeper level.

I thought this analysis was absolutely amazing. I found it very insightful and gave me a look into the details of the speech. I’ve learned about MLK and the “I have a Dream” speech but I’ve never learned this much about it. This gave me a different perspective of what it actually took him to write the speech. I particularly took interest in the theme of freedom, learning what Anaphora is and the impact on the pauses, pronunciation, projection, and of course, the repetition. This was a great analysis and I think many people can learn more about the speech with this critique.

The breakdown of the speech brought things to my attention that I had otherwise over looked. It is clear that much time and consideration was put into the construction of the speech. The metaphors used, added a power to the speech that showed the commitment and passion Dr. King felt. It is also clear that he knew what he was doing. The time he took to connect things together in the speech was evident. While reviewing the video, it seemed that he kept a strong and steady pace from the beginning until almost the end; then toward the end of the speech, when he really wanted to show emphasis, his voice and physical motions showed changed to show his feelings. Something else I viewed as powerful was Dr. King’s use of examples that the audience could relate to. The use of events that had taken place pulled in more audience support, and again showed his commitment and passion.

The best speech of all time. So motivating and important. I like this new look at it too. Helps me see it in a whole new light.

I think the analysis was amazing. I’ve learned about the “I Have a Dream” speech in just about every year of school, but I have never looked this deep into it. I have listened to the speech before, but would have never understood or picked up on anything like I did after reading this. The metaphors used the allusions, and very strong arguments all came together to make a perfect speech. No wonder this is nationally known, he is a genius. His strategy to go around points that were needed to be made was phenomenal. Apart from the speech, the analysis broke it down beyond perfect to show everyone what exactly was going through Dr. King’s head. Everyone can benefit from listening to this well constructed speech and speech analysis.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream Speech,” is one of the most memorable speeches of all time. This speech was one of the main reasons for the breaking of the color barrier. Dr. King is very passionate and emotional throughout his speech, which is seen through his vocal variety, the way he emphasizes certain words, and how overall powerful he is while giving this speech. Through the use of repeating specific phrases, “Now is the time, I have a dream, Let freedom ring,” his use of allusions, and the way he uses his metaphors, really make this speech so personal. By repeating the phrases, people throughout America see how passionate he is, and he gets his point across. His use of allusions when quoting Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, and quoting multiple biblical verses, really adds a personalized effect to Dr. King’s audience. He is stating that one of America’s former presidents, who gave the Gettysburg Address, signed the Emancipation Proclamation, and when quoting the bible verses, saying that God created man equal. Finally with his use of metaphors, Dr. King uses the phrases of dark and desolate valleys to mean segregation. Its the little things that Dr. King did to make this speech so powerful and ultimately, destroy the color barrier for the United States.

I really enjoyed this analysis of MLK’s speech. It’s really interesting that he repeats things so many times. You always hear how you should come back to a point to get that certain point across, but I never thought about going back to the same point or saying the same thing numerous times. Reading all of the statements he repeated was a huge eye opener. I also never really thought about how he brought all of this other history into his speech like the geography of the states he decribed or the statements from other important documents. This was overall a very good analysis and I actually enjoyed reading about it.

This is an outstanding speech made at a very crucial time. I feel that one of the major points is that many speakers of this time were very focused on retaliatory a acts, and specific incidences for relations to people. Though there are a few geographical references in Dr. Martin Luther Kings speech, what set it apart to me is that he took a collection of many local problems, categorized them into regions, then into speaking about the state of the nation as a whole. By doing this he gives everyone a feeling of unity and purpose, followed by relating this now entire group of people to other major historical events that people can relate to. By referring to Lincoln, this was something that people had heard personal stories and first hand accounts about their own ancestors fighting for justice. Then relating the same group to the trials of the people and perseverance of biblical characters, which are very well known, helps give credibility, a sense of relation, and a foundation to build up and succeed just as others who faced towering obstacles had overcome them. By referencing these groups and making repetitive notations from their trials to those of the current situation makes this a great speech. It not only motivated the intended audience but became, in itself, the next story that future generations could refer to in times of trial.

I thought this analysis was great. In high school we barely talked about the “I Have A Dream Speech” and it was great to finally learn about it and go into detail about the organization of the speech. I never would have noticed some of his strategies without reading this analysis. I think anyone who is attempting to write a powerful speech would benefit from watching Dr. King’s speech and reading this analysis.

I always believed that in order to speech to count it has to change the way of the people and the way that ourselves think today. Martin Luther King’s speech did just that and it was a speech that made history and really saved our society and our nation from what could have been a terrible future up until today for America.He used the term “we” the most which for a speech like this is very important because he’s addressing what he wants all America to be like. Overall, one of the greatest speeches ever to take place in history.

The “I Have a Dream” speech has always been iconic, since the day it was first given and even now. The vividness of Martin Luther King JR.’s descriptions and the strong words he chooses to express his wishes communicate on a deep level with listeners and inspire the wish for change, just as they did then. All of this combined with strong his strong voices and unique delivery style leaves listeners aching to make a change, even years after his voice rang out across the reflecting pool at the Lincoln memorial.

The “I have a Dream Speech” has been a well known speech among people for several years. I have listened to the speech before but I never picked up on certain verbal accents and change in volume throughout the speech. In the speech he kept a very good pace,but would change his volume when he was trying to get his point across. I also paid attention to the words that he choose to use because he was very good at conveying his message and I felt that his word choices were a positive factor. I also noticed that he said “we” a lot which I also liked because he was not just referring to himself, but his entire audience. This speech is a great speech and is a great tool for someone who wants to conduct a speech.

I thought that the critique was very interesing. Everyone knows that the “I Have A Dream” speech is a very memorabe one indeed. We always listened to it at school, but we never really looked into the speech with great detail so the critique really taught me a lot. I learned from this critique that Dr. Msrtin Luther King Jr. used a lot of metaphors througout his speech, and I think that’s one of the reasons the speech was so strong, and his repetition at the beginning of his sentences really caught the attention of everone listening that day, and when people listen to it today.

Andrew– an amazing analysis!!

A very good analysis to help students understand the requirements for speech writing. Students did benefit from it. thank you

This is a great article. Breaks everything down on how great this speech was and how and why it was so great. Martin Luther King used repetition in the perfect way to get his message through. The beginning of the speech had consecutive repetition which actually grabbed the audience attention. This article was extremely helpful in understanding why this speech was so great.

Thanks a lot for this well-structured analysis of the speech. It is a speech that has touched me ever since I first encountered it as a teenager. Now being an English teacher (at a German high school) I finally get to teach young adults (like I once was) about it and your analysis is of great help to me!

This website with the critiques to the Martin Luther King speech was very useful i really enjoyed and liked it!

What a fabulous article you wrote! I will be letting my children read it.

Many many thanks for making this available to the general public.I intend to use this with my students, if I may, and shall report on their reaction.

I have read this speech over twenty times and this analysis has given me a different perspective. This analysis was inspirational and I felt as if I were reading it for the first time. was

The line “We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality” is still so relevant in 2016.

I feel like this was a great speech. This man was a great man and did great things. I like when he started to talk about how every one should be free, it is true every one should have freedom no matter where your from or who you are. When he said i am free in the last word of his speech i thought that was very powerful, because that was a statement he wanted to be free so he was. I’m glad he was part of are history and that he did what he thought was right, because he has help the world out.

I agree with Andrew Dlugan, on what he believes to be the key factors or most important parts of the “I Have A Dream” speech. He gives different lessons on all parts of the speech, in which he breaks down the different aspects of them. Lesson #2 states the important themes, phrases and words Dr. King used throughout the speech. Andrew believes that this was very important part of the speech because it’s where Dr. King emphasized what he was saying by repeating them over and over indicating the importance of it.

I think that the most important thing in this speech is when he repeats the key “theme” words. That way the people know who/what you’re talking about and whom you’re talking about. Especially with a speech like this spoken among thousands of people.

What makes this speech a great speech is that there is a lot of dedication towards equality.

This speech is great because he wants freedom and justice for all, not just for African American people.

Lesson number four was a very unique importance reflecting the “I have a dream…” speech. I believe your perspective and the way you feel in this case is very important. Especially since MLK gave specific and clarity throughout his speech. Lesson number four is all about providing examples that could give you an logical illustration of what is being said and that is specifically what makes a great speech.

This is a great speech, I liked how he used repetitiveness. It really makes a point on what he’s trying to get through.

This article is a great analysis to the speech. Martin Luther King’s speech is powerful and strongly impacting to whoever has heard or listened to it. In line 41 to me was very powerful that shows that when it would happen we would all be equal that we always were but it would finally be accepted by more. Martin Luther King is an amazing speaker and his voice was powerful and used his voice to speak what he wanted to prove.

This was a wonderful analysis to this speech. Martin Luther king’s was very powerful especially how he spoke it with ,importance and a powerful impact. My favorite line was line (7) Nineteen sixty three is not an end but a beginning. My personal preference on what it means is it is the beginning to start all over with everyone being able to be treated the same and not be judged by the color of their skin. This was a wonderful speech.

What makes “I have a dream” speech great is the fact that Martin Luther King Jr. used his voice to fight against racial segregation and discrimination. “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” is my favorite quote from the speech. I believe this quote is so powerful because in this world, there are a lot of judgement on people’s appearances and having Martin Luther King Jr. lecture people on that, I believed it opened a lot of minds.

Mahalo for sharing this lesson … It’s perfect for breaking down King’s message and increasing awareness of figures of speech for students to learn to use in their own writing.

An excellent analysis. I have a question, Why did Martin Luther King use Alabama, Georgia, and Missisipi in his speech? Please enlighten me.

To show emphasis in the deep South,

Iam so impressed. I like the step by step approach with examples.I wish to to learn as an M.ed English student. Also,I wish to start public speaking club with students I teach and my church.I will like you to support me.

Thank you for this article.

There is a good reason why speeches like this are often presented as good examples; something to feel inspired from. It is so full of wonderful elements, like the repeated phrases for instances, which make a huge impact on the overall speech. Public speaking courses can benefit a lot from showing such an example.

” Now is the time…” is actually a form of parallel structure, not repetition.

Actually it is anaphora, and what comes after “Now is the time …” is the parallel structure. I hope it helped you.

Thank you for your inspiring analysis of this historic speech!

This was such a great eye opener to the various mistakes I have been making in most of the speeches I have been giving! Kudos!!!

Thank you so much for this very helpful analysis of language of Luther’s speech. I was preparaing my lesson and ı found this! I ve found lots of useful info for my students. Thank you so much 🙂

The speech analysis of Martin Luther King Jr’s famous ” I Have A Dream Speech”inspired me to teach a fabulous lesson to high school speech-language therapy students of multi-ethnic backgrounds.

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Here’s an insightful analysis that I share with my university #ESL classes. It’s definitely worth reading.… https://t.co/bCKCv04513 — Eric H. Roth (@compellingtalks) Jan 20th, 2019

Speech Analysis: I Have a Dream – Martin Luther King Jr. by Andrew Dlugan read it here… https://t.co/hPTqWX1kQM — Sandra Zimmer (@sandrazimmer) Jan 21st, 2019

27 Blog Links

Speech Analysis: I Have a Dream - Martin Luther King Jr. MLK « Gilbert Toastmasters — Jan 19th, 2009

Analysis of MLK’s I Have a Dream Speech - Speaking Freely — Jan 19th, 2009

Jkwadraat weblog » Blog Archive » Leren van Martin Luther King - I have a dream! Speech Analysis — Jan 20th, 2009

Analyzing a Speech: “I have a dream.” « Talk for Change Toastmasters — Jan 24th, 2010

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MLK Jr & the the power of speech « KCOBY — Jan 17th, 2011

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McKinnon Language Solutions » Blog Archive » Speech Analysis – I have a Dream – Dr Martin Luther King — Jan 29th, 2011

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danielstillman.com - What I learned about Sketchnotes — Apr 8th, 2011

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Speech as Case Study: Martin Luther King, Jr. « RCM 401: Oral Rhetoric — Jan 16th, 2012

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Presentation Lessons from Kevin Hart « Alex Rister — Feb 8th, 2012

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I Have a Dream Speech

Martin luther king, jr..

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In his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech, civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. describes the founding promises of America (freedom, equality, and justice for all) and the nation’s failure to keep those promises, particularly to Black Americans. Addressing hundreds of thousands of people at the March on Washington in August of 1963, King specifically called attention to the fact that while most white Americans enjoyed freedom and justice, Black Americans did not. Nonetheless, throughout the speech, King maintains hope that America will soon live up to its founding ideals. By highlighting America’s failed promises while still maintaining his faith its possibilities, King suggested to those in attendance at the march that it was their right to demand that America fulfill its promises to them—and that it was their duty to fight on until the country reached its potential.

King begins his speech by invoking the Emancipation Proclamation, which, in 1863, promised freedom to all enslaved Americans. The Emancipation Proclamation, King says, “came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves” and he urges his audience to imagine the “joyous daybreak to end the long night of […] captivity” that the proclamation was supposed to bring. However, despite this sweeping promise of freedom, King says, “one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free.” In 1963, when King gave his speech, Black Americans were still abused by police, barred from sharing social spaces with white Americans, and kept in literal (and metaphorical) “ghettos” where social mobility was impossible. This, King implies, is not the freedom that the Emancipation Proclamation promised. While Black Americans were promised equal rights and fair treatment at the end of the Civil War, America has knowingly broken those promises in the years since. America never delivered to Black Americans the social equality, material prosperity, or political representation its white citizens have enjoyed since the country’s foundation.

While the United States has not yet lived up to its promises of freedom and equality, King is still hopeful that, in the future, his country will. “We refuse to believe,” King states, “that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity in this nation.” This statement makes it clear that King—and countless other Black Americans—have seen firsthand how America provides for its white citizens, and he is certain that the United States is capable of providing such opportunities to all Americans, regardless of race. He frames opportunity as a kind of currency, implying that there’s plenty of money to go around. So to him, the United States has not broken its promises of freedom and opportunity because those resources are scarce—actually, he believes that it’s completely possible to distribute opportunity equitably without costing white Americans anything. King believes in “the promises of democracy,” but he knows that they have not yet been “ma[de] real.”

King’s faith that America can make good on its unrealized promises depends on one thing: every American embracing their duty to hold their country accountable to its own standards of freedom and justice. King uses the metaphor of money to explain that America has defaulted on its debt to Black Americans, but that his listeners must “cash this check” that they are owed—the check, of course, is the promise of freedom and equality enshrined in the nation’s founding documents. “The riches of freedom and the security of justice,” King posits, won’t be given to America’s minorities until they collectively demand the rights they were promised. “This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off,” King says. Here, he positions “cooling off” (or putting the fight for civil rights on the backburner) as a “luxury” that no American—no matter their race—can afford. King implores his listeners not to assume that America will give them what they’re owed without pressure.

Toward the end of his speech, King describes his own vision for America’s future as being “deeply rooted in the American dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed—we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” Here, King cements his belief that just because America has not yet kept its promises doesn’t mean that there’s no possibility of growth. He knows that America has the capacity to create a society in which all people are treated equally, as long as Americans take action to ensure that reality.

America’s Promises and Potential ThemeTracker

America’s Promises and Potential Quotes in I Have a Dream Speech

Fivescore years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free; one hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination…

When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. […] Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check; a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi; go back to Alabama; go back to South Carolina; go back to Georgia; go back to Louisiana; go back to the slums and ghettos of the northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can, and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

So I say to you, my friends, that even though we must face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed—we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

I have a dream my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!

This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning—“my country ‘tis of thee; sweet land of liberty; of thee I sing; land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride; from every mountainside, let freedom ring”—and if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. […]

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.

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“I Have a Dream”: Annotated

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s iconic speech, annotated with relevant scholarship on the literary, political, and religious roots of his words.

For this month’s Annotations, we’ve taken Martin Luther King, Jr.’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech, and provided scholarly analysis of its groundings and inspirations—the speech’s religious, political, historical and cultural underpinnings are wide-ranging and have been read as jeremiad, call to action, and literature. While the speech itself has been used (and sometimes misused) to call for a “color-blind” country, its power is only increased by knowing its rhetorical and intellectual antecedents.      

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation . This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.

But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now . This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God’s children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred .

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream .

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor’s lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted , every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood . With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

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This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

For dynamic annotations of this speech and other iconic works, see The Understanding Series from JSTOR Labs .

