On August 28th, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. made one of the greatest and most powerful speeches at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. The "I Have a Dream" speech was given at a very dark time in history, where minorities were struggling to find their equality and fight segregation and discrimination in America. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a speech filled with hope and visions for the future for the black community and helped them pursue their nonviolent civil rights movement.

A powerful tool Dr. King used was making historical references to make his point stand out in his speech. We see this in the first part of his speech when he refers to the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation was a document, signed by Abraham Lincoln, which declared all slaves in the south were free now. Dr. King used this specific reference not only to make the audience aware that America freed all the slaves on January 1st, 1863, but to make it known that it was one hundred years ago. In his speech, he continues to say "But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free". This is eye opening for the audience because it has been over 100 years and African Americans and other minorities still have not achieved equality. Even though the Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves in 1863, black were still not free and there were obvious signs of inequality and unfair treatment. They were still not allowed to go to school with white people, eat at white restaurants, drink out of the same water fountains, and sit in certain areas and plenty more examples. Dr. King didn't want to just be free; he wanted to be equal, in all ways. He dreamed of being equal and not having skin color be a barrier. 

 Dr. King also refers to the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence and the great men who signed it "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". He is trying to make the audience, especially white men, realize that America is becoming worse the longer racism and unequal treatment goes on. These two documents that United States of America was built on were not being upheld and he made it clear that things needed to change. At this point in the speech, he makes directs his speech to the white community. Dr. King's solution to the racism, segregation, and discrimination was that the white community needed to make the change because they are the ones who are oppressing everyone else and it is their responsibility to become accepting of other communities. Although when the speech was given the audience was a majority of black people, this speech was intended to have a larger audience. The speech drew the attention of many different types people, and it was supposed to. He not only wanted to direct this speech to the black community and other minorities, but also the entire white community because they were the ones who were oppressing everyone else. Once the white community got involved and helped make a change, racism would not be an issue.

Dr. King used other rhetorical devices such as repetition. The most obvious example of repetition is "I have a dream". He uses this to tell the audience of his many dreams that he envisions for United States of America when everyone is equal. This is a smart phrase to repeat because everyone in the audience has a dream for the future. King is sharing his dreams and they are very simple, realistic dreams. For example, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character". This dream is not unattainable and gives the audience a feeling that if everyone unites and works together, this dream is achievable. Another phrase he repeats is "one hundred years later" in the first part of the speech. This just shows the audience that it is ridiculous that after one hundred years of Americans achieving great and remarkable things, minorities still don't have equal rights.

After King's speech, America responded quickly and effectively. The black community started to amp up their protests and became stronger in numbers. MLK's face and words were everywhere as a constant reminder of the future of equality. Dr. King was a non-violent activist so all the protests that were conducted had less aggression and the communities all worked together to achieve the same goal. Everyone knew that after his speech there would not be instant results but it was now possible with someone leading them in a peaceful and positive way. Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech and dreams made the idea of equality much more tangible. In his speech, he dreams that "one day right here in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers." This gives parents hope that if they fight for equality in their country that one day their children will be friends with children of other races and not care what color their skin is. It gives everyone a dream that two races can come together and not look at each other and not only see skin. After some time, white people started to come around to the idea of equality for all skin color and started to protest with them. This was a huge step in making America better because it showed that the communities were starting to come together. When white people started to protest for equality, it showed how tangible this dream was.

Martin Luther King Jr. impacted so many people's lives with this speech. He was one of the strongest, well-known civil rights activist who made a change and improved race relationships in America. Dr. King tried to prevent violent acts and wanted to spread his ideology that all people should come together and work as one rather than working against each other to achieve something. The civil rights leader was assassinated years later after another activist speech. His powerful "I Had a Dream" speech, and many others, and his assassination created a huge response by his audience. The civil rights movement gained momentum exponentially and grew stronger for years to come.  The civil rights movement was the largest movement in American history, all brought on by a man and his dream. 

