Term Paper on "Martin Luther King and Contact Zone"

Term Paper 4 pages (1391 words) Sources: 1+ Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Arts of the Contact Zone by Mary Louise Pratt [...] Pratt's essay and methodology as it relates to Martin Luther King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech may be one of the most famous speeches in recent history. It galvanized black Americans and showed whites what indignities blacks still faced in America in 1963.

Martin Luther King gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. On August 28, 1963, during a massive march calling for black civil rights. King was a Baptist minister who worked tirelessly for civil rights until his assassination in 1968. King's speech helped mobilize the black community to work for civil rights and helped show the white community just what blacks faced in terms of segregation, bigotry, and prejudice. It also is an excellent example of the art of the contact zone - specifically how different groups can view the same experience with very different eyes.

King's speech graphically portrays the plight of the black American in 1963. Author Pratt calls this type of text an "autoethnographic text," which she notes is "a text in which people undertake to describe themselves in ways that engage with representations others have made of them" (Pratt). King says of modern blacks, "One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land" (King). He describes himself and other blacks graphically so that white Americans can understand the representations they have of blacks may not be correct or even valid. In addition, he described their plight in terms of the vanquished, which is another mark of the autoethnographic text. Blacks were still victims of a white society in 1963, and King's speech shows this vividly.

In 1963 (and even today), blacks suffered from discrimination in many forms. There were segregated restrooms, dining rooms, hotels, and even transportation, such as buses, where blacks had to sit in the back, or give up their seats to white passengers. There were countless ways blacks were dehumanized and discriminated against. Blacks had been fighting for equal rights for many years, and so had Martin Luther King. More people were beginning to listen to their pleas for help, and Martin Luther King's dramatic speech helped gain momentum for the civil rights movement and show Americans civil rights should be taken seriously. King himself experienced discrimination throughout his life, and he chronicles some of these indignities in his speech, such as the inability to register to vote, no black candidates, the inability to gain decent educations and rise out of the ghettos, police brutality, and the inability to eat or sleep in the same buildings that white people enjoyed. Blacks were still treated as inferior citizens, even though they had gained their freedom after the Civil War. They were still treated as second-class citizens, and King wanted that to change. His dramatic speech showed America blacks were willing to fight for their rights until they received them, no matter how long it took, or how many people had to fall in order to raise up the others.

Martin Luther King delivered this speech to rally those who listened, but also to share his dream for the future of the United States. He wasted a world that was equal, where everyone has the same opportunities for advancement, and could live peacefully together. He said, "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" (King). He preached reform, but he also preached hope and faith to his followers. He urged them to go back to their homes and fight for what was right. He said, "Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of… READ MORE

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