Martin Luther King Jr Ethos Pathos Logos

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Have you ever wondered why Martin Luther King Jr. is celebrated? Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister and activist. He was one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement. King advanced civil rights for people of color in the United States through nonviolent ways. He led targeted, nonviolent resistance against Jim Crow laws and other forms of discrimination. Although, he was most known for his powerful speeches. The reason Martin Luther King Jr.’s speeches are so powerful is that he used ethos, logos, and pathos. First, Martin Luther King Jr. uses ethos! This makes his speeches reassured by some sort of authority or figure. One example, I when he says “five score years ago” this is a reference to Abraham Lincon’s Gettysburg AddressSpeech. Furthermore, this makes his speeches a little more credible because that line makes people think of the Gettysburg Address. This shows, using a line that references or uses a …show more content…

uses pathos! Martin Luther King using pathos helped his speeches become more emotional, heartwarming, and moving. An example of this is when Martin Luther King Jr. says “I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of “interposition” and “nullification”-- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers” It is a very moving statement when Mr. King says this because it is talking about these children who want to be together and talking about how vicious racists are in Alabama, this making people want the change. This shows, that having emotional, and moving statements will be able to have people moved and side with one. Overall, Martin Luther King Jr. uses pathos to move people and make them feel what he is feeling and maybe change opinions or make someone feel even stronger about what he is fighting

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