The Ones Who Stood for Us: Martin Luther King Jr. & Eleanor Roosevelt

The Ones Who Stood for Us: Martin Luther King, Jr. & Eleanor Roosevelt

There have been many influential rhetors and rhetoricians throughout time. However, this paper will be discussing two specific rhetors named Martin Luther King Jr. and Eleanor Roosevelt. Both of these admirable people made their mark on history by being genuine and determined. MLK Jr. was an activist and a preacher; he was inspired by Gandhi to change our society in the way of peaceful protesting. He worked for social and racial equality for the majority of his life. Eleanor Roosevelt became first lady of the United States in 1933, and she did not just sit-back and let her husband do all of the work. She was active in politics and passionate about helping change social issues. Roosevelt cared about the American people, no matter what their skin color or religion was. These two extraordinary rhetors, who spoke out for the people, were determined to make a change, and dedicated their lives to public service. Through their peaceful protests, skillful rhetoric, and leadership roles, Martin Luther King Jr. and Eleanor Roosevelt impacted America and its generations for the better. They each showed how rhetoric can be used to help the people and how rhetoric can be used to make long-lasting impacts on a society that is torn apart; rhetoric can open eyes and make honest change. These two rhetors endured tragedies at a young age and had completely different upbringings, yet they both changed the lives of numerous Americans for the better and sparked hope in the hearts of so many.

Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia as Michael King Jr. His father had adopted the name Martin Luther King after taking over his father-in-law’s preaching job at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta; he adopted the name after, and in honor of the German Protestant religious leader, Martin Luther. In time, Michael Jr. followed in his father’s lead and adopted the name himself. MLK Jr. had two siblings, and they all grew up in a “secure and loving environment” (Biography.com). However, growing up in the Bible Belt, even they could not escape racism. His father wanted to protect MLK Jr. and his siblings from the hatred, he “fought against racial prejudice, not just because his race suffered, but because he considered racism and segregation to be an affront to God’s will” (Biography.com). His ideals sparked a flame in Martin Luther King Jr. Tragedy struck MLK Jr. when he lost his grandmother, Jennie, at the age of 12. The event had a traumatic impact on him because he was unable to say his goodbyes; Martin Jr. then attempted to commit suicide by jumping from the “second story window at the family home” (Biography.com). Later in his years, King attended Booker T. Washington High School. He excelled in school and skipped both the ninth and the eleventh grades. At the age of 15, he entered college in Atlanta (Biography.com).

Throughout much of his youth, Martin Luther King Jr. lacked faith in his religion and was uninvolved in his church. However, in his junior year of college he took a Bible course, ultimately renewing his faith. Then, he began “to envision a career in the ministry” (Biography.com). King earned a sociology degree in 1948 and went on to attend “the liberal Crozer Theological Seminar in Chester, Pennsylvania” (Biography.com). He continued to be top of his class. His spiritual development was influenced by Benjamin Mays, the President of Morehouse College: “Mays was an outspoken advocate for racial equality and encouraged King to view Christianity as a potential force for social change” (Biography.com). Mays was a major contribution to King’s public service later on in his life. King became enrolled at Boston University for his doctoral studies, and there he met Coretta Scott; they married in 1953 and had four children together. A year later, in 1954, “while still working his dissertation, King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist church in Montgomery, Alabama” (Biography.com). At the mere age of 25, King earned his Ph.D. in 1955, continuing to show his community and family his intelligence and determination (Biography.com).

During the same year, 1955, the infamous arrest of Rosa Parks was made, and led to the election of King to lead the city-wide bus boycott in Montgomery. Since then, King’s skillful rhetoric was put to the test at numerous public uproars and peaceful protests. He participated in many social rights issue and started to gain “national notoriety” in 1960. Three years later, he gave his famous and most admired public speech: “I Have a Dream.” Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream of social and racial equality; he believed that everyone was equal in the eyes of God. He continued to peacefully protest social issues throughout the sixties. However, he became weary of the death threats, slow progress, and going to jail on multiple occasions. On April 3, 1968 he gave his last speech in Memphis, Tennessee, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” The following day King was assassinated on his hotel balcony in Memphis by James Earl Ray, but his legacy and inspiration for peaceful protesting lives on to this day (Biography.com).

Eleanor Roosevelt is mainly known for being the wife of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, but she was much more than just a first lady; she changed the role of first lady by her actions through politics, and made an impact on our society and our nation. She was born on October 11, 1884, in New York City. At the age of 8, Roosevelt lost her mother, and just two years later, her father died as well. When she was a teenager, she was sent to school in England where she learned to come out of her shy shell, and began to heal from the tragedies.

