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Essay on MLK I Have A Dream
Martin Luther King, Jr. was able to vary his style to fit high- as well as low-context situations. The first passage, part of his "I Have a Dream" speech, was written for a high-context situation. It was delivered at the Lincoln Memorial during the Freedom March on Washington, DC, in August 1963. It is similar to a dry bones sermon in the African-American church.
Everyone in the audience already knew King's dream and supported it or they would not have been there: “I say to you today, my friends, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream rooted in the American Dream. It is a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day, on the hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even in the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. 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 the content of their character.” (Lester, 1974)
The primary purpose of King's speech is to provide an emotional release and at the same time to provide a rallying point for the demonstration. It capitalizes on a high-context situation by recalling common knowledge--the difficulties and the frustrations of the moment--to unify the crowd......
