And The Doctor Prescribes....

The political and social atmosphere of the early 1960’s in the United States was riddled with tension and frustration. The failures of reconstruction in the post Civil War era had led Americans to grant the Black population only partial freedom. The Blacks were only free in the physical sense but were still bound by social, economic, and political slavery to the dominating Whites. This was an issue that the Black population no longer let stand, and sensing the social and political climate the time was ripe for change. They began to demonstrate, to boycott, and to hold sit-ins, in hopes of influencing their fellow White citizens to change for a more equal society. These demonstrations culminated in 1963 on what is now called “The March on Washington.” Over 200,000 people marched to the Lincoln Monument to hear the historic speech given by, civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr. In his speech, entitled “I Have a Dream,” Martin Luther King Jr. tries to persuade the general White population to treat Blacks as equals by using allusions to American history.

Dr. King uses allusions in his speech to better establish common ground and bolster his ethos when addressing his audience. Dr. King first starts out his speech with “five score years ago” this is a reference to the Gettysburg Address given by President Abraham Lincoln. This particular allusion does a number of things; first, it brings the audience into common ground with Dr. King. Both he and his audience understand the greatness of President Lincoln and the equal greatness and importance that the Civil War had upon the country. This one allusion immediately gets Dr. King and his audience onto the same page, the topic of freedom, and this one line also appeals to the audiences’ pathos in reminding them of the emotions associated with such a dark period in American history. By using this one allusion Dr. King ingeniously guides his audience into applying their feelings and emotions about the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln to current plight of granting basic civil rights to the Black population. By using the eloquence of this one quote Dr. King also establishes his ethos to his audience as well. The audience immediately recognizes Dr. King’s use of this one quote and they will inevitably recognize him to be a man that is educated enough to understand and utilize this quote. Dr. King is able to employ the use of allusion to help bring his audience to common ground and establish his ethos to better convince the Whites treat the Blacks as equals.

In the end, Dr. King’s use of rhetoric, and more specifically the rhetorical tool of allusion, allowed him to influence the decisions and feelings of his audience. His ability to use allusions to get him and his audience on common ground enabled Dr. King to more easily sway his audience using appeals to their emotions, and establishing his own ethos. Dr. King gives a magnificent speech that is a paragon for all rhetorical speeches. It was effective in spreading the awareness of the Civil Rights Movement and political action throughout the nation that only a year later major civil rights legislations were passed.