Martin Luther King Speech
Critical Analysis of "I've Been to the Mountaintop" by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The last speech Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered has been popularly referred to as the "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech (). Dr. King delivered this speech on April 3, 1968 at the Mason Temple Church of God in Christ Headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee. Following this speech on April 4, 1968, Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis. In this oration primarily focused on the concerns regarding the Memphis Sanitation Strike, Dr. King males a call for nonviolent protesting, economic action, boycotts, and unity. He further challenges the United States of America to uphold the ideals established in some of the most famous legislative documents posited that outline the principles of the right to protest and assemble non-violently, the right to the freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom and liberty for all. Following is a critical analysis of Dr. King's last public speech as well as commentary with regard to the historical significance of this particular event.
Critical Analysis
"Something is happening in Memphis; something is happening in our world" (King, 1968, web). In examining Dr. King's speech on the eve of April 3rd, it is clear that his use of language was designed to be understandable to everyone who may have been in the position to hear the speech. His use of language was no so lofty that the 'common man' could not understand the message he was trying to get across; nor was it so grammatically incorrect, that scholars could not discuss and dissect it for the intelligence with which it was presented. That is, for many, the mark of a great orator: the ability to speak at such a level that the majority of individual's would understand. Further, Dr. King took the listener on a journey to mark the relevance...
King's introduction is blunt: "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. 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
It is also more likely to create a constructive rather than a destructive outcome, it is a process of conflict resolution that may aim to arrive at the truth of a given situation rather than simple victory for one side and it is the only technique of struggle that is consistent with the teachings of the major religions (Weber and Burrowes, n.d.). Nonviolent action is a method by which people
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
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on Non-Violence and Natural Law Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is internationally recognized for his iconic leadership of the Civil Rights Movement, which resulted in a furthering of social justice and fairness for people of color. Moreover, the work of King and his movement resulted in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. One of the key strategies that King
Myth of the First Amendment The concept of "Big Brother" surveying all our actions and censoring what we hear and what we know is something that goes against the very conception of American society. The centuries old fear of control motivates the people such that they believe in the ideology of freedom of speech over anything else. The First Amendment to us, is right up there with all the we hold
President Kennedy also used Aristotle's logic or logos to convince people to fight against public enemy such as poverty. JFK also used metaphor and the most famous sentence delivered after metaphor was "asks not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." (Nicholas, 2001 P. 283). The phrase was to appeal and persuade American people to devote their energy to the building
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