Transcript MLK Jr. and Malcolm X

MLK Jr. and
Malcolm X
LESSONS IN MAKING SPEECHES
The Synthesis Essay Prompt:
Using documents from both King Jr. and Malcolm X, discuss how they
persuade their audiences to their goals and how their use of rhetoric
reinforces their message and appeals to their audience.
Brainstorm 3 potential points that you can
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Discuss the differing goals of the competing leaders
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Examine specific themes/concepts/calls to action
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Identify multiple examples of support from multiple sources
(preparing to weave the writer’s points)
Timeline of the Civil Rights
Movements
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19th Century: The Emancipation Debates: From 1830 through the
Civil War, Black activists and community leaders met in local, state,
and national conventions to discuss their views on ending slavery
and improving the lives of Black people.
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20th Century: The Self-Determination Debates: Part of the debate
was over how Blacks who remained in the south could "catch up"
with the north. This gave energy to the civil rights movement. Part of
the debate was over economic issues of jobs and housing and
involved both Black capitalists and workers. This ignited an
ideological throw down over capitalism and socialism.
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The Glorious 1960s: A Golden Age of Struggle: The fight for reform,
even when successful, leads to a continuation of oppression in new
forms. Everywhere the watchword became revolution, from Paris to
Peking, from Mozambique to Mississippi.
Civil Rights Movement
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When most people think of the Civil Rights Movement in America,
they think of Martin Luther King, Jr. Delivering his "I Have a Dream"
speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963 and
receiving the Nobel Peace Prize the following year secured his fame
as the voice of non-violent, mass protest in the 1960s.
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But "the Movement" achieved its greatest results—the 1964 Civil
Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act—due to the competing
strategies and agendas of diverse individuals. Even black
Americans, the primary beneficiaries of this landmark legislation, did
not agree on the tactics that should be used to secure the equal
protection of their rights.
Civil Rights Groups and Inequality
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There was little consensus on how to promote equality on a national level: groups such as the
NAACP, CORE, and Dr. Martin Luther King’s SCLC, endorsed peaceful methods and believed
change could be affected by working around the established system
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Other groups such as the Black Panthers, the Nation of Islam, and the Black Nationalist Movement
advocated retaliatory violence and a separation of the races.
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There were numerous marches, rallies, strikes, riots, and violent confrontations with the police.
National leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X would be assassinated, violence
would claim the lives of young and old, and rigged all-white juries mocked justice in cases involving
crimes perpetrated by whites against African Americans.
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Restaurants, hotels, night clubs, public facilities, and the school systems were still segregated during
the early sixties, and educational and job opportunities for minorities were far below those available
to the white majority.
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The African-American community, being in the minority, depended on the support of the white
population, and at least in terms of sentiment, those caught up in the spirit of the hippie movement
took the cause of racial justice and equality to heart, and often to the streets.
MLK Jr.
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Martin Luther King, Jr. first came to national prominence through his
leadership of the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955-56, which helped
desegregate public transportation in Montgomery, Alabama.
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A gifted preacher and committed pacifist, King thought that nonviolent, direct action against racial segregation provided the best
means of securing the full integration of blacks into the mainstream
of American life.
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As he wrote in his famous "Letter from Birmingham Jail," "I have
consistently preached that nonviolence demands that the means
we use must be as pure as the ends we seek."
Malcolm X
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It was precisely the white population of America that Malcolm X
took issue with in the years he served as chief spokesman for the
Nation of Islam (sometimes referred to as the Black Muslims).
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Believing that blacks were God's chosen people, Malcolm X
preached that they should separate from whites, who were
destined for divine punishment because of their longstanding
oppression of blacks. As he once remarked, "You don't integrate
with a sinking ship."
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Whites had proven they were long on professing and short on
practicing their ideals of equality and freedom, and so Malcolm X
thought only a separate nation for blacks could provide the basis for
their self-improvement and advancement as a people.
