2
MLK, "I Have a Dream" Speech
Double click to edit
Martin Luther King, "I Have a Dream" (1963)
Overview of today's class
Historical context of the March on Washington and the speech
What makes King's speech a speech?
King's engagement with history and historical context
Use of metaphor and anaphora
"Letter From a Birmingham Jail" (1963)
Written on scraps of newspaper and toilet paper and smuggled out of jail
The letter, coupled with media images that showed the treatment of non-violent protestors in Birmingham, helped galvanize the March on Washington
The Structures of a Speech
The language of a speech is different than an essay or letter
1) Must be engaging: use of repetition to keep attention and drive the point home
2) Direct address to an audience: Specific enough to elicit a reaction and vague enough to include everyone
Examples: "some of you," "we"
3) Think about how MLK delivers the speech: breathing, dramatic pauses, space for applause
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon of light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.
How are references to history deployed in the first three paragraphs of the speech?
How does King underscore the importance of the March on Washington?
"Four Score"
"Five Score and Seven Years"
Score = 20
Continuum of history:
1776: Declaration of Independence
1863: Emancipation Proclamation
1963: March on Washington
MLK sets up a continuity between the present day and the situation of enslaved Black people prior to emancipation.
In 1963, when he delivers his "I Have a Dream" speech, he wants to make clear that slavery continues by other means.
"manacles"
"chains"
Jan 1, 1863: Emancipation Proclamation
1865: 13th Amendment officially ended Slavery
1865-1868: Black Codes in Southern States (and some Northern ones)
- Essentially replacements for slave codes
- Denied Black people equal rights, including the right to vote, the right to public education, and the right to equal treatment under the law
- Continuity of forced labor through criminalization of Black people
- Vagrancy statutes -> in all Southern states, Black people were criminalized if they could not prove they were employed at any given moment
1865-1933: Convict leasing system
- As a result of this criminalization, many Black people were forced to work on the chain gang under slavery-like conditions
- In the 13th, slavery is abolished except as part of punishment for a crime
1865 onward:
Birth of the KKK (Klu Klux Klan)
Extrajudicial lynching of Black people widespread throughout the south
Woodrow Wilson, President between 1913-21
Big supporter of KKK
Charlottesville, 2017
Jim Crow Segregation
1870s-1965
Enshrined the legal doctrine of "separate but equal" in Southern states
Segregation in public facilities (schools, transportation, etc) that were maintained poorly
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
100 years later...
Aug 28, 1963: March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
Recap from Monday
"Letter from a Birmingham Jail" (1963):
- How MLK answers his critics by summarizing their points and showing what their argument misses/forgets
- Critique of white moderates, "men of genuine good will" and their "appalling silence" on matters of injustice
- The letter foregrounds the idea that justice for Black Americans can no longer be ignored
King's speech
Two senses of history and time
1) History as a series of important events that transform the nation, world, lives of the people --> we remember history through its events
This sense of historical time is important for King to emphasize the significance of "today," this day in 1963, will be a turning point for Black Americans
2) History as continuity, as unchanging from the perspective of Black Americans --> "100 years later" Black Americans are still not free
This sense of historical time is important because it introduces perspective into history and makes the case that freedom for Black Americans is long overdue
How does King continue to make the case that freedom is long overdue and that action can no longer be deferred?
Use of Metaphor
"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 Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the 'unalienable Rights' of 'Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.' It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check that has come back marked 'insufficient funds.'"
"And so, we've come here to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice."
Use of Anaphora
"We have come also come here to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to he solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children."
"March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom"
King's metaphors of the bank of justice and cashing checks were also a more specific reminder of economic injustice -> indeed, this was one of the central aims of the march, though it is often forgotten
Not just a demand for equal rights under the law but a demand for economic justice and equality for everyone, including free healthcare, access to fair housing, a minimum wage, and welfare benefits
King understood that racial justice without economic justice would mean that Black Americans -- and indeed, all poor Americans -- would not achieve full equality
Group activity (5-10 mins)
In groups of 3-4, find examples of metaphor and anaphora in King's speech
Explain how these formal devices impact the argument that King is trying to communicate.
King's Dream
How does King engage the "American Dream"?
The American Dream: a national "myth"
Binds together the nation as an imagined community
No bullets in the heroes. & no one kills the black boy. & no one kills the black boy. & no one kills the black boy. Besides, the only reason I want to make this is for that first scene anyway: the little black boy on the bus with a toy dinosaur, his eyes wide & endless
his dreams possible, pulsing, & right there.
-- Danez Smith, Dinosaurs in the Hood
Tone: The general attitude of a piece of writing
How does King's tone change throughout his speech? How does it build? Are there moments where the speech gets more heated? Moments when it is calmer?