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I Have a Dream Speech Rhetorical Analysis

I have a dream speech rhetorical analysis lyrics.

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Rhetorical Analysis of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream”

The “I Have a Dream” speech has a very simple context. The author of the “I Have A Dream” speech is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. King is known for his work in Civil Rights during the 1960s. The purpose of this speech is to inspire change in both white and black citizens of the United States during the Civil Rights era. Moreover, the premise of the speech is that both sides of the discussion must accept change in a non-violent yet effective way. Finally, the audience of the speech is very general; however, one should note that since the speech is given in Washington, it is possible that the speech attempts to engage law makers and policy makers who work and live within the nation’s capital.

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I have a dream

By Martin Luther King Jr.

‘I have a dream’ by Martin Luther King Jr. is a public speech the civil rights activist delivered on August 28th, 1963. In it, he called for an end to racism in the United States and all its related policies. 

Martin Luther King Jr.

His writings and speeches about the Civil Rights movement are studied worldwide and honored to this day.

Poem Analyzed by Emma Baldwin

B.A. English (Minor: Creative Writing), B.F.A. Fine Art, B.A. Art Histories

The ‘I have a dream’ speech was delivered to 250,000 supporters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Today, the ‘ I have a dream ’ speech is acknowledged as one of the defining and shining moments of the Civil Rights movement and as a masterpiece of public speaking. It is constantly quoted and used as continual inspiration as the fight for equal rights continues in the United States and around the world.  

Explore I have a dream speech

• 1 Summary 
• 3 Structure and Form
• 4 Literary and Rhetorical Devices 
• 5 Famous Quotes from the I have a dream speech
• 6 Detailed Analysis 

Summary  

‘I have a dream’ by Martin Luther King Jr. is a powerful rhetorical call for equal rights for all American people regardless of their race. It is a continual source of inspiration for those fighting to continue what the Civil Rights movement began.

In the first lines of this famed speech, King discusses the Emancipation Proclamation. That is the speech that freed the slaves in 1863, one hundred years in the past. Now, he stated, still, “the Negro is…not free.” He also references the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence, reminding all those listening that America is supposed to be the land of the free. But, in America today, freedom hasn’t been achieved. The phrase “I have a dream” is used numerous times throughout the piece. He says that the United States needs to make immediate changes, or the protests will only heighten. He also says that the Black community will never be satisfied until they are granted full and equal rights with white Americans.  

Throughout this piece, King engages with themes of freedom, justice, and the future. He acknowledges the past and present as a way of alluding to the promise of the future. His determination that no one rests until all people are truly equal comes through in his calls for justice and freedom.  

Structure and Form

‘I have a dream’ by Martin Luther King Jr. is an incredibly important text to study for those interested in understanding the Civil Rights movement and this specific pivotal moment. It was delivered in around seventeen minutes, using numerous rhetorical devices that are noted below. King uses repetition , seen through instances of anaphora and epistrophe , to drive home his poems. In this analysis, the speech has been separated into six sections. These are not sections created or noted by King. Instead, they’re used in this analysis to make the poem easier to analyze and understand.  

Literary and Rhetorical Devices  

Throughout the speech, King uses numerous literary and rhetorical devices in order to deliver the most effective speech possible. For example:  

• Ethos : used in an argument by appealing to the audience through the speaker ’s credibility. King, as a Black man living in the United States, and working within the Civil Rights Movement, is in an ideal position in order to speak about what the contemporary American experience is like. King also uses the other modes of persuasion , logos , and pathos .
• Anaphora : the use of the same word or words at the beginning of multiple lines, in succession. Throughout the speech, King repeats “I have a dream” eight times, successively, at the beginning of lines. “One hundred years later” is another example, appearing at the beginning of numerous phrases early on in the speech. “Now is the time,” “Go back to,” “With this faith,” and “We can never (or cannot) be satisfied” are all other phrases that begin multiple lines.
• Allusion : throughout this piece, King alludes to prior American history, important political moments, and contemporary events. The latter includes protests that he was famously a part of. He uses phrases like “Five score years ago” as a reference to the Gettysburg Address and “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” is an allusion to the Lincoln Memorial. There are also biblical allusions scattered throughout the speech. Such as “It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity” which comes from Psalms 30:5
• Repetition : in addition to examples of anaphora, there are other kinds of repetition in King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech. For example, repeated phrases, references, and calls to action. He also repeats common themes. These include: freedom, justice, and the power of dreams.  
• Imagery : another powerful rhetorical and literary device. It occurs when the speaker uses phrases that appeal to and trigger the listener’s senses. For example, “slums and ghettos of our northern cities,” a phrase that also alludes to the contemporary moment King is living through.  
• Metaphor : comparison between two seemingly dissimilar things that do not use “like” or “as.” For example, in the second paragraph of the speech, King uses the phrase “joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.” Here, he’s connecting Black American’s social and political restrictions and the racisms that still plagues the country to a “long night of captivity.” When freedom is truly given to all people it will be a “joyous daybreak” and end to that night. Another example can be found in paragraph 19, in which he uses the phrase “sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.” Here, oppression is compared to “heat” and freedom and justice to “an oasis.” He’s using imagery in this metaphor to evoke the beauty of one state of being and the pain or another.
• Alliteration : the use of the same consonant sounds at the beginning of words. For example, King uses “trials and tribulations,” “dark and desolate,” “sweltering summer,” and “marvelous new militancy.”  

Famous Quotes from the I have a dream speech

Below, readers can find a few of the most famous quotes from this speech.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

In this quote, King is starting the most famous section of his speech in which he uses “I have a dream” at the start of several lines. He is looking into the future and envisioning a life for his children that’s different than his own.

We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back.

Here, King acknowledges that while there is power in the numbers they have, it is important that the Black community does not walk alone. There are people of all races in the audience, men and women, who support their movement. It’s crucial that they accept their support and do not allow bitterness to drive them.

When we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: “Free at last! Free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

These are the final lines of the ‘I have a dream’ speech. In this paragraph, King uses anaphora to emphasize the way that freedom is going to travel through the country, bringing men and women together. All races and religions will one day join hands and be able to sing out “Free at last!”

We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

This line is King’s answer to the question of “When will you be satisfied?” That is, when will the Civil Rights movement be content with the freedoms it gained the Black community. His answer is eloquently phrased and spans more than just this one line.

Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.

Here, King brings in one of the running metaphors that can be found in the speech. That is, the use of the sun as an image of hope and the future, as well as darkness as one of oppression and the past.

Detailed Analysis  

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. […] It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note in so far as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”

The first lines of the speech contain King’s initial address to the audience, numerous metaphors, allusions, and examples of repetition that bring in the most important themes of the speech, justice, and freedom. He speaks about the “Constitution and the Declaration of Independence” and the “architects of our republic” thought when they wrote them. They promised that “all men” were “guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”  

In this line, it’s interesting to note the moment at which King pauses and says, “all men, yes, black men as well as white men,” in order to confirm before anyone has a chance to second guess him. These political documents gave men of all color the same rights. This is a great example of a more colloquial moment in the speech.  There is a great example of a metaphor in these lines at the end of this section. It reads: “America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”’  

Part II  

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we have come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. […] will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

In this section of the speech, King uses some of the same examples of literary devices seen above. This includes anaphora. It is seen through the use of “Now is the time” in paragraph three. The repetition of this phrase is a call to action, inspiring the audience and reminding anyone listening that “Now is the time” that the past ends and that a new future starts. The image of “heat” comes into play with King using phrases like “This sweltering summer.” Other natural images are also used, like “blow off steam,” “whirlwinds,” and “bright day.” These all allude to what the next stage in American justice and freedom is going to look like.  

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the worn threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. […] There are those who are asking the devotees of Civil Rights, “When will you be satisfied?”

In the next lines of the speech, he reminds those listening, his “people,” that they must stay on the correct path as they seek justice. It’s important that they do not “drink…from the cup of bitterness and hatred” and instead “conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.” These beautiful lines bring in the fact that there are many who support King’s desire for a new world of freedom, black and white. Knowing how hard this fight is going to be, it’s important that “We cannot walk alone,” King says. One of the most famous quotes from the speech follows.  

We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality; we can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities; we cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one;   […] the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

The next lines are some of the most commonly quoted for the speech. King asks a question that he proceeds to answer. When will they be satisfied? He determines that they won’t be satisfied as long as “the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality” and “we can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.” He brings in several more phrases that lay out the goals of his speech and the entire Civil Rights movement. In the brighter future, he imagines, these are things that are no longer going to be a concern.

In another powerful part of the speech, King tells those listening to go home and not “wallow in the valley of despair.” Instead, “Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.” He tells them to “Go” back to their respective states, Georgia, South Carolina, etc.

Part V  

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today! […] With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brother-hood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. And this will be the day.

The next section contains the repetitions of “I have a dream,” truly the most famous section of the speech. King emphasizes that he has a “dream” that the future is going to be different and that one day his children “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” and that “little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.” These images of hope are juxtaposed with the difficulty of the present moment. For example, with this description of the Governor of Alabama and others in the state: “with its vicious racists, with its Governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification.”  

Part VI  

This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning, “My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my father died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, […]   we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: “Free at last. Free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”

In the final lines of the speech, King says that today is the day when “all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning” when they sing the lines of the national anthem. He repeats “Let freedom ring” in reference to various places around the country, uniting those listening in a common goal and reminding the audience of his desire to have all of God’s children stand and “join hands and sing.” The final line comes from “the old Negro spiritual” that encompasses the passion of the Civil Rights movement: “Free at last. Free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”  

On August 28th, 1963. It was delivered to 250,000 supporters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

It brought the Civil Rights movement into the public spotlight and made King a public figure. It may have hastened the passing of the Civil Rights Act .

He wrote and delivered the speech in order to call for an end to social and economic racism in the United States.

King’s main message is that all people are created equal and that although they aren’t treated as such in the United States at the moment, it’s important that everyone continue working towards that goal.

King was a Baptist minister and social rights activist. He was a leader of the Civil Rights movement in the ’50s and ’60s in the United States. He organized the March on Washington in 1963.

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What is it’s phonological feature?

I’d say the refrain acts as a phonological feature as the repetition added a rhythm to what MLK said.

Amazing Job!

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Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — I Have a Dream — Analyzing The King’s “I Have a Dream” Speech

Analyzing The King's "I Have a Dream" Speech

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Published: Feb 7, 2024

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Historical context, structure of the speech, analysis of king's message, impact of the speech.

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“The American Dream” July 4th Speech Transcript – Martin Luther King, Jr.

On July 4, 1965, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave an Independence Day speech. Read the full transcript of his speech here.

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Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 00:00 ) I would like to discuss some of the problems that we confront in the world today, and some of the problems that we confront in our own nation by using as a subject The American Dream. I choose this subject because America is essentially a dream. It is a dream of a land where men of all races, of all nationalities, and of all creeds, can live together as brothers. The substance of the dream is expressed in these sublime words, “We hold these truths to be self- evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 01:39 ) Now, we notice in the very beginning that at the center of this dream is an amazing universalism. It does not say some men, but it says all men. It does not say all white men, but it says all men, which includes black men. It does not say all Gentiles, but it says all men, which includes Jews. It does not say all Protestants, but it says all men, which includes Catholics. That is something else that we notice in this American Dream, which is one of the things that distinguishes our form of government with some of the other totalitarian systems.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 02:43 ) It says that each individual has certain inherent rights that are neither derived from or conferred by the state. They are gifts from the hands of the almighty God. Very seldom, if ever, in the history of the world has a socio-political document expressed in such profound, eloquent, and unequivocal language, the dignity and the worth of human personality. While the American Dream reminds us that every man is a heir of a legacy of worthfullness. But ever since the Founding Fathers of our nation dreamed this dream, America has been something of a schizophrenic personality.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 03:54 ) On the one hand, we have proudly professed the noble principles of democracy. On the other hand, we have sadly practiced the very antithesis of those principles. Indeed, slavery and segregation have been strange paradoxes in a nation founded on the principle that all men are created equal. But now more than ever before, America is challenged to realize its noble dream, for the shape of the world today does not permit us the luxury of an anemic democracy, And the price that the United States must pay for the continued exploitation and oppression of the Negro and other minority groups, is the price of its own destruction. There are approximately 2 billion 700 million people in the world, and the vast majority of these people live in Asia and Africa. For years most of these people have been dominated politically, exploited economically, segregated, and humiliated by some foreign power. Today they are gaining that independence. More than 1 billion 600 million of the former of 1 billion, 900 million colonial subjects have their independence today, and they are saying in no uncertain terms that racism and colonialism must go.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 05:52 ) So in a real sense our hour is late, and the clock of destiny is ticking out, and we must act now before it is too late. It is trite but urgently true that if America is to remain a first-class nation, she can no longer have second-class citizens. I must rush on to say that we must not seek to solve this problem merely to meet the Communist challenge. We must not seek to do it merely to appeal to Asian and African peoples. In the final analysis, racial discrimination must be uprooted from our society because it is morally wrong. It must be done because segregation stands against all of the noble precepts of our Judeo-Christian heritage.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 06:54 ) It must be done because segregation substitutes an I-It relationship for the I-Thou relationship, and ends up relegating persons to the status of things, and so this problem must be solved not merely because it is diplomatically expedient, but because it is morally compelling. So every person of goodwill in this nation is called upon to work passionately and unrelentingly to realize the American Dream. And the persons who are working to do this are not dangerous agitators, they are not dangerous rabble-rousers, but they are the persons working to save the soul of America.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 07:51 ) I would like to suggest some things that we must do in order to realize this great dream. First, we must begin with a world perspective, for we will not be able to realize the American Dream until we work to realize a world dream. A world dream for peace, and brotherhood, and goodwill. The world in which we live is geographically one, and now we are challenged to make it spiritually one. Now, it is true that the geographical oneness of this age in which we live was brought into being to a large extent through man’s scientific ingenuity.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 08:50 ) Man, through his scientific genius, has been able to dwarf distance and place time in chains. Yes, he’s been able to carve highways through the stratosphere, and our jet planes have compressed into minutes distances that one’s took days. I think Bob Hope has adequately described this new jet age in which we live, and it is not the usual thing for a preacher to be quoting Bob Hope, but I think he has adequately described this new jet age. He said it is an age in which it is possible to take a nonstop flight from Los Angeles to New York, and if on taking off in Los Angeles, you develop hiccups, you will hic in Los Angeles and cup in New York City.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 09:45 ) You know it is possible, because of the time difference, to take a flight from Tokyo on Sunday morning and arrived in Seattle, Washington on the preceding Saturday night. And when your friends meet you at the airport and ask when you left Tokyo, you would have to say, “I left tomorrow.” That’s the kind of age in which we live. Now, this is a bit humorous, but I’m trying to laugh a basic fact into all of us, and it is simply this, that through our scientific genius, we have made of this world a neighborhood.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 10:23 ) Now through our moral and ethical commitment we must make of it a brotherhood, and me must all learn to live together as brothers, or we will all perish together as fools. Every individual must learn this. Every nation must learn this. Every nation must realize its dependence on other nations. Some months ago Mrs. King and I journeyed to that great country known as India, and I never will forget the experience. I never will forget many of the conversations, experience to talk with the great leaders of India, and to meet people in the cities and the villages throughout that nation will remain dear to me as long as the chords of memory shall let them.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 11:26 ) I must say to you this evening that there were those depressing moments. How can one avoid being depressed when he sees with his own eyes millions of people going to bed hungry at night? How can one avoid being depressed when he sees with his own eyes, millions of people sleeping on the sidewalks at night? In Calcutta alone, more than a million people sleep on the sidewalks every night. They have no beds to sleep in. They have no houses to go in. How can one avoid being depressed when he discovers that out of-

