What are five issues mentioned in Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech?

Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech was delivered in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963. It was part of a civil rights demonstration called the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.” The demonstration was attended by over 200,000 people and was capped by King’s speech.

King’s purpose was to state, as eloquently and persuasively as possible, the plight of African-Americans (usually referred to as “negroes” at that time, a word that...

Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech was delivered in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963. It was part of a civil rights demonstration called the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.” The demonstration was attended by over 200,000 people and was capped by King’s speech.

King’s purpose was to state, as eloquently and persuasively as possible, the plight of African-Americans (usually referred to as “negroes” at that time, a word that is no longer considered politically correct) in modern America. His primary contention was that African-Americans were promised freedom with the Emancipation Proclamation near the end of the Civil War, but never fully granted the privileges and rights associated with such freedom.

Many of the issues addressed by Dr. King occur in a paragraph about halfway through the speech. He starts the paragraph with this line:

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?"

This gives King the chance to use the rhetorical techniques of repetition and parallel structure, as he lists the reasons why they cannot yet be satisfied. These reasons are social issues that have created the need for the civil rights movement.

Issue--Police Brutality:

We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.

Issue--Segregation:

We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only."

Issue--Economic Injustice:

We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.

Issue--Voting Rights:  

We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.

Later in the speech, as King is building toward his climax, he begins to use the phrase “I have a dream.” He makes the appeal personal by mentioning his own children and the prejudice they will face.

Issue--Racial Prejudice:

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.

This speech is a beautiful example of the rhetorical and persuasive techniques that we work on in school. Next time you wonder why you have to study this “boring” stuff in class, remind yourself that people like Dr. King used these very techniques to change the world for the better.