"American Civil Rights in the 20th Century: A Look at King's I Have a Dream, in Reference to Lincoln's Gettysburg Address "

Abstract

Martin Luther King, Jr. is an African-American civil rights activist. His entire life has been spent fighting for the Civil Rights of Black people in America. Some of King's most famous speeches are about making life better for everyone. Dr. King follows up on the Gettysburg Address legacy of the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, to deliver one of the greatest speeches of the twentieth century, I Have a Dream. This speech is filled with ideas about achieving the American dream and achieving basic Civil Rights for people of color. To clarify the theme of Civil Rights in the United States, this research first analyzes a series of literary devices in I Have a Dream, concluding that ending segregation and inhuman Jim Crow laws and creating an equal society are two major Civil Rights themes. Then, this research will draw a connection between the historical events described in the Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln and I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King, Jr..