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 12:03 ) How can one avoid being depressed when he discovers that out of India’s population of 400 million people, more than 370 million make an annual income of less than $60 a year. Most of these people have never seen a doctor or dentist. And as I noticed these conditions something within me cried out, can we in America stand idly by and not be concerned? An answer came, oh, no, because the destiny of the United States is tied up with the destiny of India. And I started thinking of the fact that here in America we spend more than $1 million a day to start surplus food. And I said to myself, I know where we can store that food free of charge, in the wrinkled stomachs of the millions of people all over the world who go to bed hungry at night. Maybe we’ve spent far too much of our money establishing military bases around the world rather than bases of genuine concern and understanding.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 13:13 ) All I’m saying is simply this, that all life is interrelated. We are tied in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. And whatever it affects one directly it affects all indirectly. And as long as there is extreme poverty in this world no one can be totally rich, even if he has a billion dollars. As long as diseases are rampant and millions of people cannot expect to live more than 28 or 30 years, no one can be totally healthy even if he just got a checkup in the finest clinic of the nation. Strangely enough, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 14:10 ) John Donne called it years ago and placed it in graphic times, no man is an island entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. And he goes on toward the end to say any man’s death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee. We must come to see this if we are to realize the American dream. Next thing that must be done, we must get rid of the notion once and for all that there are superior and inferior races. Somehow this notion still lingers with us. We must make it palpably clear that a doctrine of white supremacy is both rationally absurd and morally unjustifiable.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 15:15 ) And certainly this has been pointed out by authorities and scholars. It has been pointed out by the anthropological sciences, Ruth Benedict, Margaret Mead, Melville Herskovits and others have made it clear that there are no superior races. There may be superior and inferior individuals academically within all races, but no superior or inferior races. That somehow there are four types of blood and they are found in all races, but in spite of this, the notion still lingers. There was a time that people tried to justify racial inferiority on the basis of the Bible and religion.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 16:06 ) And so someone could argue that the Negro is inferior by nature because of Noah’s curse upon the children of Ham. And Paul’s dictum became a watch where [inaudible 00:16:18] be obedient to your master. And then there was one brother who had probably read the logic of Aristotle. Aristotle used to deal with the syllogism, which had a major premise, a minor premise and a conclusion. And one brother put his argument in the framework of an Aristotelian syllogism. He could say, all men are made in the image of God. This was the major premise. And then came the minor premise, God as everybody knows is not a Negro, therefore the Negro is not a man. This was the type of reasoning that was used at that time to justify the inferiority of the Negro. But now it isn’t done so much on the biblical and religious ground, it’s something else.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 17:12 ) It’s argued on subtle sociological and cultural grounds. And so we hear these things from time to time, the Negro is not culturally ready for integration. And of course, if you integrate the schools and if you integrate public facilities the Negro will pull the white race back a generation. And then there are those who gone to argue the Negro is a criminal, he is innately a criminal, they would say. He lags behind in all of his standards. So they use these subtle sociological arguments to say that integration should take place 100 years from now. You must lift these standards, they would argue. Well, the only answer that we can give is that if there are lagging standards in the Negro community, they lag because of segregation and discrimination.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 18:11 ) We must say to them that poverty, ignorance and disease breed crime, whatever the racial group may be. These things are environmental and not racial. And it is a torturous logic to use the tragic results of segregation as an argument for the continuation of it. The thing to do is to get rid of the causal basis. And so we must get rid of the notion once and for all if we are to realize the American dream, that there are superior and inferior races. And I think we already have numerous and inspiring examples of Negros who have demonstrated that human nature cannot be cataloged and who has successfully refuted the myths of racial inferiority. In spite of the fact that the Negro has had to walk through the long and desolate night of oppression, he has risen up so often to plunge against cloud filled nights of affliction, new and blazing stars of inspiration.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 19:18 ) And so from an old slave cabin on Virginia’s Hill, Booker T. Washington rose up to be one of America’s great leaders. He lit a torch in Alabama then darkness fled. From the red Hills of Gordon County, Georgia, an iron foundery of Chattanooga, Tennessee in the arms of a mother who couldn’t either read my write, Roland Hayes rose up to be one of the world’s great singer and carried his melodious voice into the palace of King George the Fifth and the mansion of Queen Mother to Spain. From a poverty stricken area to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Marian Anderson rose up to be the world’s greatest contralto so that a Toscanini could say that a voice like this comes only once in a century. And Sibelius of Finland could say, my roof is too low for such a voice. From crippling circumstances, George Washington Carver rose up and carved for himself and imperishable niche in annals of science. And there was a star in the sky to female leadership. And then came Mary McLeod Bethune and she grabbed it and allowed it to shine in her life with all of its radiant beauty. And there was a star in the diplomatic sky. And then came Ralph Bunche, the grandson of a slave preacher and allowed it to shine in his life in beautiful terms. All of these people have revealed the myths of racial inferiority cannot stand. They have justified the conviction of the poy, fleecy locks and black complexion cannot fault that nature’s claim, skin may differ, but affection dwells in black and white the same. And while so tall as to reach the pole, or to grasp at the ocean at a span, I must be measured by my soul and the mind is a standard of the man. And so we are challenged to get rid of the notion once and for all that there are inferior and superior races.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 21:50 ) And if the American dream is to be a reality, we must continue to engage in creative protests in order to break down those barriers which make it impossible for us to realize the American dream. Now we must get rid of two false ideas in order to continue to engage in creative protests. One idea is the myth of time. There are those people who argue that time alone will solve this problem. And so they say, you must not push things. You must be patient. You must sit down and wait. And sometimes they’ve decorate it in even larger terms, they say cool off for a while and slow up for a while. Time is the only thing that can solve this problem. What we must come to see is that evolution is true in the biological realm.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 22:58 ) And so Darwin is right at that point, but when a Herbert Spencer seeks to apply to the whole of society, that is little evidence for it. Human progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability, it comes through the tireless efforts and the persistent work of dedicated individuals. And without this hard work, time itself becomes the ally insurgent and primitive forces of rational, emotionalism and social stagnation so that we must somehow get rid of this idea that time alone will solve the problem. We must use time. Another idea is idea the myth of what I call educational determinism. It is idea that only education will solve this problem. I’m sure you’ve heard this, that you’ve got to change the hearts of people and people must be educated to the point that-

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 24:03 ) And people must be educated to the point that they will change their attitudes, now there’s some truth in this. But to say, this is the only thing is where we developed the myth. It is not either education or legislation. It is both education and legislation. Now it may be true that you cannot legislate morality. It may be true that morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me. And I think that’s pretty important also. This is what we seek to do through the law, to control the external effects of bad internal feelings. Religion and education would have to change the attitudes but legislation, executive orders, judicial decrees will have to control the external effects of bad internal attitudes. Therefore, if we are to realize the American dream, we must continue to work through legislation.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 25:15 ) So it is necessary for Congress to pass meaningful legislation. It is needed at this present hour, even though the president of our nation does not feel that additional legislation is needed in civil rights, I must respectfully disagree with him. There is need this year, at this hour for stronger civil rights legislation. Then we must continue to urge the president of the nation to issue executive orders to do away with these barriers. Then we must continue to work through the courts to gain judicial decrees so that these things will be changed. And added to this must be the method of nonviolent direct action. And I am more convinced every day that the most potent weapon available to oppress people in that struggle for freedom and human dignity is this weapon of nonviolent resistance. It brings with it many important aspects. It has certain practical consequences, which are very important. It has a way of disarming the opponent, exposing his moral defenses, weakening his morale, and at the same time working on his conscience. So he doesn’t know exactly how to handle this method. If he puts you in jail, that’s all right. If he doesn’t put you in jail, that’s all right. If he beats you, you accept that. If he doesn’t beat you, you accept that. If he tries to kill you, you develop the quiet courage of dying if necessary, without killing. And so he soon discovers that that is no answer for it.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 27:14 ) And also it has with a certain moral aspects, it makes it possible for the individuals or the group to secure a moral ends through moral means. One of the big problems in history has been in this discussion of ends and means. There have been those who argued that the end justifies the means. So they have the idea that sometime, the somehow destructive means can bring about constructive ends. Systems of government have come into being with this theory. Sometimes they would argue that the end of the classless society justified using violence and defeat and any other method and nonviolent resistance breaks with communism or any other methods that would say the end justifies the means.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 28:10 ) In the long run, the history of destructive means cannot justify constructive ends because the end is preexistent in the means. And so this method has certain moral aspects that go along with the practical. Then it is based on the great ethical principle of love. Now people ask me so often, what in the world do you mean when you say to us love these people who are trying to destroy us and these people who are trying to defeat us, what do you mean? How can you love people like this?

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 28:50 ) Now I always have to pause and try to give the meaning of love in the area of human relations. And fortunately the Greek language comes to our aid at this point, there are three words in the Greek language for love. There’s the word eros. This is the sort of aesthetic love. Plato talks about it a great deal in his dialogues, a yearning of the soul for the realm of the divine. It has come to us to be a sort of a romantic love. Romantic love is a phase of eros.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 29:25 ) And so we all know about eros. We’ve experienced it. We live with it. We read about it in all of the beauties of literature. In a sense Edgar Allen Poe was talking about eros when he talked to his beautiful Annabel Lee with the love surrounded by the halo of eternity. In a sense, Shakespeare was speaking of eros when he said love is not love which alters, when it’s alteration finds the bins with the remover to remove it. Isn’t ever fixed Mark that looks on Tempus and is never shaken. It is a start to every wandering bark. You know, I can remember that because I used to quote it to my wife when we were courting. That’s eros.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 30:07 ) The Greek language talks about phileo, which is a sort of a reciprocal love. It is a love, an intimate affection between personal friends and so on this level you love because you are loved. You love people that you like. This is friendship.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 30:27 ) Then the Greek language comes out with another word. It is a word agape. Agape is more than romantic love. Agape is more than friendship. Agape is understanding creative, redemptive goodwill for all men. It is an overflowing love which seeks nothing in return. Theologians would say that it is the love of God operating in the human heart. At any rate when one arises to love on this level, he loves men not because he likes them, not because their ways appeal to him. But he loves everyman, because God loves him and he rises to the point of loving the person who does the evil deed while hating the deed that the person does. I believe that this is a type of expression of love that can guide us through this period of transition. This is a part of the nonviolent resistance approach. It has practical consequences and is based on high and noble moral and ethical principles. So the individual who follows this method stands up before the opponent and says we will match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 31:58 ) We can not, not in all good conscience obey your unjust laws because noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. So do to us what you will, and we will still love you. Put us in jail and we will go in with humble smiles on our faces. Send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our communities at the midnight hours, drag us out on some wayside road and beat us and leave us half dead and we will still love you. Threaten our children, bomb our homes and do all of the things of violence that you think we’ll defeat our movement and we will still love you. Send your propaganda agents around the country and make it appear that we are not fit morally, culturally or otherwise for integration and we will still love you. But be ye assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer and one day, we will win our freedom. But we will not only win freedom for ourselves. We will so appeal to your heart and your conscience that we will win you in the process. Therefore our victory will be a double victory.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 33:15 ) Seems to me that this is the way and this approach to the problem is not without successful precedent. Mohandas Gandhi used it in India in a magnificent manner to free his people from the political domination and the economic exploitation that had been inflicted upon them for years. He achieved this victory by using only the weapons of soul force, non-injury courage and moral principals.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 33:49 ) Negro students of the south have used it in a marvelous manner to stand up against the principalities of segregation to let them know that the hundreds of people who’ve gone into jail in Jackson, Mississippi have gone into jail in order to get America out of the dilemma that she finds herself in as a result of the continued existence of segregation and discrimination. And also let them know at end, anybody who lives in the United States must be concerned about this problem. And so people who live in New York or in California or in Illinois, have an obligation to be concerned about this problem. And whoever lives inside the United States cannot be considered an outside agitator because this problem is the concern of every individual in this nation and injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Therefore this method has worked in many dimensions in our day, and in our generation, this method of nonviolent resistance. God grant that as we go on with this struggle, working with determination to realize the American dream, that we will delve deeper into the meaning of nonviolence. I believe firmly that it will help us to go into the new age with the right attitude. We will not seek to rise from a position of disadvantage to one of advantage thus abrading justice. By adhering to this method, all of the Negro people in the United States, all of the colored people of the world will seek democracy for everybody. They will not to seek to substitute one tyranny for another. But I am convinced that black supremacy is as dangerous as white supremacy. God is not interested merely in the freedom of black men and brown men and yellow men but God is interested in the freedom of a whole human race and the creation of a society where all men.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 36:03 ) … the race, the creation of a society where all men can live together as brothers, and every man will respect the dignity and the worth of human personality. And also following this method, we may be able to teach this world something that it so desperately needs to learn and resolve when in a day when Sputniks and explorers are dashing through outer space, and guided ballistic missiles are carving highways of death through the stratosphere, no nation can win a war. It is no longer the choice between violence and nonviolence, it is now either nonviolence or nonexistence. And By following this method right here in this nation, maybe somehow Russia then the United States will come to see this and move on toward disarmament and suspension of nuclear tests on a permanent basis. And the setting up of an international police force through the UN and thereby make brotherhood and peace a reality.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 37:10 ) This is what we must do in order to realize the American dream. I believe if we would follow these things, we will be able to bring that day into being. But it will not come until every individual in our nation develops this type of concern. And may I say, as I move toward my conclusion, that this is not just a local problem. People who live in New York and California, and Illinois have an obligation to be concerned about this problem and whoever lives in-

Speaker 1: ( 37:52 ) This recording is briefly interrupted at this point.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 37:55 ) …host of clean hands in the area of brotherhood. We still confront segregation in its glaring and conspicuous forms in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, and all over the South. We still confront it in it’s hidden and subtle forms in Illinois, in California, in Pennsylvania, and even in New York. And if democracy is to live, segregation must die. And we need people all over America who are genuine liberals. It is one thing to rise up with righteous indignation, when a Negro is lynched in Mississippi, or when a bus is burned in Anniston, Alabama, but if the person of goodwill were to rise up with as much righteous indignation when a Negro cannot live in his neighborhood, because he’s a Negro, when a Negro cannot join his professional society, or cannot be a member of this fraternity or sorority, or when a Negro cannot get position in his firm because he happens to be a Negro. In other words, there must be a concern on the part of people all over this country, and this is the way we will solve this problem.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 39:13 ) There are words that we use in every academic discipline, and pretty soon, these words become a part of the technical nomenclature to these particular disciplines. Modern psychology has a word that is probably used more than any other word than psychology, it is a word maladjusted. Maladjusted. And certainly we all want to live the well adjusted life in order to avoid neurotic personalities.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 39:48 ) And I say to you this evening that there are some things in our social order to which I’m proud to be maladjusted. I call upon men of goodwill all over the nation to be maladjusted until the good society is a reality. I never intend to adjust myself to the evils of segregation and discrimination. I never intend to become adjusted to religious bigotry. I never intend to adjust myself to economic conditions that will take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few. I never intend to become adjusted to the madness of militarism, and the self defeating effects of physical violence.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 40:36 ) And I think now it has come for men all over the nation and all over the world be maladjusted to all of these things. For it may well be that the salvation of our world lies in the hands of the maladjusted. And so if you will allow the preacher in me to come out now, let us be maladjusted.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 40:58 ) As maladjusted as the prophet Amos, who in the midst of the injustices of his day could cry out in words that echoed across the centuries, “Let justice run down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 41:13 ) As maladjusted as Abraham Lincoln who had the vision to see that this nation could not exist half slave and half free.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 41:23 ) As maladjusted as Thomas Jefferson who in the midst of an age amazingly adjusted to slavery, could cry out in words lifted to cosmic proportions, “We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 41:40 ) As maladjusted as Jesus of Nazareth who could say, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you. Pray for them that spitefully use you.” And I believe that the world is in desperate need of such maladjustment. And with such maladjustment we would be able to emerge from the bleak and desolate midnight of man’s inhumanity to man into the bright and glittering daybreak of freedom and justice.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 42:10 ) And as we struggle to realize the American dream, let us realize that we do not struggle alone. Even though there are the difficult days ahead, even though before the victory’s won, somebody else will have to get scarred up, somebody else will to have to go to jail, maybe someone will have to face physical death. For the victories won, some will be misunderstood, called bad names, be dismissed as dangerous rabble-rousers and agitators. Even in the midst of that, the struggle must go on. Knowing that the victory can be won because the odds of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 42:55 ) And I am convinced that that is something in this universe, which justifies Carlyle in saying, “No lie can live forever.” There is something in the very court of the cosmos which justifies William Cullen Bryant in saying “Truth, cursed to earth, will rise again.” There is something in this universe which justifies James Russell Lowell, in saying, “Truth, forever on the scaffold, wrong, forever on the throne.” Yet that scaffold sways the future. And so with this faith in the future, we will be able to adjourn the counsels of the staff rise from the fatigue of darkness, to the buoyancy of hope. And we will be able bring into being this new society and realize the American dream.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: ( 43:48 ) This will be the day when all of the chosen black men and white men, Jews and gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, we are free at last.”

