I Have A Dream Speech Analysis

729 Words3 Pages

On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr gave what is considered the most important address regarding racial equality, it was called I Have a Dream. Hundreds of thousands of civil rights supporters gathered to be empowered and spread their beliefs to the world. His speech pointed out some of the mains issues of race within society. He explained that the African Americans in the USA were still not free, that they were not given the same opportunities as the white Americans. He brought to light issues of segregation and police brutality. King ended his speech by describing to world what his dream was for the black and white citizens of The United States. Martin Luther King Jr began his speech by referencing the Emancipation Proclamation, the document that said that blacks could no longer be enslaved to the whites. But, even though 100 years had passed, the African Americans were still not free. Though they were not physically in chains any longer they were still in the figurative chains of discrimination. He preached to the crowd that they were all gathered because they had a check that needed to be cashed (I Have a Dream, 1963). He was referring to blacks being owed liberation. This meant that they had been enslaved and mistreated for so long that they deserved to be free at last, it was their constitutional right and that they need to demand this equality.
Though he encouraged them to take control, he stressed that it must be done in a way that was peaceful. He said they

Open Document