Marian Anderson Speech - Essay Example

MARIAN ANDERSON SPEECH By Ghaliah Mufti Rational: In this essay I am going to present a speech as if it was by Marian Anderson where she reflects on Martin Luther King Jr. speech ‘I have a Dream’ and how the word choice and language that King used affect people. In the speech, I am going to write a short introduction about the life of Marian Anderson, explaining who she was, how she struggled for being a black woman and what she was doing at the Lincoln Memorial. Then I am going to write about Martin Luther King Jr speech, explaining the wordings or ideas it emphasized and the meaning behind them. Also explaining how his dreams about freedom directly related to the American dream. Moreover I am going to explain why King used examples in his speech and why the first document he mentions is the Emancipation Proclamation. Furthermore, I am going to explain why he uses repetition in his speech and the contrasting words he uses. In addition I will explain his use of negative and positive metaphors in his speech. I will then conclude by showing that Martin Luther King Jr speech fulfilled its purpose and how if influenced American people in a positive way. The Audience and contents of the Speech The audience is everybody who struggles for the rights of blacks and women rights. Speech includes introduction, where Marian talks about her life. Introduction is followed by two passages devoted to Martin Luther King Jr speech and what Marian was feeling listening to it. The conclusion presents Marian’s opinion about the Speech and its influence. Purpose of the Speech To explain the influence of Martin Luther King Jr speech on Americans Introduction I was born on February, 27, 1897 in Philadelphia. My early life was full of struggles as I was forced to withdraw from school and had to do menial jobs. With the assistance of the church and community, I was enrolled for voice classes as I wanted to pursue the singing career dream. I applied to the all-white Philadelphia Music Academy, but was turned down because I was black. I caught a break when I won a singing competition sponsored by the New York Philharmonic. By the late 1930s, I was giving about 70 performances a year in the US, but still encountered racism, and was not allowed to play in some venues: in 1939 the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused to allow me to perform at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. On August 28th, 1963, more than 250,000 people from across the United States gathered in Washington DC to take part in peaceful protest against racial segregation and demand equal rights legislation from Congress. This can be considered as the most important events that occurred with the African-Americans on Easter weekend. I climbed the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to give a free concert. The dream of Martin Luther King Jr I think that it was so effective, that four years later the DAR formally apologized and invited me to perform at Constitution Hall. I was on highs with the crowd who participated for the Civil Rights Movement. In the same event Martin Luther King Jr gave out the speech .It was evident that he wanted to make the crowd aware of their present scenarios and the inequalities that are prevailing all across the United Nations. His speech I have a Dream for jobs and freedom was one of the most powerful, influential and historically important speeches of our time. With the way he started the speech the people found it related to the experiences that they were going through. When the leader of the movement stands in support of their civil rights and motivate them towards the freedom, then we can see the revolution that takes place in an effective manner. He emphasizes the phrases at the beginning of the sentences like the “One hundred years later”, “Let freedom ring” and so forth. The repetition of “Let freedom ring” is used to make the speech memorable. The phrase would last long in the minds of the individual. They would recollect the speech and this would help them to enlighten their spirit of freedom. “I Have a Dream”. This directly relates to the freedom of every individual and is aptly used to keep up the momentum. King uses the examples to demonstrate the condition of black people and the way they are treated indifferently by the whites. It stresses upon the “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” and that he wished to live in the place “where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” He reminded about the promissory note being signed and had been defaulted by the Americans, which clearly points out the legal right, which is taken away from the blacks. This brings awareness to the crowd about their right to freedom. The theme of the speech is to work together and to bring freedom. So in the speech, the theme word is repeated several times like freedom (20 times) and dreams (11 times). King uses relatively generic geographic references to make his message more inclusive as “slums and ghettos of our northern cities.” King also uses contrasting words to represent the present and what are his dreams for the futures. His use of words such as “captivity”, “poverty”, “exile”, “persecution” and “despair” which are negative words to describe the lives of African- Americans in the past and present