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Drawing Public Speaking Lessons from ‘I Have A Dream’ (Speech Analysis)

Pratiksha mishra.

• Public Speaking , Speech Writing

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. -Martin luther king, jr.

Since time immemorial, we have been witnessing heart-wrenching instances of racial injustices in America. While the extent has reduced in the recent times, that hasn’t always been the case.

Be it the killing of George Floyd or the act of Amy Cooper making false allegations against a black man in Central Park, we continue to witness such sad incidents of racial discrimination, even in today’s times.

Almost sixty years ago, One Black Man delivered One Speech with One Belief and revolutionized the pathway towards Racial Justice in America .

This man is none other than Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr who delivered the speech, ‘I Have A Dream’ from the steps of Lincoln Memorial.

Throughout the course of this speech, he brought to light his belief of constructing an American Society characterized by peace, brotherhood and harmony.

To top it all, this heart-felt speech that ignited millions of minds to walk on the path of racial justice and civil rights,  has a lot of public speaking lessons in store for you.    

Watch the full speech here.

A Quick Overview

Born and brought up in Atlanta, Georgia, a city afflicted by cases of racial injustices, Martin Luther King faced racial segregation in his day-to-day life.

Having done his doctorate in Systematic Theology from Boston University and established himself as a member of Baptist Church, he firmly believed that the act of racial segregation and discrimination is a disgrace to God’s will and thus, equality must prevail in the society.

He then pledged to fight back against the racial injustices and stood up for the rights of African-Americans.

From the Montgomery Bus Boycott which marked his presence as a national leader fighting against racial discrimination to the American Civil Rights Movement which resulted in the passage of Civil Rights Act of 1964, his contributions to the American Society are remarkable.  To list a few-

With front seats being reserved ‘For Whites Only!’ and the black people being forced to opt for back seats in any given bus, it was considered an obligation on the part of Black people to give up their bus seats so that white passengers could sit on those seats.

The instance where Rosa Parks denied to give up her seat during one such travel and got arrested, stimulated the famous movement of ‘Montgomery Bus Boycott’.

Martin Luther King then formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) . This organization comprised of black civil rights leaders and called for the existence of an integrated American Society. With the rise in cases of racial segregation and violence against black people, it became essential for people to raise their voices against this growing injustice and gave rise to the Civil Rights Movement.

One of the most pivotal achievements of Martin Luther King, Jr include the speech, ‘I Have A Dream’.  

The Main Message Of ‘I Have A Dream’

Listed as  one of the most iconic speeches in the world history , ‘I Have A Dream’ was centered around the themes of: 

• Racial justice and civil rights 
• Improvement in the socio-political and economic status of African-Americans 
• Equality and freedom for all 
• The idea of Great American Dream calling for a more accepting society

History and Importance Of The Speech- ‘I Have A Dream’

Aimed towards bringing an end to racial injustice in the American Society, a nation-wide March was organized on 28th August, 1963. 

This Nation-wide March of 1963 stood out as one of the largest public demonstration march in the history of United States Of America.

Events Leading To ‘The Washington March Of 1963’

The year 1960s saw a great upheaval in terms of public demonstrations demanding for racial justice. In spite of this, there was an urgent need to organize one united demonstration against all forms of racial injustices because different protests were being organized for different sorts of racial injustices.

Due to this very reason, the prominent leaders came together and organized ‘Washington March of 1963’ in order to have an enhanced impact on the authorities as well as the mass population.

How Was ‘Washington March Of 1963’ Organized?

The public demonstrations advocating for racial freedom and equality in employment opportunities came together and gave rise to ‘The Great March of 1963’.

Bearing in mind the significance of this march, it was organized at Lincoln Memorial in Washington to recall the legacy of Abraham Lincoln who first brought light to the lives of Black People by freeing them from slavery.

Holding a crowd of around 250,000 people , this March called for equality in employment opportunities and at the same time, called for civil rights of African-Americans. 

Unlike most of the public demonstrations organized then and now, this march actually brought a paradigm shift in legislative terms with the passage of American Civil Rights Act in 1964 which abolished the practice of racial segregation and discrimination in all public spaces.

Not to forget, it gave birth to one of the most iconic speeches in the history of the world , that is, ‘I Have A Dream’. 

‘I Have A Dream’- Factual Information

ANALYSIS OF THE SPEECH- ‘I HAVE A DREAM’

As you have now understood the crux of Martin Luther King’s Speech, let us analyze the speech through:

1. Speech Writing Lessons

2. public speaking lessons, 3. speech delivery lessons, 4. audience analysis.

But, before we jump on to the public speaking lessons, we advise you to keep the  speech draft  handy for a better understanding. 

1. Speech Writing Lessons from ‘I Have A Dream’

‘I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.’  – Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr

This quote sums up the core essence of the speech. 

So, let’s now sum up the speech by studying the basic structure of the speech :

Beginning Of The Speech- The Question Of ‘What Have We Done So Far?’

Considering the fact that this speech was being delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, it began by paying a tribute to the Great American President, ‘ Abraham Lincoln’ and his contributions to the American Society (particularly,  the Emancipation Proclamation  which brought an end to slavery).  

As the speech progressed, King stressed on the fact that we must take Lincoln’s legacy forward to bring an end to the racial segregation existing in the then society.  

Check out the article ‘ How to start a speech- writing an interesting introduction ‘ to ace the art of drafting an amazing introduction.

Body Of The Speech- ‘Where Do We Stand Now?’

This section dealt with the then present scenario which involved  an urgent addressal of the social injustices against the African-American community.  

It brought to notice the social injustices like:  

A) Police brutality, 

B) Segregation,  

C) The act of depriving the African-Americans from the right to vote and,  

D) The discrimination on the basis of race in public domain. 

Thus, Martin Luther King urged his listeners to unite together in order to bring an end to a years-long history of racial discrimination and segregation.  

Even while urging people to unite, he  approached people from all walks of life and different races  to continue demanding for the long due rights of African-Americans in a non-violent way.  

End Of The Speech- The Question Of ‘The Way Forward?’

This is the  most intriguing, crucial and famous part of this speech.  

In this section, he  portrays the goals in the form of his own dreams.  

This section showcases the  dreams of racial justice, peace, harmony and brotherhood  in American Society.

Most of all, the dream of an American Society where  people are not judged based on the color of their skin but the content of their character.   

We have listed a few hacks for you in the article ‘ How to end your speech with maximum impact? ‘.

Just like the television series ‘Dark’ where ‘the end is the beginning’, the speech ‘I Have A Dream’ laid the foundation stone for the beginning of the civil rights movement and influenced millions of mindsets.

In a nutshell, the speech can be best described by using the technique of ‘5Ws1H’:

Title Your Speech Right!

The title ‘I Have A Dream’ arouses curiosity in our minds as to ‘what is this dream about?’ and since a dream is something we all share in common, you are now intrigued to know more.

Thus, the title of your speech helps the audience to decide whether they want to listen to you or not.

While an intriguing title can help you attract your audience , a boring title can result in you losing your audience.

But, hold on, the word ‘boring’ in itself sounds pretty daunting, isn’t it? So, how exactly do you go about titling your speech right?

The most important thing to remember here is to know who your target audience is and then, draft the title accordingly.

Well, let’s simplify the process of titling your speech by looking at ‘What makes a killer speech title?’:

Sense of intrigue.

Just like the trailer of a great movie, the title needs to generate some intrigue in the minds of the audience. You wish to provide the audience with the theme of your speech but remember not to give the whole idea away . It’s the unanswered questions in the minds of the audience that will help you attract your audience.

• ‘I Have A Dream’ by Martin Luther King
• Do schools kill creativity? | Sir Ken Robinson

Creating A Possible Conflict

Every time you watch a movie. there’s either a want or a conflict that drives the entire narrative and at times, puts you as a viewer in an uncomfortable space where you just can’t wait to know ‘what happens next’.

In a similar fashion, a conflicting title can put your audience in a sense of discomfort and will lure your audience in.

Thus, create a title that is conflicting but related with the core idea of your speech. When done right, the audience would naturally be drawn towards your speech and would want to know more!

• Is the world getting better or worse? A look at the numbers | Steven Pinker
• Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong | Johann Hari

Out-Of-The-World Title

Many a times, we come across something we haven’t ever heard of and are naturally drawn to know more about the same. The question of. ‘What exactly is it? ‘, is powerful enough to make the audience curious .

Remember the first time you heard the phrase, ‘Orange is the new black’? Well, such thought-provoking titles keep the core essence of your speech alive in the minds of the audience for a long period of time.

• Sleep is your superpower | Matt Walker
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Get Familiar With ‘The Unfamiliar’

Something unusual yet related to the speech can also assist you to hold attention of your audience. Thus, a title which sounds unfamiliar but in actuality, binds with the idea of your speech is just right for you to get the needful done.

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2. Public Speaking Lessons from ‘I Have A Dream’

Spatio-temporal element.

Now, you might be thinking as to why is geography bothering you in a public speaking lesson, right? 

Well, consider it to be that important lesson which you skip before an exam but it ends up playing a vital role during the assessment of your performance. 

It states that you need to  mention the significance of the place and the time at which you are delivering a particular speech.  

For instance, while delivering the speech ‘I Have A Dream’, Martin Luther King mentioned: 

• the significance of the space from where he was delivering the speech, that is,  The Lincoln Memorial.   

Thus, he took a moment to pay a tribute to Abraham Lincoln before he dived into the essence of his speech. 

• For the element of time, he mentioned the significance of the date on which he was delivering the speech, that is, the event of  Nation-wide march  being held in front of the Lincoln Memorial.  

Keeping these things in view, include the spatio-temporal element at the beginning of your speech. This way, you will be able to show your audience that you realize the value that the place and the time holds.  

But, how exactly do you go about incorporating this? 

A) Begin Your Speech With A Quote

If the date holds the birthday of a renowned figure and you have been asked to mark the occasion with your speech, it’s ideal to start your speech by a quote given by that renowned figure.

B) Pay A Tribute To The Renowned Figure

You can do this by paying an ode to that figure. Ideally, by remembering his or her contributions to a given field. 

Remember that this is exactly how Martin Luther King began his speech, ‘I Have A Dream, that is, by remembering Lincoln’s pivotal contributions to the United States of America. 

Preparing The Skeleton Of Your Speech

Structuring your speech in the right order is really important. 

Follow the three-act structure  of: 

A) ethos- the beginning.

The beginning of your speech contains ethos and it dictate the success factor of your speech. 

But what exactly is ‘Ethos’? 

Ethos, refers to establishing your credibility as a speaker. The audience must first trust you. Only then, they can accept and respect your point of view on a given topic. 

You can gain the trust of your audience by using relatable references and personal experiences . 

For example –

In the speech, ‘I Have A Dream’, Martin Luther King started by paying tribute to the great ‘Abraham Lincoln’ and referred to his contributions to the American Society. This made the audience realize that Martin Luther King respects the pivotal contributions to the American Society and thereby, established the trust factor.

Not to forget, keeping in view the short attention span of your audience, the introductory statement must be interesting enough to hold their attention. 

Thus, you may  start your speech with a personal experience, a story, a quote  or as we mentioned in the above pointer, you may start by taking a moment to showcase that you understand the value that the event and the venue holds.  

Make sure you don’t begin your speech with something that doesn’t relate to the theme of your speech.   

Here, you wish to provide your audience with a  basic idea of your speech .  

B) Logos- The Middle

This is the heart and soul of your speech.  

Logos refers to the act of providing your audience with valid reasoning.  

Just gaining the trust of your audience would not work. Making sensible and believable arguments  is just as important.  

It provides the audience with a clear understanding of your speech. Here, to provide reasoning, you  add facts and tell a personal story by using the statement-problem-solution approach.   

For example-

In the speech, ‘I Have A Dream’, Martin Luther King used the statement-problem-solution approach in the following way:  

Statement: Purpose of the speech, that is, bringing racial justice in the American Society  

Problem: Lists the various social injustices against the African-Americans. To name a few – police brutality, racial segregation and discrimination, the act of depriving them from the right to vote  

Solution: Guides to follow the non-violent path to reinforce the lost justice and cites the ultimate goal of establishing a society where everybody is treated equally and judged on the basis of the content of their character and not the race.   

C) Pathos- The End

Emotions or factual information? What do we tend to remember better? 

Well, of course, we retain emotions for a comparatively longer time. Therefore, it is essential for you to  appeal to the sentiments of your audience. 

You have to  incorporate emotions through body language , facial expressions and vocal variety throughout the course of your speech to support your statements with just the right emotions.  

This way, the audience will associate a different emotion with each statement you make, enabling them to remember the content vividly. 

So, in the concluding remarks, provide the audience with the  gist of your speech supported by just the right emotions  so that they remember the core essence of your speech.  

There’s a limit to the information that the human brain tends to retain. So, it’s essential that you sum up the crux of your speech at the end. 

Try being as creative as you can.  Use quotes, poetic and rhetorical devices to enhance the emotional impact. 

In ‘I Have A Dream’, Martin Luther King concluded the speech by using repetition and popular culture references to portray his idea of a free and equal society.  He used references like the Old Testament of Bible and the Patriotic Song – America : My Country, ‘Tis of Thee’. These references appealed to the sentiments of people.

Refer to the summary section of this blog to get a better understanding of the structure of ‘I Have A Dream’.

Related Article:  The Ultimate Guide to Structuring a Speech  

Persuasive Elements: Using Rhetorical Devices

The use of rhetorical and poetic devices aids to the listening experience  of the audience. 

Thus, it keeps your speech alive in the minds of the audience. 

The speech, ‘I Have A Dream’ has plenty of rhetorical and poetic devices. 

Let’s list a few of them: 

A) Anaphora

This rhetorical device involves the  repetition of a certain word or phrase at the beginning of consecutive statements.  

When you repeat a word or a phrase twice or thrice for that matter, the  audience anticipates further repetition  and gets engrossed with the content of your speech. 

The use of this technique marks a swift transition of the speech format from prose to poetry  and your speech sounds even more interesting. 

The Impact It Holds

It brings a poetic effect to your speech and persuades your audience by appealing to their sentiments. Repetition guides the audiences’ minds to give due importance to the message you are trying to convey.

It works best in persuasive speeches as it directly appeals to the audiences’ emotions. This helps to inculcate a change in the mindsets of your audience and persuade them into believing your point of view on a given topic.

How To Incorporate ‘Anaphora’ In Your Speech?

Make a decision as to which section is the most crucial in the context of your speech. Once you have decided this, pen down a phrase by referring to your personal experiences. After this step, include that phrase at the beginning of the consecutive statements.

Use ‘anaphora’ as a part of either introductory or concluding remarks of your statement because both introductory and concluding remarks demand you to catch the attention of your audience.

Let’s understand this with reference to the speech, ‘I Have A Dream’: 

I have a dream   that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.   

I have a dream  that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.  

I have a dream  that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.  

Martin Luther King, Jr included the above-mentioned lines as part of his concluding remarks. Thus, it created a lasting effect in the minds of the audience.

B) Metaphor

This rhetorical device cites an  implied comparison between the actual idea and similar thought .

This way, the audience gets a better idea about the intensity and relevance of the idea. 

A metaphor helps in painting a picture alive in minds of the audience and enables them to make a comparison between the actual idea and similar thought. This way, they understand the relevance better.

It works best in descriptive speeches as it helps you to convey the message in a simple concise way and thereby, enables you to break down the complex information into simple information.

How To Incorporate ‘Metaphor’ In Your Speech?

Decide on the complex elements of your speech and think of relating them to a similar thought or experience. Remember that you do not want to break the simpler elements but the complex ones. Once you have found a similar thought or experience, make a comparison and join the two sentences.

Let’s understand this by citing two metaphors from the speech ‘I Have A Dream’: 

• ‘It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.’  
• ‘Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.’  

C) Parallelism

This rhetorical device takes place  when phrases in a sentence have similar grammatical structure.  

This enhances the listening experience of the audience by  providing a rhythm  to the speech because let’s face it – we all love rhythms. 

It makes the idea memorable and easy to remember. Since it has a rhythm, it appeals to the emotions of the audience and holds their attention effectively. 

Parallelism works best for persuasive speeches as it enforces your idea effectively in a way that moves the audience.

How To Incorporate ‘Parallelism’ In Your Speech?

All you have to do here is to assign a rhythm to your speech. That’s it!

