PLEASE NOTE: For holiday postings including MLK Jr. Day, we do not provide “Answers by Email,” as the questions typically vary by a student’s own experience or are opinion questions.

DIRECTIONS: Read Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech above. Then answer the following questions:

1. Tone is the attitude a speaker takes towards a subject. What is the tone of Dr. King’s speech? (Which word/words best describe Dr. King’s tone: serious, earnest, urgent, outraged, bitter, annoyed, critical, offended, encouraging, inspiring, exuberant, joyful, etc….) Explain your answer.

2. You have probably read all or parts of Dr. King’s speech before. His ideas continue to inspire. What inspires you most about this speech? Explain your answer.

3. In his speech about the need for equality, Dr. King made the following appeal:

“But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must ever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.”

a) Does this surprise you? Why or why not?
b) Is Dr. King’s appeal still as important today as it was 50 years ago? Explain your answer.

4. Toward the end of his speech, Dr. King said:

“I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”

What bible passage was Dr. King quoting? (Answer found at the bottom of “Resources”)