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Ethos Pathos And Logos In Mlk's Speech

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The Memphis sanitation strike began on the day of February 12, 1968, when over 1000 black men and women when on strike because of the death of two black sanitation workers. The workers had been crushed in a garbage compressor when it malfunctioned, because that’s the only place they men were legally able to seek shelter from the rain while on the job. The mayor of Memphis at the time, Henry Loeb, declared the strike as illegal and dismissed meeting with local black leaders. Over time, the strike turned into a major civil rights battle. On April 3, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. gave I’ve Been to the Mountaintop, a speech concerning the Memphis sanitation strike at the Mason Temple church in Memphis, Tennessee. The purpose of the speech was to persuade;calling for people to …show more content…

For example, Martin Luther King says, “Before I knew it I had been stabbed by this demented woman. I was rushed to Harlem Hospital.” With the use of the facts there, he was able to lead up to one of his most powerful points in the entire speech. The passion in Martin’s speech is most definitely what made his speech the most powerful. He uses pathos to another level; the level of the people. In his speech, Dr. King says, “The cry is always the same: “We want to be free.” Then later, he says,” And so I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man!” Dr. King uses these examples of pathos to get on the level with the people and let them know that he is one of them, and that he is with him. He’s showing with those use of pathos that he is with them, and he uses it to persuade them to get together. The use of rhetorical devices in Dr. King’s speech was critical. He used allusion, anaphora, pathos and logos to persuade his audience to do influence his audience to stand with him. Dr. King was one of the best speakers in history because he used the devices very

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