day. He contrast these words with positive ones like "freedom," "justice," faith" and "hope" to what he hopes that world of African American in the future would be. With the positive words he gives hope to the African Americans of their bright future ahead of them. King’s dream and the American Dream King relates his ‘dream’ with a historical parallel aim and links it with the ‘American Dream’: “and so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.” This persuasive attempt shows the effective speech formulated by King. Martin Luther King uses of both negative and positive metaphors to contrast the racial situation in the country in the past and present and hopefully in the future. For example he uses "signing the promissory note" referring to the promise that was given to all Americans that they are all guaranteed the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. His uses negative metaphors such "a bad check" refers to the promise that was not fulfilled, the promise that was written on the Constitute and Declaration of Independence. King also uses "A desert state" referring to the state of Mississippi to show that it is the most affected with racial injustice. On the other hand, King uses some positive metaphors reflecting the future of African Americans. As for black American, it was very pleasant for me to hear them. He uses metaphors like “table of brotherhood” to show the unity of all Americans African American and Whites. King also uses "the crooked places will be made straight" to show that there will be equality in the future. "An oasis of freedom and justice", which King used to show that the time will come when there will be no racial injustice, especially in the state of Mississippi. Conclusion No I have already made sure that the speech Martin Luther King delivered had profound effect on the lives of the people and had tremendous success. With the revolutionary speech King was called Times Magazine’s Man of the Year 1963 and was the youngest person to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. This had an impact and the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965. From the above it is clear that Martin Luther King Jr performance at the Lincoln Memorial was remarkable and the moral aspects of it caused a national reconciliation and acknowledgment of racial inequality. As an African-American singer, I personally felt the influence of that speech and I am very proud that I had a chance to listen to it. Rational (should be 200-300 words): Add:- 1) link to Part 3 2) Audience 3)purpose of the speech 4)context of the speech Essay: 800-1000 words • Make it more personal to Marian Anderson, being that she was African American. • Why she chose to write about this particular speech. • Make it sound more like a speech, as I want it to be one. • Develop conclusion. Bibliography Brite, Kristine 2009. Formal Outline for a Speech about Marian Anderson, Yahoo! Inc. Shine and Lifestyles Network. Available through: HYPERLINK "http://voices.yahoo.com/formal-outline-speech-marian-anderson-2670628.html?cat=23" http://voices.yahoo.com/formal-outline-speech-marian-anderson-2670628.html?cat=23[Accessed 20 July 2012]. Dlugan, Andrew 2009,Speech Analysis: I Have a Dream – Martin Luther King Jr. Speech Transcript. Available through: HYPERLINK "http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/speech-analysis-dream-martin-luther-king/" http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/speech-analysis-dream-martin-luther-king/ [Accessed 20 July 2012]. Holland, Jesse 2007, Balck Men Built the Capitol, Discovering African –American History in and around Washington D.C. Connecticut: Liberty of Congress Cataloging. Available through: HYPERLINK "http://books.google.co.in/books?id=eest66wNX2UC&pg=PA35&dq=marian+anderson+speech+I+have+a+dream&hl=en&sa=X&ei=NUYKUJeyJsHVrQfj-oTICA&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=free%20concert&f=false" http://books.google.co.in/books?id=eest66wNX2UC&pg=PA35&dq=marian+anderson+speech+I+have+a+dream&hl=en&sa=X&ei=NUYKUJeyJsHVrQfj-oTICA&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=free%20concert&f=false Moore, Andrew 2003, Language and Power. Bristol. ZigZag Education and Computing Centre Publications. Available through: HYPERLINK "http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/lang/power.htm" http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/lang/power.htm[Accessed 20 July 2012]. Tuck, Stephen 2010, We ain’t what we Ought to Be, The Black Freedom struggle from emancipation to Obama, The Civil Rights Movement.USA: Liberty of Congress Cataloging. Available through: HYPERLINK "http://books.google.co.in/books?id=aFcfE7BcAgIC&pg=PA316&dq=understanding+of+martin+luthers+speech+by+marian+anderson&hl=en&sa=X&ei=TVMKULGuGof4rQfgztDICA&ved=0CGMQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=%201964%20&f=false" http://books.google.co.in/books?id=aFcfE7BcAgIC&pg=PA316&dq=understanding+of+martin+luthers+speech+by+marian+anderson&hl=en&sa=X&ei=TVMKULGuGof4rQfgztDICA&ved=0CGMQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=%201964%20&f=false We shall overcome, Inspiration. Smithsonian Folkways. Pinterst. Available through: HYPERLINK "http://pinterest.com/smithsofolkways/inspiration/" http://pinterest.com/smithsofolkways/inspiration/ [Accessed 20 July 2012]. Read More