The venue for the speech, with the 19-foot-high visage of Lincoln facing the crowd, is another reason for its success, according to Schowalter. 'Still, you have to do it right to make it work.' But in the speech, the repetition is central to its success,' says Schowalter. Throughout the speech, King deftly repeats key phrases, including 'Let freedom ring' and 'I have a dream.' In his classes, Schowalter uses the speech to demonstrate to his students how the use of repetition works in effective public speaking, but doesn't always work in writing. His speech is essentially the story of being able to achieve, to sit at the table of brotherhood. 'The fact that he called it a dream makes it less threatening,' says Schowalter. The speech uses over 60 metaphors, including those about water and currency, and alludes to passages in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Gettysburg Address, the Emancipation Proclamation and the Bible, according to Schowalter.Īnd while other activists of the time, such as Malcolm X or Stokely Carmichael, spoke about the need for a revolution for Civil Rights, King effectively talks about his 'dream,' Schowalter notes. It's as though he's speaking right from his heart.' And when he gets to the 'I have a dream' passages, he quits looking at his notes. 'In terms of delivery, it's sermonic in style,' says Schowalter. There was a real chemistry between King and the audience.'ĭelivered at a time when America was open to such a speech-1953 would have been too early, 1973, too late, Schowalter maintains-King's message is great both technically and ideologically, he says. In effect, the march for Civil Rights 45 years ago was 'set up as a rock concert,' says Schowalter, who has taught the speech more than 30 times in his classes. It was, says Rowan University communication studies professor Dan Schowalter, 'as near perfect a rhetorical event as you can have.'

delivered his famous 'I have a dream' speech during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, before 200,000 people, Martin Luther King, Jr.

Mlk i have a dream