Short-Response Q's
What idea is King trying to convey when he says that "unearned suffering is redemptive"?
That those who have been suffering will eventually be rewarded.
Without referring to the text, what is the most important phrase of repetition in King's speech?
I have a dream!
What does King mean when he refers to the African-American as an "exile in his own land"?
An exile is a person who has been sent away from their homeland. King uses "exile" to show how African Americans lived during that time, which was surrounded yet excluded.
Parallelism or repetition at the beginning of the sentence?
"We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.
We cannot be satisfied as long as the colored person’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.
We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating “for white only.”
We cannot be satisfied as long as a colored person in Mississippi cannot vote and a colored person in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote."
Repetition.
"We can/cannot... be satisfied as long as..."
How can you spot an analogy?
When two unlike things are being compared to explain a point or meaning.
Where is the charged language?
"Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you, my friends, we have the difficulties of today and tomorrow."
Wallow... despair...
Reread paragraph 6, what vision does King have for change?
Dr. King stresses the immediate need for change, highlighting "the fierce urgency of NOW" to rise from segregation and racial injustice, rejecting the "luxury of cooling off" or the "tranquilizing drug of gradualism."
How can words inspire change? What have you learned about the power of words by reading this speech? Think about the ending of the speech.
To get FULL POINTS, reference how someone would react or respond in action to hearing this speech.
Explain.
Parallelism or repetition?
"With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to climb up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day."
Parallelism!
"With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to climb up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day."
Which is not an analogy?
A. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.
B. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by their character.
C. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
B. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by their character.
Pick at least two pieces of charged language!
"I would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of it’s colored citizens. This sweltering summer of the colored people’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality."
Fatal... sweltering... discontent... invigorating... freedom
1. What "great American" is King talking about in Paragraph 2?
2. What did that person do that was so important?
3. How is this relevant to MLK's speech?
Answer ALL for full points.
Dr. King refers to Abraham Lincoln, noting that he signed the Emancipation Proclamation "five score years ago," or one hundred years ago. This proclamation ended slavery, though only in the Southern states that had seceded. It was a crucial step toward the legal freedom of African Americans, significant to those hearing his speech.
In your own words, restate King's comments on the urgency of "Now" (Para. 6). To which group of people might King have been directing that part of his argument?
To get FULL POINTS, infer what group of people need to hear this speech specifically, not literally.
"Now" is the time to act. There is no more time for waiting for "some day" to come. He could be directing to those who have been impassive in the Civil Rights movements. They hope the issues will fix itself or others will do it, but the time to act is "now."
Consider both sentences. Are these sentences parallel? Why?
"Let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York."
Yes!
"Let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York."
“Let freedom ring from [adjective] [noun] of [place].”
Is this an analogy? Why?
"No, no we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream."
Yes!
How many pieces of charged language does this sentence have?
"I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice."
A. 7
B. 8
C. 5
B. 8
Freedom, justice, sweltering, oppression, oasis, transformed, oppression, heat
How does Dr. King use the metaphor of a "bad check" in paragraphs 4-5 to explain America's failure to live up to its ideals of equality and freedom?
Dr. King argues that America has failed to live up to its ideals, comparing the Constitution and Declaration of Independence to a check for the "unalienable Rights" of all Americans. He says that instead of these rights, African Americans have received a "bad check" marked "insufficient funds," and now seek the "riches of freedom and the security of justice."