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Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream”

Expository Writing UnitMr. ShimizuEnglish 9B January 2014

Write HALF A PAGE (or more) in response to this prompt:

Is it accurate to call today’s America the “land of the free”? Consider whether you think racial equality exists today in America, and how much tolerance and/or acceptance people in America show towards others of different races, religions, sexual orientations, etc.

Use personal experiences and your knowledge of other countries to help you explain if America deserves to be known as the land of the free.

CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT:

A movement from 1955-68 to end racial segregation/discrimination against African-Americans and grant them voting rights; stemmed from laws making public places and government services (like public education) “white” or “colored” only, with “colored” places and serviceslargely underfunded

Born in 1929 as Michael King but dad renamed him for the sixteenth century Christian reformer Martin Luther

Baptist minister who organized and participated in several civil rights demonstrations (led the Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped organize the March on Washington)

Arrested four months before delivering the IHD speech; wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” defending non-violent resistance and encouraging people to break morally unjust laws.

Assassinated at age 39 in April 1968 on the balcony of his Memphis, TN motel by a sniper; ex-con James Earl Ray was sentenced to 99 years in prison for his murder; won Nobel Peace Prize in ‘64.

CONTEXT FOR THE “I HAVE A DREAM” SPEECH

Given at the March on Washington, August 28, 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial

The march was a demonstration demanding new civil rights laws and better job opportunities in the wake of riots and mass arrests in Birmingham; about 250,000 people of different races participated

Uses the term “Negro” to refer to his own race …

At one time, “black” was as bad a label as “colored”

Some people (Malcolm X) objected to this term because of its connections to a legacy of slavery

Today, it is generally reserved for use in historical contexts (the United Negro College Fund)

ANAPHORA= a rhetorical device where a phrase is repeated at the beginning of neighboring sentences; often used to persuade, emphasize and/or inspire

IMAGERY= descriptive or figurative language used to create word pictures (mental images) for the reader; created through sensory details

METAPHOR= comparison of two unlike things without using ‘like’ or ‘as’

PROMISSORY NOTE= written promise to pay a certain sum of money to someone at a fixed time in the future, or on demand

ALLUSION= a reference within a text to a well-known person, place, event, artwork, or literary work that exists outside that text

EXAMPLES OF ALLUSIONS IN “I HAVE A DREAM”

ABRAHAM LINCOLN= 16th president and “a great American” (¶2)

THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS= Lincoln’s Nov. 19, 1863 dedication of a cemetery to Civil War dead; urged the country to embrace a “new birth of freedom” so these men won’t have died in vain (¶2)

EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION= an 1863 order freeing slaves, based on Lincoln’s authority as commander-in-chief to do what was necessary to squash rebellion during wartime (¶2)

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE= 1776 document arguing the rights of the 13 colonies to govern themselves and not answer to King George III (¶4 & 16)

THE OLD TESTAMENT (THE BIBLE)= Isaiah 40:4-5 (¶23)

“MY COUNTRY ‘TIS OF THEE”= 1831 American patriotic song (¶25)

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR ¶ 1-6

1. What word(s) could you use to describe King’s tone in the first two paragraphs?

• What words/phrases in the speech suggest King’s tone?

2. What word(s) could you use to describe King’s tone in the third paragraph?

• What words/phrases in the speech suggest this change in King’s tone?

3. Given the switch in tone, what would you say is King’s purpose for writing this speech?

4. How does King use metaphor and imagery to make a case for justice in paragraphs 4-5? What makes his case convincing?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR ¶ 15-31

1.Find three examples of anaphora in the speech and explain why King repeats these three specific phrases.

2.Find two examples of imagery from paragraphs 15-31 and explain their purpose in the speech (in other words, what point is King trying to get across in each case?)

3.Why might King make frequent reference to God in this speech? Hint: What does King mean by the phrase "this sacred obligation" in paragraph 4?