To assign a rhythm, look for repetitive grammatical elements in your speech and put them together efficiently. It could be verbs, sounds, nouns, anything.

Let’s state an instance of parallelism from the speech, ‘I Have A Dream’: 

‘With this faith we will be able to  work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together , knowing that we will be free one day.’  

Related Article:  Getting Your ‘Wordsworth’: Poetry in Public Speaking  

Always Keep It ‘Real’!

As it has been rightly said, ‘It’s easier said than done’. 

Similarly, while delivering a speech,  make sure that you are not exaggerating, overpromising or feeding any lies to your audience.  

Many a times, we get so engrossed in putting forward the solutions that we often don’t take into account the depiction of reality and the obstacles in the way of achieving a particular goal. 

The use of this technique shows that you are open to a two-way communication model by caring for the feedback of the audience.   

The audience needs to know that you understand and care about their situation even while putting forth your opinions.  

For instance, while motivating the citizens to unite together and walk on the path of racial justice, Martin Luther King said and I quote-  

‘ I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.’  

This statement made the audience reaffirm their faith in Martin Luther King and helped him to establish his credibility as an orator.  

Popular Culture References

To establish the relatability quotient , it’s important for you to state a few popular culture references. 

Your audience needs to relate to you in order to trust and respect your ideas. 

Another reason for you to incorporate popular culture references lies in the complexity of certain facts or instances. 

You   need to break down the complex elements  in your speech with popular culture references so that the audience can understand it. 

A) How Does It Make Your Speech Relevant?

Incorporating popular culture references to your speech is a hack that most of the public speakers use but don’t speak about it.

That’s mainly because popular culture references makes your speech relatable, fun, interesting and make your audience believe that you get them. Just the presence of thought ‘Ah, I totally relate to this, this speaker understands me’ in the minds of the audience can establish you as a great orator.

In addition to this, referring trending topics and popular references show that you chose to stay updated with the current affairs, just to convey your thoughts through this speech.

So, this way, it adds to your credibility as a speaker and at the same time, shows the amount of dedication and efforts on your side.

B) Relevance With Respect To ‘I Have A Dream’

When we study this with reference to ‘I Have A Dream’, we find a few interesting observations: 

• The tone of the speech sounds like a biblical sermon
• Old Testament of the Bible 
• The patriotic song – ‘America: My Country, ‘Tis of Thee’ 
• To explain how African-Americans have been denied the basic rights, he took help of a ‘bank situation’

-Well, irrespective of the race people belong to, everybody has had a similar banking experience 

-So, he compared the denial of rights with ‘the act of cashing a bad check’

3. Speech Delivery Lessons from ‘I Have A Dream’

To gain the trust of your audience and establish yourself as a credible orator, you   must sound confident while delivering your speech. 

But, how do you transform yourself from being an anxious speaker to a confident one? 

Well, here are a few tips for you: 

Right Body Language Establishes Your Credibility As An Orator

While delivering a speech, non-verbal communication is just as significant. It helps in establishing credibility and trust.

Keep a few things about body language in mind while delivering a speech:

A) Maintain a straight posture with your arms on side. This gives out an indication to the audience that you are open to a two-way form of communication as well as interested in listening to the feedback of the audience.

B) Use right hand gestures to enhance the impact of your speech.

C) Right facial expressions aid to the narrative of your speech by attaching a sense of emotion to it.

We wrote an article on ‘The Do’s and Don’ts of body language’. Check it out to get acquainted with the body language guide to public speaking!

Set Pitch And Tonality Of Your Speech

Pitch of your voice can help you govern the mood .

While stating a positive fact, sounding enthusiastic and confident will result in a happy emotion. Similarly, while stating a negative and sad fact, sounding empathetic will result in a sad emotion.

For instance, while citing the injustices against the African-Americans, Martin Luther King sounded really empathetic. The extent of his sadness towards these injustices was visible in the form of voice tonality and facial expressions.

This gesture moved the audience emotionally and they started cheering for him, all the way more.

To ace this technique, check out ‘All You Need to Know about Voice Modulation & Tonality for Public Speaking’.

Practice Is The Key To A Successful Speech

This is something that can break or make your performance.

Practice as much as you can. Before your performance, either you can practice in front of the mirror or record yourself to self-assess your performance. This will help you realize the possible scope for improvement and you will be able to make required changes to your presentation techniques.

To get familiar with simple yet effective processes to practice your speech, read ‘Simple Hacks to practice for your speech’ to get some ideas!

Importance Of Vocal Variety

There’s a thin line between being expressive and being dramatic. While delivering any particular speech, try being expressive but at the same time, avoid being dramatic as it might intend an over-exaggeration from your end.

Thus, this lesson on vocal variety is really important for you!

Effective Pauses And Voice Modulation

In the speech ‘I Have A Dream’, King employed effective pauses and voice modulation to stress on the important elements of his speech such as delivery of the consequent phrases of ‘I Have A Dream that one day…’ Here, there is an effective pause after the phrase, ‘I Have A Dream’.

It clearly gives out the message that given the intensity of the issue, justice would take time to prevail but one day, the shared dream would become a reality.

To highlight the key phrases of your speech, make sure that you are loud enough so that the audience can register the important facts. In his speech, King highlighted key phrases by being just adequately loud.

Remember not to be extremely loud as it will result in a ‘noise’ and not a ‘loud voice’

Keep The Right Pace

While on one hand, a fast pace would reduce the understandability quotient of your speech. On the other hand, a slow pace would disinterest your audience.

So, maintaining just the right pace is crucial in public speaking.

In the speech ‘I Have A Dream’, King delivered the content with a duration of 16 minutes. However, if you look closely at the transcript of the speech, you would feel that the duration could be shortened.

But, here’s the catch! King was mindful of the wide audience and impact he wished to make. So, he deliberately maintained a certain pace so that the audience could understand each and every bit of the speech without getting lost.

4. Audience Analysis of ‘I Have A Dream’

The imminent audience of the speech, ‘I Have A Dream’ encompassed a gathering of 250,000 people at Lincoln Memorial, Washington.

Apart from this, millions of people listened to Martin Luther King as he delivered his speech from the steps of Lincoln Memorial. This was possible because of the live telecast of the speech via radio and television.

The speech ‘I Have A Dream’ continues to stand relevant, even in today’s times, because of its dynamic audience . Anyone who seeks to stand for equality and freedom comprises the audience of this iconic speech.

Taking into account the varied audience of the speech, King sustained a certain level of simplicity while delivering the speech ‘I Have A Dream’.

An issue as complex and sensitive as ‘Racial Justice’ was simplified in such a way that even a toddler could understand the content and have a takeaway from that speech.

Molded in the form of a story for easy understanding, ‘I Have A Dream’ limited the use of jargons and explained the content in layman’s terms by sparing the complex historical details in order to reach every strata of the audience.

King directed the audience towards important parts of the speech through effective pauses and voice modulation .

While maintaining the overall tone of the speech similar to that of a biblical sermon (something that people are used to listening in their daily lives), the audience could easily pay attention to the idea he had to convey.

By breaking down the complex content with the use of relatable experiences like ‘cashing a bad check’ and painting the ideas alive in form of metaphors and simile, the content of the speech was understood by almost everyone. Thus, it resulted in a lasting impact.

Figuring out the possible obstacles in the way of protests, King stressed on the fact that even though the great changes happen gradually, one must remain consistent in terms of his beliefs and continue fighting for justice to prevail.

Most importantly, King catered his speech to people from every race and called for a ‘united stand for justice’.

Impact Of ‘I Have A Dream’

The speech had a lasting impact on the minds of its listeners by drawing resemblance with each and every global citizen.

Let’s list a few legislative changes brought by this speech –

1. The Passage of Civil Rights Act in 1964.

As a result of Civil Rights Act , racial segregation in public spaces ended up to a larger extent.

To acknowledge a few- racial segregation in educational institutions, healthcare and public transportation reached a standstill.

2. The Passage of National Voting Rights Act in 1965

With the introduction of National Voting Rights Act , racial segregation legally ended in America.

When the adequate laws are not in place, the situation worsens and so was the case in 1950s. Thus, this act put the people at ease with a hope for a better future.

3. Impact on Kennedy Administration

The then President John F. Kennedy watched the speech on television and was really moved by King’s powerful words.

After the Washington March, the prominent leaders who organized this march were invited to the White House to meet President Kennedy. Most evidently, the speech helped President Kennedy to gain the popular opinion for his civil rights bill.

Interestingly, all these developments did not spur any discouragement from the White People as King always emphasized for unity and called out both black and white people to work in harmony towards equality.

Because, after all, we all share the same dream, that is, the creation of a more accepting and welcoming society .

In addition to this, every now and then, the speech is being quoted by great speakers to enhance the impact of their respective speeches.

Famous Quotes From ‘I Have A Dream’

• I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
• I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream.
• I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal’
• We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back.

Other Iconic Speeches To Draw Inspiration From   

Gettysburg address – abraham lincoln .

You can find the transcript here.

We shall fight on the beaches.

The Audacity of Hope – Barack Obama 

Final Thoughts

It would only be fair to say that this speech led America to a pathway towards racial justice and reduced racism up to a larger extent.

Most evidently,

• The well-structured format
• Portrayal of a clear and concise vision
• Brilliant presentation techniques

owe to the popularity of the speech, ‘I Have A Dream’.

Apart from that, this speech is indeed a great source of learning! Just by imbibing inspiration from this speech, a speaker can ace his presentation techniques and a writer can master the research processes involved in writing an amazing article from the scratch.

Be it the Civil Rights Movement of the past or the Black Lives Matter Movement of the present, this speech continues to come out as a major source of inspiration for the positive developments in the society.  

To sum it all up, this speech inspired the global citizens towards a significant paradigm shift from a segregated society to a society devoid of racial discrimination and segregation. 

In this blog, we analyzed Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have A Dream’ and tried to draw public speaking lessons from the very same speech. 

We hope that this blog aids in your public speaking skills by drawing inspiration from ‘I Have A Dream’. 

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English Studies

This website is dedicated to English Literature, Literary Criticism, Literary Theory, English Language and its teaching and learning.

I Have a Dream: Rhetorical Analysis

In his famous speech, “I Have a Dream,” Martin Luther King presented his arguments using some of the most compelling figurative language ever employed in a speech.

Introduction: I Have a Dream

Table of Contents

In his famous speech, “I Have a Dream,” Martin Luther King presented his arguments using some of the most compelling figurative language ever employed in a speech. At the outset, King expresses his dream about Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation, portraying it as a beacon of hope for all Negroes to attain equal rights and citizenship in the United States. He proceeds to draw a parallel between the circumstances of a century earlier and the present reality as he addresses his fellow Negroes. King contends that while the situation has not significantly changed, the Declaration of Independence affirms their entitlement to equal citizenship alongside white people. Despite America having “defaulted on this promissory note” of granting them constitutionally enshrined “unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” King asserts that they will not accept this status quo, likening it to a bad check (553).

According to King, they have come again to claim these rights, believing that it is now the opportune moment. However, he cautions his followers against resorting to violence, emphasizing that it is a counterproductive path that would hinder their cause. Instead, he advises them to embrace non-violent methods of protest within their respective states. King then articulates his dream of witnessing white and black girls and boys walking together, united in their pursuit of equal rights for Negroes. I believe that Martin Luther King eloquently employed classical rhetorical strategies, including pathos , logos , ethos , and kairos , through his figurative language to persuade his audience against resorting to violence in their quest for equal rights with white people.

Classical Strategies in I Have a Dream

Pathos in i have a dream.

Regarding classical rhetorical strategies, Martin Luther King demonstrates a particular proficiency in the use of pathos. He repeatedly employs it to passionately appeal to his audience, urging them that their pursuit of rights is a noble one that does not necessitate resorting to violence. Initially, he evokes emotions by describing the plight of Negroes a century ago, stating, “we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free,” emphasizing the persistency of this condition over the past century (King 553). On the subsequent page, he continues to appeal to their emotions, acknowledging, “I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations,” conveying his awareness of their collective suffering (555). Notably, he employs the poignant phrase, “You have been veterans of the creative suffering,” linking the experiences of other Negroes to emphasize their shared suffering and unity in their quest for rights. The repetitive articulation of his dream serves to reinforce his message, playing on the emotions of his audience and urging them to strive for their rights without resorting to violence. This speech stands out as Martin Luther King’s most adept use of pathos.

Logos in I Have a Dream

In terms of logos, Martin Luther King employs logical reasoning throughout his speech. Initially, he appeals to logos by asserting his demand for rights under the influence of the great American, President Abraham Lincoln, who signed “the Emancipation Proclamation” (553). This reference suggests that the proclamation, in principle, promises equal rights for all, yet the reality on the ground reflects a stark contrast where Negroes are not treated equally.

King further relies on logical arguments, presenting the constitutional equality as a promissory note, asserting that their “unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are guaranteed by both the Constitution and “the Declaration of Independence” (554). His logical reasoning extends to the assertion that they have gathered to demand the fulfillment of this promise, emphasizing that segregation and racial injustice must cease immediately. He warns that the discontent will persist as it is their unalienable right enshrined in the constitution.

Another logical point made by King is the progression from a “smaller ghetto to a larger ghetto,” illustrating that despite this progress, they have not been granted the rights they deserve (555). Therefore, his logical argument contends that everything they are demanding in terms of rights is already promised to them, except in practice.

Moreover, King utilizes logical reasoning when comparing the past with the present, emphasizing that the time has come for democracy to spread globally. He argues that they must seize this opportunity to secure their rights.

In addition to logos, King also incorporates ethos into his persuasive techniques.

Ethos in I Have a Dream

Regarding ethos, Martin Luther King’s personal credibility plays a significant role in his persuasive efforts. As a prominent “spokesman of civil rights movements during the 1950s and 1960s,” as mentioned in his introduction, his name and qualifications lend authority to his words (553). His advocacy for the philosophy of non-violence, stemming from his education in theology, adds further weight to his ethos.

In the speech, King employs ethos by expressing mindfulness of the hardships his audience has endured, acknowledging that they have come from different states across America. He specifically names each state, urging individuals to return and engage in peaceful protests. Additionally, he aligns himself with the American dream of equality and enhanced opportunities, stating, “It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream” (555). His references to the national anthem, acknowledgment of followers from various religions and races, and constant allusions to different states highlight his awareness of his position as a rights activist.

King consistently calls for protest, emphasizing a non-violent approach, recognizing the potential consequences of spiraling out of control. This demonstrates his understanding of the delicate balance needed in the pursuit of justice.

Furthermore, King strategically employs kairos by comparing the then-and-now, frequently using the term “now.” He asserts, “Now is the time to make real the promises of Democracy,” emphasizing that these promises were not fulfilled in the past (554). This use of classical rhetorical strategies, including ethos and kairos, contributes to the effectiveness of his speech.

Figurative Language in I Have a Dream

Martin Luther King employs various figures of speech, including metaphors, similes, allusions, and references, enriching the language and impact of his speech. Metaphors are particularly prevalent, with examples like “the long night of captivity,” “solid rock of brotherhood,” “a bad check,” “sweltering summer,” and others (554). Notably, the metaphors related to weather, such as summer symbolizing torture, humiliation, and barbarism, while spring symbolizes the arrival of better days, serve as powerful symbols of hardship and hope.

Similes are used to compare the past experiences of Negroes with their present circumstances, emphasizing the lack of significant change in the situation of their rights.

King incorporates references and allusions, citing important documents like the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Emancipation Proclamation. Additionally, he alludes to common instances of police brutality without specifying particular events, maintaining a broader yet relatable context.

Repetition is a notable rhetorical device, contributing to the memorability and impact of the speech. Phrases like “Go back,” “I have a dream,” and “Let freedom ring from” are repeated throughout the speech, creating a rhythmic and emphatic cadence that reinforces key messages (555-557&558).

Overall, King’s adept use of figurative language, combined with strategic repetition, enhances the persuasiveness and eloquence of his speech, making it a compelling and memorable piece of oratory.

Conclusion: I Have a Dream

In short, Martin Luther King’s speech possesses the qualities of a great oration. While not necessarily intentional, he effectively incorporates classical rhetorical devices such as logos , pathos , ethos , and kairos throughout the speech, making it compelling and forceful. King’s own credibility, highlighted by his significant role in civil rights movements and the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, adds weight to his ethos (553).

