A MAN TO LOOK UP TO
Fifty years ago, exactly on August 28th, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his most rousing speech, I Have a Dream. It was the climax to a civil rights march, a march demanding equal rights for every single American. Fifty years later, an African-American is the president of the USA.
When, back in the 1980’s, I first read I Have a Dream, I was struck by the weight of its figurative load. That is why, some months ago, I decided to use this speech to present figurative expression to English Language II students of the Translation Course and English Language III students of the Teacher Training Course. As I re-read the speech, it dawned on me that there was far, far more to its rousing quality than figurative language. I set out to go the extra mile with the students and they were extremely responsive. This is the kind of magic that great people, like Martin Luther King, can work.
A great man, indeed! Somebody to look up to! A biography was a must. We watched and discussed the following video:
It explains Martin Luther King’s religious background (which shows in the figurative language of I Have a Dream) and lays special emphasis on his invaluable contribution to racial equality and peaceful coexistence in the USA.
The students were shown the photos below:
The students were afterwards reminded of some historical facts, which would pave the way for the understanding of some allusions made in I Have a Dream:
- The Declaration of the Independence of the USA (1776),
- The Constitution of the USA (1787),
- The Emancipation Proclamation (1863)
They also read the following excerpts:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Second sentence of the Declaration of Independence (1776)
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” Preamble to the Constitution of the United States (1787)
A MAN TO LOOK UP TO
By Prof. Silvia Arberas