Martin Luther King was an important figure in the human rights movements of the 1960s, as he played a role in influencing the passing of the 1964 civil rights act. He was known as a well-versed speaker and pacifistic approach to the movement. The two texts that have been looked at for this response are his “I have a dream” speech and his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”.
His “I have a dream” speech, which he held as part of the march on Washington, is likely his most known work. It is a speech that focuses much on the basic ideas of America and how all the rights should apply to all Americans and that black people should be granted the same freedoms and opportunities as white people. He displays his believe in his typical logical pacifistic approach. “In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds” (King 239), is what he tells his fellow brothers in his never ending pursued for justice, meaning that they cannot resort to violence to stop violence and injustice.
Still he focuses a lot on the people affected by racial injustice as he says that “we can never be satisfied” (King 240) as long as black people are treated unjust, are segregated against and must fear police brutality. In his speech he moves from naming and acknowledging all the wrong doings against his people, to his idea of what America should stand for and what the future could look like. He describes this as his “dream”, which basically is a country were everyone really is equal and free, and people from all different origins can sit down together as brothers.
127 our experts are availableright now
He tries to appeal rhetorically using ethos and construction his arguments on the basis of how humans should be treated equally, as that is just the right thing to do, based on also our constitution (logos).
The second text “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is a little bit longer than his speck from the march on Washington and it is a letter written from Jail, in which he was put for leading a violent protest, in response to 8 clergyman that had been critical of him coming to his town, as they believed only negros from Birmingham were allowed to speak on their behalf, outsiders were not welcome.
Again, in typical Martin Luther King style he starts the letter rather respectfully, calling the clergymen “men of genuine good will” (King 246), his goal of writing this letter is to reason to the clergymen his actions of leading the protest. He describes how there basically wasn’t any other choice for him other than protesting, as they already gone thru all other options, like trying to negotiate. He states that “we know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor” (King 249), which also somewhat of a pathos, a call on emotions, as he has been through the oppression himself.
He then goes into describing the difference between just and unjust laws based on the ideas of St. Augustine, who said that “an unjust law is no law at all”(King 249) and that just laws always lift up human character, while unjust laws don’t.
He tries to appeal to their logos as he describes his decision process to protest and that there was no other choice as he already tried any other measure. another appeal to emotions (ethos) can be found when King talks about his five-year-old son asking him, “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean” (King 250), as children are sometimes a great way to state the obvious, with their observations.
Comparing those two texts we can see that King tries to appeal to both mostly Ethos and Logos in his speeches and writing. He is a vocal leader, but against violence, he rather uses reasoning to show the other side his way or the right way. His I have a dream speech is one of his most remembered speeches, because of his good use of metaphors, like the “dream” of the future. He also again calls on ethos and pathos to engage his audience as part of the beginning of his speech and then uses an appeal to logos to manifest his ideas. A huge difference in the letter to his speech is that his audience in the letter has a different opinion on the topic of segregation than he has, which is why it is even more important that he uses ethos, pathos and logos, by acknowledging his critics concerns and fears and explaining his actions.