In addition to rhetorical devices , King utilizes literary devices like metaphors , similes , references, and allusions to convince his audience that non-violent strategies are more effective in achieving their rights. He strategically references the national anthem to evoke patriotism and emphasizes the importance of unity between blacks and whites in singing the song as an expression of love for their country.

The skillful use of repetition , such as the iconic phrase “I have a dream,” contributes to the speech’s memorability. King consistently refers to democracy and the Declaration of Rights to underscore the high moral ground upon which they stand.

Overall, these strategies enhance the effectiveness and persuasiveness of the speech, proving its practicality, universality, and enduring impact over several decades.

Works Cited: I Have a Dream

• Krauthammer, Charles. “The Truth About Torture.” Models for Writers. Eds. Alfred Rosa and Paul Eschholz. 11th ed. Boston: Bedford /St. Martin’s, 2012. 553-558. Print

Relevant Questions about I Have a Dream

• How does Martin Luther King use rhetorical devices , such as metaphors and repetition , to convey his message and evoke emotions in the audience?
• What role does ethos play in Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and how does his personal credibility contribute to the overall impact of his message?
• In what ways does Martin Luther King appeal to the principles of democracy and the American Dream in his speech, and how does he connect these ideals to the struggle for civil rights?

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• “A Room of One’s Own”: Virginia Woolf
•  “The Dead” and “The Metamorphosis”: Modernist Life
• Feminism in Argentina: Short Stories

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Lesson Plan The American Dream

This lesson invites students to search and sift through rare print documents, early motion pictures, photographs, and recorded sounds from the Library of Congress. Students experience the depth and breadth of the digital resources of the Library, tell the story of a decade, and help define the American Dream.

Objectives:

Students will be able to:

• analyze, interpret, and conduct research with digitized primary source documents
• 19th and 20th century social life in the United States using digitized documents from the Library of Congress
• define, present and defend their ideas about what the American Dream has been, through the decades
• relate what they have uncovered from inquiry and research to their own American Dream

Time Required

Two to three weeks

Lesson Preparation

• Teacher's Guides and Analysis Tool
• Background essay: "What Is the American Dream?"

Wall of Dreams

• Citing Primary Sources

Lesson Procedure

Introduction, entry level skills and knowledge.

A basic understanding of Internet research, knowledge of search terms to navigate Library of Congress digital content, and reasonable facility with multimedia tools are needed.

When working with archival collections students must think like historians and archivists. Resources from the Teachers Page can help students get started. Acquaint students with the unique qualities of primary resources. You may want to create or use a set of primary sources to help students understand the process of primary source analysis.

Organizational Requirements

Define the scope of the project:.

Before introducing the lesson, or as a class, define the scope of the historical research conducted in this project. Will teams gather material from a specific decade? Will they work with a single Digital Collection ? Will research be guided by a theme, such as immigration? Will research be linked to literature the class is reading?

Determine desired learning outcomes:

What do you expect your students to know and be able to do when they have completed the activities. Create an assessment rubric for students based on your expectations.

Determine required learning product(s):

You may want students to create a Web page, a multimedia product, a video, or a contribution to the transformation of their classroom into a Decades Museum. Whatever format the student product may take, students should present and defend their ideas.

Engage students:

Invite students to begin their inquiry by considering the dreams of today and the dreamers of the present. Next, use The Library of Congress collections to learn about our cultural heritage and find evidence of the dreamers in our collective history. Finally, ask your students to compare their own dreams to the dreams of those who lived before them. Students should understand that history is the continuing story of human experience, the stories of people like themselves. Help students to understand that as they define and pursue their own dreams, they create the future of our nation and the world.

Introduce students to the student lesson pages. Divide your class into learning teams and assign roles and responsibilities.

Each team will select (or be assigned) a research role (photographer, lawyer, poet, politician, producer, comedian, musician). Each student will work as part of the team to complete the project. Remind students that while they each have specific tasks, all team members pitch in and help one another. Provide time for students to explore the student page of the project.

Individual responsibilities might include:

• Team Manager As team manager you have full responsibility for this team. You will manage all aspects of the project by assisting the research, production, and archive managers in meeting their obligations to complete the project. Excellent interpersonal and management skills are required. You are ultimately responsible for helping the team meet the project deadline.
• Research Manager Your job is key to the success of this project. You can shape the research by using focus questions. You will assist others in finding just the right quote, picture, or sound bite. Your team will rely on effective use of your detective and inquiry skills as you search the collections.
• Production Manager You will lead the group in building the final product. You must gather materials from your archive manager and work with the researcher during production. You must be flexible and resourceful as you work and assist others with last minute changes; manage graphics, sound or movie clips; and deal with the unexpected occurrences of creating a product.
• Archive Manager Excellent organizational skills make this job a challenge. You will keep track of all materials for the team and check to be sure that resources are compatible. For example, are your sound clips in the correct format? You will keep the original files, and back up files, and organize the the final project.

Building Background Knowledge and Skills 

(suggested- 2 class periods)

Anticipatory Set:

Link to students' prior knowledge and work with them to develop a concept of the traditional "American Dream." Use the "What Is the American Dream?" essay to initiate a discussion (either as a whole class or in team groups).

You may wish to have your students conduct interviews, explore other readings, engage in further class discussions, or hear guest speakers. Pair them to brainstorm: What do you already know about the American Dream? They might use paper or visual thinking software to record ideas and then share them with the learning team members in their groups.

Primary Source Analysis:

Before students begin their research, review strategies for analyzing primary source materials. Each student team will work with a set of pre-selected materials. Students analyze the materials recording their thoughts on the Primary Source Analysis Tool . Before the students begin, select questions from the teacher's guide Analyzing Primary Sources to focus and prompt analysis and discussion.

Each team will analyze its assigned primary source.

• Photographer - George O. Waters(?), Dry Valley, near Comstock Nebraska
• Poet - "Dedication," Robert Frost's presidential inaugural poem, 20 January 1961
• Politician - "Americanism", Harding, Warren G. (Warren Gamaliel), 1865-1923
• Producer - Arrival of immigrants, Ellis Island
• Comedian - Katzenjammer Kids: "Policy and pie"
• Lawyer - An Account of the Proceedings on the Trail of Susan B. Anthony
• Musician - The old cabin home. H. De Marsan, Publisher, 54 Chatham Street, New York
• Reporter - The Boston Gazette, and Country Journal. Monday, March 12, 1770

Researching Online and Gathering Primary Resources

(suggested - 5 class periods)

Guide students in choosing a research role and developing an action plan. One strategy is to assign roles, such as team manager, research manager, production manager or archive manager. Support students as needed in identifying tasks to be completed and drafting a timeline.

Possible considerations during research might include:

• Theme or Topic: What is your focus for inquiry? Identify your research topic or theme.
• Research Questions: What questions will focus your research? List a series of questions you intend to answer to focus your research. What additional information do you need to answer these questions?
• Primary Sources: How will you know you've found what you are looking for? List the type of resources you intend to look for to answer your research questions. What primary resources from the Library of Congress will you search for?
• Evidence: How do you know that the examples you've found are valid? Once you have located a few examples of primary sources, what are your criteria for selecting these as evidence?

You may require each team to keep a "research log" of work accomplished during each work session to help students stay focused and, later, to help in the evaluative process.

Choose the questions that will provide a focus for the project. Students can use these questions to guide their research.

As a class, create and continually add to, a list of "tried and true" search terms. Remind students that the Library of Congress Web site is a collection of collections. It is not encyclopedic and it simply does not have "everything." If an initial search does not yield desired results, guide students in how they can narrow or refocus the search. Your schedule may limit students to visiting only the suggested collections and provided links for each team. As possible, however, encourage them to identify additional items in the Library of Congress collections and to expand their resources with other sources.

Supply students with primary source analysis tools to use to record their growing set of evidence. Allow at least two (more preferred) days/class periods for exploration and research.

Creating the Learning Product

Students can produce a variety of products to demonstrate their interpretation of the material. Public or private Web sites, podcasting, digital narratives, video documentaries, slide shows, oral presentations, booklets or newspapers, or museum display within the classroom of print documents, multimedia, and realia are all excellent vehicles for students to share their learning.

Creating and refining a final learning product that allows students to represent, present and defend their ideas about the American Dream is the tangible outcome of this project. Allow plenty of time for this vital phase. (Having students add what transpires during this phase of the project to their research log can provide useful insight in the  evaluation process.)

Reinforce ethical use of the Internet by requiring that proper citation and/or bibliographical entry be used for all collected print and Internet resources.

Developing a Personal Dream for their Future

(1 class period)

When students have completed their research and have produced and presented the products that share their learning, they can be invited to consider their own American Dream – for themselves, their families and loved ones, their community, their nation and the world. Encourage students to give serious thought and honest expression to their hopes and dreams for the future. For inspiration, they may wish to view the Wall of Dreams contributed by other students.

Who are the dreamers that inspire us today? Ask students to read about or interview others who have a dream. Enrich this project with your own web resources, books, movie clips, interviews, or guest speakers.

Lesson Evaluation

Self and peer assessment.

A confidential self-evaluation from each student can provide the teacher with further valuable input, and will help the student reflect upon their own learning and performance. Students are also asked to evaluate the work and contributions of team members.

Teacher Assessment

Student teams may be asked the following assessment questions:

• What is the American Dream?
• How has the American Dream changed over time?
• How do diverse cultures view the American Dream?
• How have significant historical events affected the American Dream?
• How will new opportunities of the 21st century challenge the American Dream?
• What makes your area of interest an effective medium for sharing the American Dream?
• What is your American Dream?

The team products, and their presentation, should provide evidence of understanding from each team member. Be sure to require that each student contribute to the important tasks of presenting and defending a specific viewpoint.

Evaluate student work according to the evaluative criteria you and your students identified before beginning the project.

Kathleen Ferenz and Leni Donlan, American Memory Fellows, 1997

What is the American Dream? Is it the same for all Americans? Is it a myth? Is it simply a quest for a better life? How has the American Dream changed over time? Some see their dreams wither and die while others see their dreams fulfilled. Why? Everyone has dreams about a personally fulfilled life ...what is your dream?

Your job is to research the dreams of others. You will then create and publish your interpretation of the "American Dream."

• Divide into teams by research roles (photographer, lawyer, poet, politician, producer, comedian, musician).
• Define the American Dream with your group.
• Search in the Digital Colections and document the dreams of those who lived in the past.
• Identify and publish your interpretation of the "American Dream" according to your research role and the evidence you found.
• Reflect upon your personal dream — for the nation and for yourself.
• Review the Wall of Dreams for ideas. Write your own personal dream to share with your teacher and class.

These dreams are a sampling from the thousands of student dreams collected from 1998 - 2006. Define your dream for yourself, your family, your community, your country and our world.

My dream is to write a story that makes people think, dream, imagine, care, and feel. I want to change the world by making people care for each other. I want to show the world my thoughts through the words in my stories and maybe see how others like me feel. L. C., Student, Dakota Valley High School. Grade 11

My dream is that someday... kids will not have to live in poverty. It makes me see how fortunate I am to have what I have. My other dream is for all wars to stop, and to declare world peace. All of this fighting is putting a bad impression on people, some think life is all about war, and we could live in a better place and be better people if we could all get along.  A. B., Student, Henderson Intermediate School, Grade 6

My American Dream is to make the world a happier and more joyful place. I can achieve it by helping other people conquer sickness, hardships, and sadness. The world is a troubled place now. I hope I can make a difference. People all over the world are having tough times. War is killing many people and causing great sadness. This is my American Dream because we are seeing death everywhere now. J. C., Student, Encinal Elementary, Grade 5

My American Dream has several parts. First, I want my family to be happy, healthy, and comfortable. Rich is not necessary, though it would be nice. Second, I want to be able to use my brains and skills to become a geneticist so that I can create cures to help people live better. If I can make the world better for even one person, I will have met that goal. I want chocolate to be declared a health food. I know, that's not reasonable, but it is a dream I have. "Are you ill? Take two Hershey bars and call me in the morning." I want to invent the self-cleaning bedroom. (No further explanation necessary). But more than any of these, I dream of peace. I want everyone here to understand and help each other, regardless of race, religion, color, creed, size, shape, sexual orientation, just because we are all members of the same species: Homo sapien. That is my American Dream.  A. G., Student, Home Schooled, Grade 8

My American Dream is one in which all the children recognize their potential and work to understand they can be the best in whatever they choose to do as a life work. I wish for them to be gentle but honest with themselves, to love themselves and see the special persons they are becoming and that they work to live in harmony with all humankind.  M. B., Teacher, Crawford AuSable, Grade 8

I have a dream that everyone will stop smoking and people will stop polluting and that everybody will live in peace. W. P., Student, Beech Tree Elementary School, Grades K-3

My dream is to help our nation realize greater freedom and opportunity for all its citizens. Racial, sexual, and economic dividers are still very much in place in our nation, and overcoming such forms of bias comes only with affirmative action as well as educating our people against prejudice and discrimination. And most importantly, it is our duty to remember our nation's involvement in slavery, our deliberate mistreatment of America's native peoples, and our apathetic complacency during the worst act of genocide in history--these must all be painfully remembered to prevent such blots to fall on our account again. I wish to be actively involved in history, a living history that will affect every person out there in our great land, who will remember our past, its glories, triumphs, and yes, its failures. To do this is our responsibility to future generations, to make our nation a more thoughtful nation and our people more thoughtful people. That is my American Dream. A. I., Student, Homeschool, Grade 12

Everyone says that their American Dream is for every American to be equal. This is very unrealistic because everyone is different in some way. America has the most diverse population in the world. This trait sets us apart from other countries. So instead of being equal, my American Dream is for everyone to receive and give the utmost respect to all Americans despite differences we all have.  A. M., Student, Cass Tech High School, Grade 11

My American Dream is to be able to live in my country as a free person - free to live, free to dream, free to change and free to live with others who are not the same as me. I don't want to accumulate 'stuff' and have more than the other guy. I want to make sure that we all have enough to live and care for our country. It is not about getting ahead or beating another person, but it is about working together to make and keep the United States a great place. We all can do this by working in the system and changing it when we see that change is needed. In this way we can all live our American Dream together. J. M., Student, CPDLF, Grade 8

I dream that America will turn its goodwill and wealth to the rest of the world and help end poverty and war. We can do this by providing more help and education to the poorest nations, and by building a just system around the world where the children are fed, healthy and educated and perhaps they would not hate us so much. If we helped them develop their own resources instead of stealing their resources they could then support themselves and be proud of themselves and not hate us.  P. W., Student, Florida Virtual School, Grade 8

My dream is that I wish people would not judge people because they are different from them. The only reason why people are racist is because they are scared of changes. I would hope that people would become mature enough and forget their differences between each other.  T. S., Student, James A. Garfield Community Magnet School, Grade 8

My dream is for the children to grow up in a country, any country, feeling proud, free, and safe. I would hope that the politicians worldwide would put the interests of their citizens first, their military second, and themselves last. K. M., Teacher, St. John's, postgraduate

My dream is peace in my lifetime between people of all religions: Peace so my father will not have to go to war again, Peace so my little brother can grow up unafraid.  C. S., Student, ML King, Grade 5

My American Dream is to be a fair person and treat everybody equal. I want the people that come to America from different countries to feel like they have a place here in the United States. We can make them feel like this is their home. Also my American Dream is to give everybody the same rights. That even if you're homeless or rich you still have the same rights as everybody else. I think everybody should have the same equal rights. V. K., Student, Clara Barton, Grade 5

My dream is to have a crime free world. People should be able to feel safe in their neighborhoods. I also want the world to be free of homeless people. Everybody should have a place to live and food to eat. Everybody should have access to quality medical attention and quality education. I want worldwide peace and no more wars. I also want world hunger to come to an end. M. Y., Student, MBTA. Grade 8

Similar to the many past dreamers such as Martin Luther King, who wanted equal rights, I want everyone to have equal rights. Based on the culture and values that I have been brought up with, I know that it is especially hard to stop a prejudice that has been traveling through every generation. But, by teaching our children and being a model of acceptance ourselves, we can avoid making those same mistakes from past generations. It has definitely gotten better, and I believe our generation can become the role models for the new millennium.  K. L., Student, Allentown High School, Grade 11

My American Dream is a place where no one is discriminated against nor judged because of their race, where everyone is equal, where people are never deprived of their rights, and where the accused have the chance to explain. I dream of a place where justice is served righteously and schools have capable teachers who do everything to help the children they teach. I dream of a place where people can understand and accept new and different things. This is my dream and I hope it becomes a reality. E. L., Student, FLVS, Grade 8

My American Dream is for people to be able to express themselves without catching ridicule from their peers. It hurts when your individuality crushes who you try to present yourself to be because you feel shameful of who you really are.  S. F., Student, Pell City High School, Grade 10

I dream that one day the world will be united in a world where all people can speak and understand one another. I dream of a world where nobody goes to bed hungry or abused. I dream of a world that is free from violence--a world in which all people could live peacefully with one another.  L. B., Teacher, HSU, Grade K-3

Getting Started

Choose a research role.

