Read the excerpt from Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symboli
c shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon 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 still is not free. Why does Dr. King's allude to the Emancipation Proclamation in his speech? The allusion demonstrates Dr. King's belief that equality was achieved with the Emancipation Proclamation. The allusion reflects Dr. King's importance since it refers to another important figure in American history: President Lincoln. The allusion indicates to the audience that slavery was always illegal in the United States. The allusion reminds the audience that 100 years have passed since the Emancipation Proclamation, yet inequality still exists.
Answer: The allusion reminds the audience that 100 years have passed since the Emancipation Proclamation, yet inequality still exists.
Explanation:
The Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln was an Executive Order made in 1863 freeing all slaves in the Confederacy which should have had the effect of giving them equality in society.
Dr. King is decrying the fact that a hundred years after that Proclamation was made, the people who it was supposed to free were still being viewed through the eyes of racial inferiority and were therefore considered unequal in society.
