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How Did Martin Luther King Influence The Civil Rights Movement

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Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the most famous civil rights activists in the history of the United States. He gave several important speeches and promoted non-violent protests. His most famous speech was “I Have A Dream”, around a quarter of a million patrons, black and white, attended this empowering speech at the March on Washington on August 28, 1963. The reason his speech was vastly successful in the movement against segregation and injustice was because of its repetitiveness. In the beginning of Kings speech he repeats the words history and 100 years. Although the words are simple and used every day they have a deeper meaning in his speech. The words are used to remind his listeners that one hundred years ago the Emancipation Proclamation was signed to free slaves so they could live equal lives. But, a hundred years later black Americans still live a very segregated life. This emphasizes that even though they were relieved from slavery and promised freedom they are still forced to be treated as second class citizens. Black Americans were not even allowed to use the same facilities as everyone else. For example, they could not use the same restrooms or even be served at the same restaurants unless there was a sign that said they could. If they were caught somewhere that they were prohibited from being they would be verbally harassed, arrested, or even beaten. If a restaurant served black Americans they took the chance of having their restaurant being boycotted or

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