As a group, choose one of the research roles to create your project:

Photographer

You are the eyes of America.

Design a photo essay that shows the American Dream. You might show how the Dream has been affected by time, cultural influences, and significant historical events (war, economic depression, elections, etc.).

Team Management Roles

Assessment questions.

How will your project be assessed? Identify which of these questions you will use to guide your inquiry:

• What makes being a photographer an effective medium for exploring the American Dream?

Action Plan

Create an action plan and and determine your timeline for completing the project. Include the following information in your action plan:

Timeline and Responsibilities

• Choose your team management responsibilities and decide each manager's specific responsibilities.
• How much time do you have?
• What deadlines do you need to meet?
• What materials do you need?
• How do you plan to manage the materials?

Research Strategies

What is your focus for inquiry? Identify your research topic or theme. What questions will focus your research? List a series of genuine questions you intend to answer by your research. What additional information do you need to answer these questions?

How will you know you've found what you are looking for? List the type of resources you intend to look for to answer your research questions. What primary resources from Digital Collections will you search for?

How do you know that the examples you've found are valid? Once you have located a few examples of primary sources, what are your criteria for selecting these as evidence? Record your ideas on the primary source analysis tool . Be sure to note information you'll need for Citing Primary Sources .

To search all photographic collections, click here: Photographs, Prints, and Drawings

Specific Collections that may be of help:

• Architecture and Interior Design for 20th Century America: Photographs by Samuel Gottscho and William Schleisner , 1935-1955
• By Popular Demand: Jackie Robinson and Other Baseball Highlights, 1860s-1960s
• Daguerreotypes
• Detroit Publishing Company
• Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives
• Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Color Photographs
• Horydczak Collection
• Panoramic Photographs
• Buckaroos in Paradise: Ranching Culture in Northern Nevada, 1945-1982
• Votes for Women - The Struggle for Women's Suffrage

Your passion for controversy and debate will guide your vision of the American Dream. Prepare a written or oral legal brief about the status of the American Dream. Defend your argument with evidence from the collections. (A legal brief includes: title, who vs. whom, statement of facts, argument, conclusion, references.)

• What makes being a lawyer an effective medium for exploring the American Dream?

To Search text collections use the following links:

• Manuscripts/Mixed Material
• Books/Printed Material
• An American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera
• Words and Deeds in American History: Selected Documents Celebrating the Manuscript Division's First 100 Years
• A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1873
• The National American Women Suffrage Association Collection

Using your poetic grasp of language you seek out the heart and soul of the American Dream.

Create a poet's notebook that shows the American Dream. Include samples of your poetry that show how the Dream has been affected by time, cultural influences, and significant historical events (war, economic depression, elections, etc.).

• What makes being a reporter for a newspaper an effective medium for exploring the American Dream?
• "California as I Saw It": First-Person Narratives of California's Early Years, 1849-1900
• Voices from the Dust Bowl: the Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection, 1940-1941
• Hispano Music & Culture from the Northern Rio Grande: The Juan B. Rael Collection
• American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940
• Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ca. 1820-1910
• Poet at Work: Recovered Notebooks from the Thomas Biggs Harned Walt Whitman Collection

With a finger on the pulse of the American people you create the policies that shape the American Dream.

Write and deliver a speech that traces the political events that shape the American Dream. Your speech may reflect significant events that have shaped American politics.

• What makes being a politician an effective medium for exploring the American Dream?
• The Hannah Arendt Papers at the Library of Congress
• Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789
• George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress, 1741-1799
• American Leaders Speak: Recordings from World War I and the 1920 Election

Lights, camera, action! You show the American Dream with stories, films, and a script for a movie.

Make a storyboard for your movie. Sequence the scenes to produce the movie of the American Dream.

• What makes being a producer an effective medium for exploring the American Dream?

To search early Motion Pictures, click here: Early Motion Pictures, 1897-1916

• Inside an American Factory: Films of the Westinghouse Works, 1904
• Origins of American Animation
• The Last Days of a President: Films of McKinley and the Pan-American Exposition, 1901
• The Life of a City: Early Films of New York, 1898-1906
• Before and After the Great Earthquake and Fire: Early Films of San Francisco, 1897-1916
• America at Work, America at Leisure: Motion Pictures from 1894-1915

You find the irony in the American Dream. Write a standup comic script or create a politcal cartoon or cartoon strip that expresses irony or the humorous side of the American Dream.

• What makes being a comedian an effective medium for exploring the American Dream?
• Federal Theatre Project, 1935-1939
• The American Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment, 1870-1920

With your ear for melody you play the music of the American Dream.

Write the sheet music or play and record music that characterizes the American Dream from your research.

• What makes being a musician an effective medium for exploring the American Dream?

To search all sheet music/song sheet collections: Sheet Music, Song Sheets .

To search all sound recording collections: Sound Recordings .

• "Now What a Time": Blues, Gospel, and the Fort Valley Music Festivals, 1938-1943
• The Leonard Bernstein Collection, ca. 1920-1989
• Band Music from the Civil War Era
• The Aaron Copland Collection, ca. 1900-1990
• Fiddle Tunes of the Old Frontier: The Henry Reed Collection
• California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties. Collected by Sidney Robertson Cowell
• William P. Gottlieb: Photographs from the Golden Age of Jazz
• Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music, 1870-1885
• America Singing: Nineteenth-Century Song Sheets

On the newsbeat, you report and chronicle the events which shape the American Dream.

Write a news article that reports the results of your research on the American Dream. (Article includes: title, who, what, when, where, and how.) Your news article describes the significant events that shaped the American Dream through the decades.

• Search all Digital Collections
• Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers at the Library of Congress
• Printed Ephemera: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera
• Posters: WPA Posters

Record the results of your discussion.

What do you already know about the American Dream?

Your group needs to define the American Dream. Read "What Is The American Dream?". Find out what the dream means to each member of your group. Brainstorm and share your ideas. What do you know about the "American Dream"? With a partner create a mind map of what you know, or believe you know, about the American Dream. All ideas are valid. Use paper or visual thinking software to record your ideas. Share the results with your learning team members in your group. This is the beginning of your project, so file your results with your archive manager.

What Is The American Dream?

James Truslow Adams, in his book The Epic of America, which was written in 1931, stated that the American dream is "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position." (p.214-215)

The authors of the United States’ Declaration of Independence held certain truths to be self-evident: that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." Might this sentiment be considered the foundation of the American Dream?

Were homesteaders who left the big cities of the east to find happiness and their piece of land in the unknown wilderness pursuing these inalienable Rights? Were the immigrants who came to the United States looking for their bit of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, their Dream? And what did the desire of the veteran of World War II - to settle down, to have a home, a car and a family - tell us about this evolving Dream? Is the American Dream attainable by all Americans?

Some say, that the American Dream has become the pursuit of material prosperity - that people work more hours to get bigger cars, fancier homes, the fruits of prosperity for their families - but have less time to enjoy their prosperity. Others say that the American Dream is beyond the grasp of the working poor who must work two jobs to insure their family’s survival. Yet others look toward a new American Dream with less focus on financial gain and more emphasis on living a simple, fulfilling life.

Thomas Wolfe said, "…to every man, regardless of his birth, his shining, golden opportunity ….the right to live, to work, to be himself, and to become whatever thing his manhood and his vision can combine to make him."

Is this your American Dream?

Define your Project

Determine your research theme or topic: Are you interested in immigration/emigration, families, social life? Will you investigate one decade or compare how the American Dream evolved over the decades? Discuss topic ideas with your group.

Analyzing Documents

Use the Primary Source Analysis tool and questions provided by your teacher to practice reading and interpreting sources with sample materials. Your team will look at resources through the lens of your research role.

• Photographer - Sylvester Rawding family in front of sod house, north of Sargent, Custer County, Nebraska
• Lawyer - The case of Dred Scott in the United States Supreme Court
• Reporter - Suffrage Ratification Is Completed by Tennessee

Research — Gather Evidence — Create the Team Product

As a group, be sure you all understand the task for your team's research role. Divide the tasks. Create an action plan. Record the results of your discussion.

Discuss possible questions and anticipate how you will answer them. Search the digital collections collections and gather your evidence.

Create your learning product. Develop a strategy to share your learning project which allows all team members to contribute and share their ideas.

You and your teacher established expectations for the project before you started your work. You and your team recorded your progress.  Your teacher may be using a rubric to evaluate your work. You understand the difference between excellent, good, and satisfactory work.

Complete a confidential team and self evaluation that describes how you contributed to your team’s effort and what you have learned.

You were challenged to investigate the American Dream, to see if it is the same for all Americans and whether it is real or just a myth. Did you find that it is simply a quest for a better life? What did you discover about how the Dream has changed over time? Do you now know why some see their dreams wither and die while others see their dreams fulfilled? What is your dream?

You've finished a group project. You've presented your ideas to your class. Has this experience influenced your view of the American Dream? How? Now that you have completed your project:

• What questions do you still have about the American Dream?
• What can the dreams of others teach you?
• Who are the dreamers of today?
• Were the dreams of yesteryear like your own dreams? In what ways?
• What IS the American Dream? Can it be simply stated?
• How will YOUR personal dream become a part of America's (and the world's) future?

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Home > Honors Theses, 1990-2015 > 1407

HIM 1990-2015

A case study of national identity: an analysis of the american dream in politics and literature.

Sarah Marie Horning , University of Central Florida

The American Dream has been the inspiration of many political speeches, political writings, and works of literature throughout American history. Most recently, it has inspired political groups like the Center for the New American Dream and academic groups like the Xavier University Center for the Study of the American Dream. As of late, the notion of the American Dream has begun to crop up more often than not in main stream political discourse, especially surrounding the topic of immigration with the aptly named Dream Act. Why has the American Dream drawn this new attention and inquiry? Why and how is it important to American Political thought? What does it mean? Why does it endure? As a complex issue of American culture, this thesis will use disparate methods of analysis to form answers to these questions. The American Dream is often referred to as our national myth. It is comprised of the many ideals and narratives which undergird American politics and culture. Through examination of literary works of fiction and of political texts, this research will examine the meaning and the history of the American Dream. Then, using secondary survey data, this research will examine the implications and state of the American Dream. Finally, to answer the question of why the American Dream endures, this research will employ elements of psychoanalytic and Marxist theory to argue that the Dream works as a cycle of American political thought.

If this is your Honors thesis, and want to learn how to access it or for more information about readership statistics, contact us at [email protected]

Thesis Completion

Houghton, David Patrick

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)

College of Sciences

Degree Program

Political Science

Dissertations, Academic -- Sciences;Sciences -- Dissertations, Academic

Access Status

Open Access

Length of Campus-only Access

Document type.

Honors in the Major Thesis

Recommended Citation

Horning, Sarah Marie, "A case study of national identity: an analysis of the american dream in politics and literature" (2013). HIM 1990-2015 . 1407. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/honorstheses1990-2015/1407

Since September 28, 2015

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Discourse Analysis on Martin Luther King’s Speech ‘I Have a Dream’

This paper aims to examine Martin Luther King’s speech “I Have a Dream” using Gee’s [1] building tasks. To specify, the paper will highlight King’s use of language to build and destroy identity, relationship, and politics. Furthermore, analysis shows the ideologies and philosophical dogmas behind the speech, which relates to freedom, equality, and civil rights.

1. Introduction

August 28, 1963, has been a remarkable day for civil rights movement, wherein Martin Luther King has given the most powerful and influential speech entitled “I have a dream”. The premise of the speech is an invitation to peaceful coexistence between the African Americans and the white citizens of America, along with a plea that both parties accept the forthcoming change in a non-violent way.

Jorgensen and Phillips 2 define discourse as the structured language, and define discourse analysis as the analysis of the patterns followed by people in daily utterances in different social life domains (12).

The phenomenal nature of the speech has led to a few attempts at analyzing it, and according to Gee 1 , there are seven building tasks that can help us decode any discourse at hand. The building tasks are as follows: significance, practices, identities, relationships, politics, connections, and sign systems. Moreover, Jorgensen and Phillips 2 highlight the importance of discursive practices and state that they “are viewed as an important form of social practice which contributes to the constitution of the social world including social identities and social relations” (61). With that in mind, and with Gee 1 view on effects of texts “inculcating and sustaining ideologies" (123), it is important not only analyze, but rather critique this speech as it has invoked many identities and ideologies in King's audience.

This paper aims to further investigate King’s speech and interpret it using the aforementioned building tasks techniques. More specifically, this paper will use identities, relationships, and politics to analyze and critique this discourse.

2. Significance of the Study

Martin Luther King’s speech “I Have a Dream” has been analyzed repeatedly. However, building tasks of discourse analysis have not been applied to said speech. Moreover, Sipra and Rashid 3 analyze King’s speech using critical discourse analysis highlighting the social, cultural, and political factors surrounding the speech. However, they use critical discourse analysis on the first part of the speech and recommends further analysis on the rest of it.

Dlugan 4 suggests that a lengthy study is in order of Martin Luther King’s speech after he analyzes it metaphorically. The analysis of the metaphor is quite important to understand the nature of the speech as well as the nature of the speaker. However, the analysis of the metaphors is not as profound as the building tasks in understanding the ideologies and agenda behind the speech.

Damak 5 in his study on the strategic purpose of belonging in King’s speech, suggests that King selects a strategy of identification that rests on cultural conformity. However, Damak focuses in his analysis on metaphors and theoretical approaches, which again is not as practical to examine said cultural conformity. This paper will interpret the speech to examine the cultural compliance using the building tasks of Gee 1 , particularly identity and relationship.

It is evident that understanding the speech needs a thorough look at the historical background of it, which is outside the scope of this paper. However, several historic and social factors will be mentioned in the analysis below using Morris’s 6 book; Origins of the Civil Rights Movement. With that in mind, this paper focuses on the following building tasks; identity, relationship, and politics.

3. Research Objectives

1- This paper aims to study and apply building tasks on Martin Luther King’s speech and analyze it accordingly.

2- This paper will attempt to highlight the social factors that constituted King’s speech, and what social influence does the speech have on the African-American community.

3- Relevantly, this study is carried out to inspect the construction of King’s speech, and the linguistic value it has, by using critical discourse analysis.

This leads to the research questions this paper attempts to answer, which are as follows:

1- What relation does this discourse have to the building task of identity?

2- What relation does this discourse have to the building task of politics?

3- What relation does this discourse have to the building task of relationships?

4- What effect does this discourse carry on the identity and ideology of Americans?

4. Review of Literature

1. Critical Discourse Analysis and Gee’s Building Tasks

Fairclough 7 , suggests that critical discourse analysis has three basic characteristics, one of them is the rationality of it. He states that it is a rational form of research because it focuses primarily on social relations as well as entities and individuals. Furthermore, Fairclough carries on to mention the complexity of social relations and how it is layered due to the fact that they have relations within relations. These relations are a major part of the analysis of King's speech. Additionally, in their book Discourse Analysis as Theory and Method , Jorgensen and Phillips 2 co-wrote a chapter on critical discourse analysis. Drawing on Fairclough and Wodak’s 8 overview, the writers list the five common features of different approaches to critical discourse analysis. The feature we are about to examine in this paper is the feature that links social and cultural construction to linguistic-discursive. Critical Discourse Analysis as a theory is where Gee’s 1 building tasks is elicited from. Gee 1 suggests that language-in-use means saying, doing and being (30). Moreover, it is used along with non-verbal tools to build one of seven areas of reality, which Gee 1 , calls the seven building tasks. Those building tasks include; significance, practices, identities, relationships, politics, connections, and sign systems. Therefore, any analyst can use these seven tools to analyze any discourse at hand.

