"I Have a Dream"

Martin Luther King Jr. lived a relatively short life, but what he did in that short life will live on forever. Everyone young or old knows who Martin Luther King Jr. is and what he stood for and what he accomplished. He is a mascot of America and helped shape our nation into what it is today. He helped get the ball rolling with civil rights in America, and in a time where it was very controversial to do so he questioned the government and our way of life as Americans. When I hear the words “I Have a Dream” I know that those words mean so much more than the actual words themselves.

  Being nineteen years old I don’t really have much of a perspective on segregation or civil rights, but I do know that this speech was a turning point for both of them, everyone I’ve talked to from this period remembers this speech and how important it was and how much it changed things. The speech is our modern day “Gettysburg Address” , not only do they relate in their significance or content but Abraham Lincoln who gave the Gettysburg Address is who’s statue Martin Luther King  is standing in front of when he gives his speech. This was a very wise decision of Martin Luther King Jr. picking this location added to the content of his speech it gave it something more. The statue of Abraham Lincoln served as a visual representation Of Martin Luther King’s speech. When people have a symbol or something to look at it heightens the impact of the speech and gives it more relevance. The people viewing the speech especially in the civil rights movement had their modern day “Idol” or symbol of hope and their past “idol” Abraham Lincoln, they were both powerful people each conveying a similar message.

No other place on Earth would have served for a better location then right where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his speech, no other place would have had the symbolism or impact that it had there. It also helped that they were in Washington D.C. it showed that they were neither afraid nor intimidated and were willing to show that. Abraham Lincoln is one of our most loved presidents, he is always considered to be one of the best presidents we’ve ever had. This speech connected Martin Luther King Jr. to one of our favorite presidents. Abraham Lincoln stood against slavery and oppression more than a century prior to this speech and he ended up being right, why wouldn’t we take into account what Martin Luther King Jr. was saying? I think this was a wakeup call for a lot of Americans, maybe not right away because it was so foreign to their way of life, but after it set in and they realized what was going on they began to agree that maybe people shouldn’t be treated this way, maybe we shouldn’t have separate schools. Maybe what we are doing is wrong and it needs to change for the better, after all “All Men are Created Equal” and should be treated as such.