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Assignment #1: MLK ANALYSIS & CRITIQUE. YOU MUST COMPLETE THIS PAPER FIRST IN ORDER TO BE ABLE TO COMPLETE ASSIGNMENT #2! Your paper should be, at minimum, 500 words long. Please put your word count at the top by your name! I encourage you to read through the full text transcript of his speech BEFORE you watch it. You can find it in the appendix of our textbook.
To complete the assignment you must watch the full/complete 17 minute version Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I47Y6VHc3Ms

Assignment #2: PERSUASION. You must complete assignment #1 before you will be able to complete assignment #2. Your paper should be, at minimum, 350 words long. Please put your word count at the top by your name.

MLK’s “I Have a Dream” Speech Analysis & Critique

For this assignment you are to view and critique Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. I encourage you to read the full text of the speech a couple of times before watching it (this can be found in the appendix of your textbook.) Here is some background/context for the speech.

Most important events throughout history are marked by someone giving a speech. We can’t go back in time to 1963, but by watching Dr. King’s speech we can better understand our past, which helps us make more sense of the present, and hopefully will motivate us to work on improving our future. Don’t let the grainy footage of the video fool you, this is from a very recent part of U.S. history. There are still people alive today who lived through the civil rights movement. This speech was presented in Washington D.C. in August of 1963. 2013 marked the 50th anniversary of the speech.

Dr. King presented this speech in front of the Abraham Lincoln memorial in D.C. He deliberately chose this location as his backdrop because of Lincoln’s work in signing the Emancipation Proclamation 100 years prior in 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation changed the federal legal status of more than 3.5 million slaves to “free.” It was the first step in the process of ending slavery. The US civil war between the Northern (Union) states and the Southern (Confederate) states took place from 1881-1865. After the confederacy lost the war the constitution was ratified to make major changes in the US. In 1865, the 13th amendment formally ended and abolished slavery. In 1868, the 14th amendment reinstated slaves with “full citizenship rights” and guaranteed equal protection of the law for former slaves. In response, the southern states passed “Jim Crow” laws that allowed racism to perpetuate. “Jim Crow” laws were state and local laws that legally enforced racial segregation in public places. Yes, they created laws that made it legal to segregate people based on their race. The justification they gave for this was that it was equal treatment, aka “separate, but equal.” There would be separate water fountains, restrooms, schools, hospitals, building entrances, elevators, cemeteries, etc. This is where you would see a label of “for whites only” or “colored” to indicate who was allowed where. Clearly, we all know that “separate but equal” is in no way actually “equal.”

Dr. King, among many others, was a prominent civil rights leader and activist. He was speaking at an event taking place in Washington D.C called the “March on Washington.” It is estimated that there were between 200,000-300,000 people in attendance for his speech – not to mention all of the listeners at home hearing Dr. King’s voice booming out of their radio or TV. His approach to the civil rights movement was one of peace and non-violence. Notice that he never points the finger, yells, or displays aggressive anger during his speech. This could turn people off from listening and would undermine his goal. He was also a preacher and modeled his approach to Civil Rights after Gandhi, who helped to free India from the British rule. He was a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Dr. King begins his speech by alluding to Abraham Lincoln’s famous speech, “The Gettysburg Address.” That speech begins with “Four score and seven years ago…” Dr King states: “5 score years ago (a score is 20 years, so 5 x 20 = 100 years ago) a great American in whose symbolic shadow we stand today signed the Emancipation Proclamation. but….100 years later…” In other words, this was supposed to be sorted out 100 years ago, yet look at where we are as a country. African Americans might not be slaves any more, but they are definitely not being fairly treated in the way the Constitution has clearly stated they should be – as full citizens with equal rights and protection under U.S. laws. Dr. King’s “dream” isn’t his opinion of how the country should be operating. He is simply asking America to honor what is spelled out for us in our most important texts – the Constitution and our Declaration of Independence. America clearly isn’t upholding its most fundamental documents.

Your paper should be typed, double spaced, standard margins on all sides, 12 point, Times New Roman font. No need for a title page. Simply put your name and your word count at the top. Make sure to number your answers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. Write in complete sentences, not just words, bullet points, or phrases. Don’t re-write the questions. Proofread for major spelling/grammar issues. It is graded out of 4 points. Your paper should be, at minimum, 500 word count. MAKE SURE TO PUT YOUR WORD COUNT BY YOUR NAME AT THE TOP! IF YOU DON’T YOU WILL EARN .5 POINTS FOR DIRECTIONS. However, it can be as long as you need it to be. Please be concise.

DO NOT REFERNCE OUTSIDE SOURCES DURING YOUR PAPER. THIS SHOULD BE YOUR OWN ANALYSIS AND CRITIQUE!

1. When your purpose for speaking is to persuade, you must take into account that there are listeners who oppose your position. One way to help build relations with people who have differing viewpoints is to establish common ground with them.

In 1963 there were people in the United States who did not support MLK and the Civil Rights movement. In his speech he uses a metaphor about coming to the nation's capital to “cash a check.” This “check” promised that “All men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” He goes on to say: “But America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.’ But we refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.”

-Explain how/why MLK’s metaphor describing being given a “bad check” is meant to help establish common ground with all Americans. (*Think about a check from a surface level and a deeper level. What does this “check” really represent?)

2. An allusion is a reference to a well-known person, place, event, or literary work. MLK makes allusions to phrases and language from important texts such as the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, and the song “My Country ‘tis of Thee.”

-For what reason(s) do you think he made references to these texts in his speech?

3. MLK repeats phrases such as: “now is the time,” “I have a dream,” and “let freedom ring” a number of times. -Why do you think he chose to repeat and emphasize parts of his speech? What effect does repetition of a message have?

4. Describe the speaker’s nonverbal delivery. Discuss the use of his BODY

- Personal appearance (How is he dressed/groomed? Why?)

- Eye Contact (Beginning vs. ending - What kind of change do you notice? When does it happen? Why do you think it happens?)

- Posture/ stance (any distracting movement or mannerisms?)

- When do you see gestures show up? What form do they come in?

- Facial expressions (what kind of look/expression does he have?)

5. Describe the speaker’s nonverbal delivery. Discuss the use of his VOICE. NOT his words!

- Volume and rate (Examine the differences between the beginning and the ending of the speech.)

- Pauses (When does he use them? Why does he use them?)

- Tone/emotion (What kind of emotion do you hear in his voice?)

6. As MLK speaks, he is steadily building toward his powerful ending.

-What is the effect of building towards and ending on such a strong note? Why do you think he ended the speech in this way?

-How did he want his audience to feel upon concluding his speech? How did you feel?

***Sadly, sometimes when you stand up for a cause as big as Civil Rights you become a target for people trying to stop you. Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee is 1968. His legacy, however, lives on. One year after his 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. This landmark federal legislation made it illegal for individual states to discriminate on the basis of age, sex, race, religion, and national origin. This helped to finally put an end to the Jim Crow style behavior of the Southern states. I encourage you to check out other speeches of Dr. King’s online.

Quality/Quantity- Reflects understanding of the material, includes relevant content, is well organized and easy to follow. How thoroughly do you answer the questions? Do you meet the minimum word count requirement?

Directions – If you don’t include your word count you will earn a zero for directions.

Spelling / Grammar

2 Good – Thorough in both quality and quantity

1 Follows all directions

1 Free from error

1 Fair – Issues with quality and/or quantity

0 Doesn’t follow all

0 Errors

0 Poor – Major issues with quality and/or quantity

directions