2. Previous Studies

Damak 5 , conducts a study in on the strategic purpose of belonging in Martin Luther King’s speech, in which he suggests that King selects a strategy of identification that rests on cultural conformity. Damak justifies the need to live in harmony with fellow white-citizens of America, but insists that the issue of belonging will only be solved in favor of the dominant majority group. Equally as important is Sipra and Rashid’s 3 work, in which the analyze King’s speech using critical discourse analysis stressing the social, cultural, and political features of the speech. However, they use critical discourse analysis on the first part of the speech and recommend further analysis on the rest of it. From a different angle, Dlugan 4 analyzes King’s speech in terms of metaphors. He notes that King mentions Mississippi four times during his speech, and suggests that it is not accidental. Dlugan states that “mentioning Mississippi would evoke some of the strongest emotions and images for his audience” (7). Such analysis highlights the ideology and paradigm behind King Speech, which this paper aims to examine more closely.

Bajri and Othman 9 , conduct critical discourse analysis on Martin Luther King’s speech ‘I have a dream’, and compare it to Malcom X’s speech ‘a message to the grassroots’. Bajri and Othman examine the use of lexical items in both speeches, the use of metaphors, and rhetorical devices. They utilize Fairclough’s 3D model to analyze the speeches and come to the conclusion that the influential power of these speeches lies in the strong language used in both. Additionally, they highlight the role of these powerful rhetoric in persuading the audiences as well as the government of the United States.

Another paper by Bajri and Mariesel 10 follows the same method of critical discourse analysis is recently published. The authors highlight the importance of language use in political discourse. They analyze Gamal Abdel Nasser’s 1967 stepping down speech, and conclude that the lexical choices in the speech facilitate his agenda in addition to the rhetorical devices and metaphors. Along with his charisma, language helps Abdel Nasser endorsing his name further more even after the defeat.

3. Discourse Legitimation

Essentially, any discourse analysis needs to answer the question of legitimation proposed by van Leeuwen 11 , in which he asks “Why should we do this in this particular way”. Before answering this question in reference to the current paper, it is important to look into the four categories of legitimation mentioned by van Leeuwen 11 . The first one is Authorizations, which is legitimation in relation to the authority of custom, law, and tradition. This authorization can be vested in persons representing institutions such as policemen or religious men. The second category of legitimation is the value system of a certain society, or what van Leeuwen 11 calls moral evaluation. Third, rationalization, which is legitimation in relation to the social practices that exist in a society. Mythopoesis is the last category, which are the narratives that reward legitimate actions and punishes non-legitimate actions. To answer the previously posited question “why”, this paper investigates King’s speech because of its historic and social importance, and for the impact it had done. To answer “why in this particular way”, it is the seven building tasks of Gee 1 that will give us a precise detailed look into King’s identity in the speech, the identities and relationships in the society that received the speech, and the politics of that time that needed to be built or destroyed by King.

To take a closer and more social look into the speech, the current paper refers to Morris’ 6 work which gives a detailed description of the civil rights movements, in which he mentions the approaches used by Martin Luther King to protest. Morris talks about the effectiveness of King’s ways and his credibility as a former protester. He praises the civil rights movement for its cruciality in the sense that it is the first time that African Americans directly have confronted and disrupted the functions of the institutions responsible for their oppression (5). King mentions these institutions in his speech and talks about police brutality specifically, which will be further discussed in the analysis.

5. Method of Analysis

In the broader sense, this paper utilizes Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis to analyze the speech. A more specified scope is Gee’s 1 Seven Building Tasks, which include: significance, practices, identities, relationships, politics, connections, and sign systems. The paper, however, focuses on identities, relationships, and politics. The reason behind choosing these three tasks is that they reflect the importance of the speech at that particular period of time. Combined together, these three tasks give a richer view of the society and its functions through Martin Luther King’s eyes. They also give an indication of King’s strong persona and leadership skills.

Gee 1 introduces identities as the ability to build roles into the discourse and to be recognized for these roles. The analysis discusses the identities built by King with an attempt to justify the need for these roles in the speech. In terms of the task “relationships”, it looks into the connections between different social or individual classes. Last but not least, politics as defined by Gee 1 is the “social goods” that exist in a society. In this particular task, we use language to build and destroy privileges. In the speech, the discrimination against African-Americans is highlighted in contrast with white privilege.

Data will be obtained from an online source containing the full speech of Martin Luther King. However, only certain parts of the speech will be selected for analysis.

The analysis will be divided into three categories in accordance with Gee’s 1 building tasks; i.e. identities, politics, and relationships. To follow up, selected lines and paragraphs from the speech will go under appropriate categories for analysis.

Language enables one to build an identity and get recognized for that identity or role. In his speech, Martin Luther King builds many identities in order to communicate with his audience and reach out to them.

1. “ So we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition ” para. (2).

Notably, King attempts to build himself as a leader or a spiritual leader to the civil rights movement that has been going on for approximately 16 years during the deliverance of King’s speech.

This line comes after many lines of describing the negros’ sufferance and hardship, in which King does not use “we” to belong to the “negros” or the African Americans. Instead, he describes their suffering from afar, and the first time he uses the word “we” is in the line above, where he urges them to march and change this shameful condition. With that in mind, it seems like King acknowledges the fact that he is a negro, yet refuses to submit to the weakness that comes with the word and to the conditions in which they live.

2. “ We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline ” para. (9).

Preserving the identity of sensibility and rationalism is very important for King since he is an advocate for peace and non-violent change. He presents this identity several times in his speech and urges the African Americans to claim it and commit to it.

3. “ I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream ” para. (18).

The identity of the American is a recurring theme in King's speech. Surely, one of the ways in which he can connect with the white citizens of America is to claim the identity of an American himself. As a result, King’s speech is heavily loaded with what Damak 5 calls: the “Americanity” (214). He repeatedly mentions the American dream and the American citizenship, and that could only be a way to reinforce the ideology of belonging for the African Americans, and the ideology of unity for the white man.

4. “ I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character ” para. (14).

King presents his audience with an identity of his, i.e. a parent. Surely, with hundreds of thousands attending his speech, many of which are parents. By representing himself and selling this father figure image, people can relate to him and will have a higher capacity of compassion for King and the African American community.

1. “ Those who hope that the negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual ” para. (7).

The relationship that King tries to introduce here is a relationship of dominance and power. It is a clear threat in case anything happens to the civil rights movement, or if the white people in power decide to dismiss this movement as a steam that needs to be blown off.

King does not mean a violent threat precisely, but “rude awakening” here gives us the impression that it could indeed develop into a threatening relationship if the demands of the African Americans are jeopardized.

2. “ In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred” para. (9).

King suggests that African Americans should demand their rights with reasonability, and not be dragged into hatred and bitterness with the white man. He seeks to establish a relationship of sensibility between both parties to avoid any violence that could arise.

3. “ The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny ” para. (10).

Another aspect of the relationship between the African Americans and the white citizens of America that King endeavors to establish or indorse is the friendship between the two. King realizes that in their struggle, there are some righteous white men who aspire to achieve justice in America.

The significance of this ethnic alliance lies in the next following lines in King’s speech, in which he mentions that both parties know that they cannot walk alone in their march for freedom. King realizes that the white men that march with the civil rights movement are some sort of validation to the movement, wherein they represent the majority in America. Indeed, if you can get the majority to validate your cause, then it is not just a dream anymore.

4. “ There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?'' We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality ” para. (11).

King highlights the hostile relationship between the African Americans and the police. This animosity is not restricted to the police though, rather to all state devices. He mentions in the following lines that even airports and public schools have these policies of segregation. By listing all the instances in which a black man can be subjected to racism and segregation, King achieves his goal to destroy this relationship by shaming it.

5. “ I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brother­ hood ” para. (16).

It is equally important to connect to the African Americans, as well as to the white citizens of America. This line builds a relationship of friendship and brotherhood between the African Americans and the whites. It is also important for King that both parties remember who they were, and that the African Americans embrace their history. He tries to enable the whole community to access the image of slaves and slave owners, as long as this image will encourage them to build friendships and brotherhoods with those of the other race.

1. “ This note was a promise that all men-yes, black men as well as white men-would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness ” para. (3).

Gee 1 states that “we use language to build and destroy social goods” (31), and that is exactly what King aspires to achieve with this speech. Clearly, the white citizens of America at that time have had privilege or what we can call social goods, in contrast to the African American community who has been suffering from discrimination even after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. On another note, King refers indeed to the proclamation several times and intends to stand before Lincoln's statue to further endorse his speech.

Moreover, King tries to resolve existing segregation and discrimination that has been there prior to his time as well as during, by building the social goods for the African Americans and destroying the privilege that the white citizens have over their fellow black citizens.

It is important to note that the ideology of freedom and equality to all is deeply rooted in the idea of "America", but whether it is actually applied or not is another issue. This ideology helps King to reach out to all Americans, even those who do not stand in his audience during this speech. He presents this social good and expects them to follow through and actually grants it to every American, no matter what his race might be.

2. “ We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only" ” para. (13).

Even the children of the African Americans are subjected to the disgusting segregation and prejudice of the whites, to the point where even in schools black kids are taught that they are less by the signs that state “For Whites Only”. This is an issue that King attempts to destroy with his speech. The privilege that those white kids have over their fellow black mates is a social good that King tries to invoke in order to create a social good that fits and satisfies all, that is equality.

3. “ And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last! ” para. (24).

A spectacular way to conclude a speech full of imagery. King presents the ultimate social good that he wants to achieve for every American, i.e. freedom. With his words, King recognizes the struggle of every American and does not exclude anyone. The inclusivity of this paragraph can reach out to all races, religions, and classes. This shared struggle is what makes it easier for the other races and classes to relate to African Americans.

King builds an image of unity amongst the American community and urges all to march in defense of their freedom. He wants to present them with the ultimate social good and the basic human right that is freedom. Naturally, when this privilege is given to all, and when it is truly guaranteed for every citizen, the destruction of segregation and discrimination will shortly follow.

This ideology that King presents to the Americans is essential to the civil rights movement, in which he offers an ideology of unity and freedom as a vital condition to coexist in peace.

6. Conclusion

It is found in the analysis that Martin Luther King’s speech is constructed carefully and not just haphazardly, which agrees with Spira and Rashid’s 3 suggestion that it has been syntactically structured to serve King’s ideologies and purpose.

King builds several identities for himself, a leader, a rational, a parent, and an American, to name a few. The interesting thing about King, in particular, is that he is an honest man in the sense that when he advocates for peace, he does indeed what he says; he urges his people as well as the other party not to be violent or hateful.

In terms of relationships, Spira and Rashid 3 states that “Luther king very impressively and successfully with the help of metaphors and other devices identifies the relationship between the powerful and oppressed” (32), and this is what we conclude from the analysis. We find King capable of building unity and harmony between the Americans by using his words. He builds a relationship of dominance and power between the African Americans and the state devices in case they take their movement for granted. Furthermore, King seeks to establish a relationship of brotherhood and friendship amongst the African Americans and the white citizens of America. Last but not least, King attempts to highlight the relationship between the African Americans and the brutal police in order to speak for the struggles of the black man and destroy this brutal relationship to build a peaceful one instead.

King plays a decent game with politics in his concluding paragraph, in which he includes every spectrum of society and mentions all races, religions, and classes. Destroying every aspect of prejudice and intolerance in the American society, King provides them with social goods that fits all to fill the gap. He tries to present them a new ideology of America, a country where everyone is free, safe, and dignified.

Martin Luther King’s speech is an attempt to push the American society into instant peaceful change, and whether it succeeds or not is a different issue. Moreover, King’s speech is linguistically rich, and the limitation of this paper is that it does not exceed building tasks or critical discourse analysis. It is recommended that a further study is conducted on the speech using all the building tasks of discourse analysis, as well as a study to decode the speech into its basic ideologies and concepts.

Published with license by Science and Education Publishing, Copyright © 2020 Ibtesam AbdulAziz Bajri and Layla Mohammad Mariesel

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Michelle Obama American Dream Speech Analysis – Rhetorical Essay

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Introduction

Speech analysis.

The incumbent President Barack Obama was seeking re-election as the president of the United States of America for the next four years. He was facing Mitt Romney, a republican candidate, in the November 2012 polls. America’s first lady, Michelle Obama, in her speech at the Democrats National Convention (DNC), told of how her husband was passionate about leading the Americans to eventually achieve the “American dream”.

Michelle’s purpose was to introduce her husband as man who was more concerned about the common citizens’ concerns and who was willing and able to help everyone to realize his/her American dream because he himself had walked that path and knew the hardships and the challenges that each and everyone who seeks to succeed in America goes through.

This speech analysis answers the question of whether Michelle Obama was trying to advocate for her husband selling the real American dream to the audience at the Democratic National Convention or her claims and promises were unrealistic.

Barack Obama’s wife, the America’s first lady, gave a speech that showed the world the values that the president held dear. Michelle successfully used her husband’s background as well as hers to convince the congregants that the American dream was real, since her husband and she had walked that path and made it to the White House.

The first lady recounted of the childhood struggles that she and her husband had gone through to achieve what they gained so far. She revealed that only due to the students’ loan, they were able to graduate from the college. By mentioning that fact, she appealed to the majority of the youth facing the same struggle and unsure of their ability to complete college.

She was able to capture the emotions of the audience by stressing that success is not how much money one makes but how many people’s lives one touches. The audience was seen to be totally mesmerized by the success story she told and responded by several applauds and ululations.

The first lady was delivering that speech not only to the Democrats but also to all the Americans who were seeking for a better life. She told of her privilege to travel across the country due to which she met a lot of people who inspired her a lot.

She described the stories of the wounded soldiers willing not only to walk again but also run marathons, young Americans in Afghanistan ready to “do it all again” for America, teachers working without pay just for their love to children, and so on. In doing so, she managed to build her credibility with the audience.

She successfully used emotion as her main convincing force to win the hearts of the audience. She explained the hardships that her husband’s grandparents went through to ensure they would give a better life to their children, thus she again resonated with the American dream. Most of the audience was convinced that she was telling their stories despite the fact that she was the first lady living in the White House.

She insisted and reiterated that her most important title was not the first lady but the mother concerned about the welfare of her children. She was thus able to identify with the thousands of American women who were not the first ladies but mothers in order to make them relate to her story of care and worry about the future of their children.

She presented her husband as a person who after four years in the White House, did not change a little from the man she had married twenty three years ago. She spoke about Barack Obama as about the one who was caring for the less privileged. She explained that due to the same reason, the president signed the Lilly Ledbetter fair Pay Act, reduced taxes imposed on the working families and improved the economy through having created more jobs.

The first lady also used a tone to give hope to the audience. She used such phrases as “the people I meet inspire me” to create a sense of hope and a spirit of confidence in the America as a nation.

She was able to sell the idea that success comes from hard work and if America realized the much needed change, they would have to co-operate as a nation and work hard to eventually realize the change that they so yearned. Through such figures of speech, she was simply but indirectly asking the Americans to entrust the next four years of the America’s future to her husband since he had the best America’s interests at heart.

Even if many Americans or almost everyone in the world knew the story behind the success of president Barack Obama through his autobiography or even heresies, they were still willing to listen to the story narrated by Michelle Obama.

Michelle used the opportunity to present the story of her husband with a lot of emotions and facial expressions and managed to make a good number of audience shed tears of hope and joy. She avoided directly discrediting Mitt Romney though a critical analysis shows that she was contrasting two different backgrounds of two different Americans, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.

Michelle successfully managed to hide political intentions in her speech until the culmination of her speech when she asked everyone to vote for Barack Obama who, according to her, had the best of America’s interests at his heart and was determined to improve the welfare of all the Americans.

At the end, she was able to convince majority of the audience that change does not happen overnight, but instead, it is a gradual happening that will eventually be seen and experienced by everyone. She, therefore, asked people to support her husband for the second time so that the Americans could eventually realize and witness what they had overwhelmingly voted for in 2008.

The first lady, in her speech at the Democratic National Convention, was able to present to the Americans and the whole world an image of Barack Obama as a trusted, caring, hardworking person worth being voted for to stay in the White House for another four year. She succeeded to resonate with majority of the Americans, particularly by mentioning the hard work that made America become a successful nation.

She convincingly proved to the audience that the American dream was still achievable and not only by the democrats but also the republicans and the rest of America. In conclusion, an appeal to the people to vote for Barack Obama was well presented as it becomes apparent as she won the hearts of many. The core purpose of her speech was to sell her husband’s candidacy but in an attractive and unique package that would appeal to the majority of Americans.

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