Below is an excerpt from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. What sort of tone would you use if you were to read
his speech out loud? Why would you use that tone? "I Have a Dream" Speech (excerpt)
Aug. 28, 1963
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic 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 captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an shameful condition.
What is the apparent purpose of the speech I have a dream? The apparent purpose of King's speech is to get the black people their rights of freedom, equality, and justice avoiding racial injustice based on the color of skin.