Persuading a National Audience:
“I Have a Dream”
5 Key Speech Techniques
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Anaphora: Emphasize phrases by repeating at the beginning of
sentences
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Repeat key “theme” words throughout your speech
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Utilize appropriate quotations or allusions
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Use specific examples to “ground” your arguments
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Use metaphors to highlight contrasting concepts
Lesson One: Anaphora/Repetition
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“I have a dream” is repeated in eight successive sentences, and is one
of the most often cited examples of anaphora in modern rhetoric. But
this is just one of eight occurrences of anaphora in this speech. By order
of introduction, here are the key phrases:
“One hundred years later…” [paragraph 3]
“Now is the time…” [paragraph 6]
“We must…” [paragraph 8]
“We can never (cannot) be satisfied…” [paragraph 13]
“Go back to…” [paragraph 14]
“I Have a Dream…” [paragraphs 16 through 24]
“With this faith, …” [paragraph 26]
“Let freedom ring (from) …” [paragraphs 27 through 41]
Lesson Two: Repeat Key “Theme”
Words Throughout Your Speech
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freedom (20 times)
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we (30 times), our (17 times), you (8 times)
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nation (10 times), america (5 times), american (4 times)
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justice (8 times) and injustice (3 times)
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dream (11 times)
Lesson Three: Utilize Appropriate
Quotations or Allusions
Consider that King is delivering his speech on the Mall in Washington D.C.
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“Five score years ago…” [paragraph 2] refers to Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg
Address speech which began
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“Four score and seven years ago…” This allusion is particularly poignant given
that King was speaking in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
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“Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” [and the rest of paragraph 4] is a
reference to the United States Declaration of Independence.
Lesson Three: Biblical Allusions
Numerous Biblical allusions provide the moral basis for King’s arguments and solidify his ethos:
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“It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.” [paragraph 2] alludes to
Psalms 30:5 “For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the
night, but joy comes with the morning.“
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“Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.”
[paragraph 8] evokes Jeremiah 2:13 “for my people have committed two evils: they have
forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns
that can hold no water.“
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No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, and
righteousness like a mighty stream. Amos 5:24 “But let judgment run down as waters, and
righteousness as a mighty stream.”
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It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. Psalm 30:5 “… weeping may
endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”
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And when this happens, . . . we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children,
black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join
hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor
Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ
Jesus.”
Lesson Four: Use specific examples
to “ground” your arguments
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One way that Martin Luther King Jr. accomplishes this is to make numerous geographic references
throughout the speech:
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Mississippi, New York [paragraph 13]
[14]
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Georgia [18] Mississippi [19]
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New Hampshire [32], New York [33], Pennsylvania [34], Colorado [35], California [36], Georgia [37],
Tennessee [38], Mississippi [39]
Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana
Alabama [22]
Note that Mississippi is mentioned on four separate occasions. This is not accidental; mentioning
Mississippi would evoke some of the strongest emotions and images for his audience.
Additionally, King uses relatively generic geographic references to make his message more inclusive:
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“slums and ghettos of our northern cities” [paragraph 14]
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“the South” [25]
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“From every mountainside” [40]
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“from every village and every hamlet” [41]
Lesson Five: Use Metaphors to
Highlight Contrasting Concepts
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For example, to contrast segregation with racial justice, King evokes the
contrasting metaphors of dark and desolate valley (of segregation) and sunlit
path (of racial justice.)
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“joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity” [paragraph 2]
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“the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of
material prosperity” [3]
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“rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial
justice” [6]
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“This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until
there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.” [7]
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“sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of
freedom and justice.” [19]
Consider also the extended analogy of the check and the banking terminology
that is used to build the analogy
Letter from Birmingham Religious
Leaders
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What are their claims against King’s involvement?
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How do they characterize the local government, police and
community leaders?
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How is their religious professions serve their letter to King Jr.?
Questions to Consider: Letter from
Birmingham Jail
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Does King consider himself an “outsider” by staging a civil rights protest in
Birmingham? List three reasons he gives in response to this criticism.
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Explain the four-step process King outlines for their nonviolent campaign.
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Does King recognize the danger of breaking laws in order to change them? How
does he connect the means of civil disobedience with its aim in order to justify this
form of nonviolent resistance?
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Does King think the tension stirred up by his protest movement helps or hinders
social and political reform?
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How does King respond to the charge that he is an extremist? Whom does he
identify as the real extremists?
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Why is King hopeful about the prospects for equal rights for black Americans? Give
specific examples and reasons he mentions to support your answer.
