Evoking an emotional response from an audience is often the most difficult aspect of an author or speaker’s work. Most can provide facts and research to establish their credibility but relating to the audience and making them feel as passionate about the subject as the author or speaker does can be a much more daunting task. In August of 1963, more than 200,000 people gathered in Washington D.C. to protest for African American civil rights (“Official Program for the March on Washington”). Among the speakers to the crowd that day was civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. who delivered his now famous “I Have a Dream” speech. In the speech, King laid out his hope and vision for the future—a vision that included the full integration, cooperation, and equality of all races of people in America. King was the final speaker at the event and in his speech, King used allusion, amplification, and symbolism to create an emotional connection with the audience and argue for African American civil rights.
King began his speech with an allusion to Abraham Lincoln. The first line of the body of King’s speech is “five score years ago” which is direct allusion to Lincoln’s line of “four score and seven years ago” that he used to open the Gettysburg Address (King, “I Have a Dream”). King then referenced Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation which freed African Americans from slavery. King also referenced the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. King made these references in order to allude to the principles and ideas of freedom that Americans have held dear since the beginning of the republic. These allusions established a basis for the argument that even though African Americans were of a different race, they were still Americans and therefore should have the same rights and freedoms as any white American. These historical references produced an emotional appeal that connected King to his audience based on a shared identity of freedom loving Americans.
King also frequently employed the rhetorical device of amplification to make his point and appeal his audience. Several times throughout the speech, King repeated the same word or phrase in successive sentence. One of King’s main arguments in the speech as well as in his overall struggle for civil rights was that African Americans had already waited too long to receive equality. King said “We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now.” He then began four successive sentences with the phrase “Now is the time” (King “I Have a Dream”). By repeating this line over and over, King emphasized and imparted to his audience the same sense of urgency that he felt about African American civil rights.
Perhaps the most poignant and famous rhetorical device that King used in his speech was symbolism. This device is how the speech received its name. Towards the end of his speech, King told the audience about his “dream.” The dream was not an actual dream but a vision for the future in which “little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers” (King, “I Have a Dream”). This symbolic dream for future equality between children and all citizens, no matter their race, created the most lasting impression upon the audience and eventually became the basis for the name of the speech.
King’s “dream” was so eloquently delivered and emotionally appealing that his speech at the March on Washington became one of the most memorable speeches in American history. By using allusions to an American past that valued freedom, amplification to emphasize the points he found most important, and symbolism to impart his vision for equality, King was able to connect emotionally with his audience and convince many Americans that African Americans deserved the same rights and protections as white Americans.
Works Cited
King, Martin Luther Jr. “I Have a Dream.” March on Washington. Washington, D.C. 23 August 1963. http://www.archives.gov/press/exhibits/dream-speech.pdf. Accessed 20 October 2014.
“Official Program for the March on Washington (1963).” 100 Milestone Documents. http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=96#. Accessed 20 October 2014.
