Maverick Guillermo

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, opens his “I Have a Dream” speech with a symbolic quote as follows, “Five score years ago, a great American in whose symbolic shadow we stand, signed the Emancipation Proclamation” (403). He opens his speech by preaching President Abraham Lincoln while delivering the speech in front of Lincoln memorial. The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln on September 22, 1862 and signed on January 1^st, 1863 releasing all slaves free from the states. In the speech, Martin Luther King Jr used a very strong language and attitude towards the people. I also noticed that in the following quote “Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums” (406), he used a bit of parallelism while delivering the speech. Also in the speech, he said a very powerful quote and it goes “There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights” (404), this quote I’m sure impacted many fellow Americans because nothing will be the same until Negroes got the equality that was granted.