Malcolm X: Biography
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Malcolm X had an array of many different viewpoints in his lifetime. From
the young boy he started out as, to the grown man he came to be, his
point of views were always in stark contrast to the more “accepted”
ideologies at the time.
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Malcolm X reached his greatest level of leadership in the 1960's. He was the
ideological leader for Black radicalism: Black religion (spirituality and
morality), Black nationalism (institution building and collective action),
Panafricanism (identity and internationalism), and Socialism
(freedom/justice/ equality and anti-imperialism).
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Even as Malcolm X’s own ideologies began to change over time,
specifically after his break from Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam,
and after his break; it is quite simple to see that Malcolm X himself was a
self-taught scholar who was always searching for the right way, among
wrong ways, to do things.
Malcolm X: Message to the
Grassroots
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What does Malcolm X think the goal of any revolution should be?
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How does Malcolm X justify violence as a means for black
Americans to improve themselves?
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According to Malcolm X, what is the difference between a “Negro”
revolution and a “black” revolution?
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According to Malcolm X, what are “Uncle Toms” and how do they
slow progress for blacks in America?
Message: Logical Fallacies and
Rhetorical Strategies
Paragraph 1
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False Dichotomy (creates Only two extremes): White and Non-White
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Diction (Word Choice): And during the few moments that we have
left, we want to have just an off-the-cuff chat between you and me
-- us.
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Amplification (repeating a word, adding more information):
“problem”
Message: Paragraphs 2, 3, 4
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Bandwagon Appeal (Building an US—everyone is doing it): What you and I need to do is
learn to forget our differences. When we come together, we don't come together as
Baptists or Methodists
Anaphora (Repetition of beginning of sentence): You don't catch hell 'cause you're a
Enumeration (detailing parts, causes, effects): “So we are all black people, so-called
Negroes, second-class citizens, ex-slaves.”/ “You came here on a slave ship -- in chains,
like a horse, or a cow, or a chicken.”
Hypophora (asking a question in order to answer it): But what else are you? You are exslaves. You didn't come here on the "Mayflower." You came here on a slave ship
Allusion (reference to history, literature, etc.): Mayflower, Pilgrims, Founding Fathers
Amplification: “common”
Overgeneralization: the white man. He's an enemy to all of us. I know some of you all think
that some of them aren't enemies. Time will tell.
Paragraphs 5, 6, 7
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Allusion: Bandung Conference
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Anaphora: Some of them were
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Parallelism: was being colonized by/ didn't have nuclear weapons; they
didn't have jet planes; they didn't have all of the heavy armaments that the
white man has. But they had unity.
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Hasty Generalization (leads you to a conclusion by providing insufficient
evidence): Once they excluded the white man, they found that they could
get together. Once they kept him out, everybody else fell right in and fell in
line
Paragraph 8
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False Analogy (creating a misleading comparison between two
things): Does the comparison between colonization/imperialism in
Africa and Asia= same problems in the United States for non-whites.
Solving “black” problems in private= similar to family solving
problems
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Amplification: same man
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Ad Hominem (At the man)—attacking an argument by attacking
the person: “blue eyes and blond hair and pale skin—same man”
Ballot or the Bullet: Malcolm X
Define (as the term is used in the Speech):
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Americanism
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Black nationalism
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The ballot
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The bullet
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Choose a line from the 3 opening Paragraphs and explain how that
line sets a particular TONE for Malcolm X’s speech.
Ballot or the Bullet: Argumentation
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Why does X open his speech with a discussion of his religion? (Choose 2 details from the
speech which help to explain the connection you see between X’s religious ideas and the
struggle for Civil Rights)
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Malcolm uses anaphora. Explain what the function of his use of this device is in the section of
the speech.
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Identify a rhetorical strategy used by Malcolm X and explain its connection to his overall
ARGUMENT
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Explain how the discussion of Black Nationalism impacts/supports/explains X’s PURPOSE in his
speech.
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Towards the end of the speech, X begins to explore the connection between human rights
and civil rights. Summarize his position about how the two relate, using 2-3 quotes as
supporting evidence.
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Choose two examples of how Malcolm X’s rhetoric and language differs from that of MLK Jr.
and explain WHY he chooses to speak/argue differently, connecting this to HOW these
strategies are intended to work on his AUDIENCE.