Roosevelt married her distant cousin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1905. They had six children together, although one of the children died as an infant. She was a busy housewife, but despite that, she “became active in public service during WWI, working for the American Red Cross” (Biography.com) In 1933, she became the first lady of the United States and “showed the world that the first lady was an important part of American politics” (Biography.com). She was extraordinary; Eleanor Roosevelt gave press conferences, spoke out for human rights, children’s causes, and women’s issues. She was a lady of the people, and cared deeply about everyone no matter their race or religion. Roosevelt also focused on aiding the poor class of America, stood up for racial equality, and she traveled abroad to visit U.S. troops during WWII. She genuinely cared about the people and their lives (Biography.com).

Her husband, and President of the United States, passed away in 1945, and she thought her public service was over; Roosevelt was appointed “as a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly, a position she served from 1945-1953” (Biography.com) Her admirable public service continued as she aided in the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “an effort that she considered to be her greatest achievement” (Biography.com) Outside of her political work, Roosevelt wrote three books of her own, detailing her life and her experiences. She changed the role of first lady and the way people view the first lady; Eleanor Roosevelt was a passionate, outspoken, and genuine humanitarian and person. She passed away on November 7, 1962 (Biography.com).

Roosevelt and MLK Jr. both gave extraordinary speeches over human rights; MLK Jr. gave his “I Have A Dream” speech on August 28, 1963 and Roosevelt delivered “The Struggle for Human Rights” on September 28, 1948. King’s speech expressed his dream of racial equality throughout the United States, and especially in the South.

Because it was a time in history when civil rights was crucial, he pulled on the pathos of the people by expressing the idea that all men and women, black and white, are the same in the eyes of God; he believed that we are all brothers and sisters and that we should all share the same rights and equality as a result. King continued with his strong pathos in explaining that he did not want his children to grow up in a country that undermined them based on their skin color. He went on to explain the discrimination, cruelty, police brutality, and segregation that African Americans were undergoing at the time, and that it was wrong in the eyes of God to treat black people as if they are any less than white people; human rights should apply to all humans. But King also made it clear that the African American people have been discriminated against for far too long, and that they should demand change immediately. However, though they should be fighting for equality, the people should not do it with hatred in their hearts or with violence. MLK Jr. firmly believed in using peaceful protesting, determination, and skillful rhetoric to bring about the change that desperately needed to happen. King’s pathos is shown in this quote from his speech:

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges. (American Rhetoric)

MLK Jr. also draws on the ethos of the people at the end of his speech. He expresses that we are all God’s children, and that ultimately we all want freedom. We all want the freedom to coincide together, to work together, to pray together, to learn together, and to just simply live together as brothers and sisters. He stresses that if America is to truly be a great nation, that all of its citizens must be free.

On the other hand, Roosevelt used ethos, rather than pathos, in her speech to convey the struggle of distributing human rights worldwide. The first lady was appointed as the United States Representative to the General Assembly of the United Nations, and she gave her speech concerning the duty of the United Nations to maintain that every nation across the world give their citizens basic human rights. Roosevelt expressed her concern that this mission was difficult due to the dictatorship that some nations unashamedly wield. Her use of ethos is strong as she explains the duty of each nation/government, and the United Nations, to ensure that their citizens are being treated equally and fair. Throughout her speech, she gives examples of how the United States, at that time, was working towards total equality for each citizen, and she also delves into the complexity of how the Soviet Union and the U.S.S.R. treated their people. Roosevelt explains that it is difficult to ensure that all humans have, and can express, their basic human rights when the definition of such is sometimes completely different depending on the nation. Her use of ethos is strongly distributed in this quote from her speech:

The U.S.S.R. claims it has reached a point where all races within her borders are

officially considered equal and have equal rights and they insist that they have no

discrimination where minorities are concerned. This is a laudable objective but there are other aspects of the development of freedom for the individual which are essential before the mere absence of discrimination is worth much, and these are lacking in the Soviet Union. Unless they are being denied freedoms which they want and which they see other people have, people do not usually complain of discrimination. It is these other freedoms -- the basic freedoms of speech, of the press, of religion and conscience, of assembly, of fair trial and freedom from arbitrary arrest and punishment, which a totalitarian government cannot safely give its people and which give meaning to freedom from discrimination. (American Rhetoric)

King used effective pathos in his “I Have a Dream” speech, and Roosevelt used strong ethos in her “The Struggle for Human Rights” speech; King called on the emotions of the people by expressing the importance of equality and unity under a religious sense, and Roosevelt delved into the duty of all nations to provide their people with human rights and the importance of preserving those rights. Each rhetor conveyed their messages successfully, although in different ways. Freedom is something that should be given to all humans everywhere, no matter their race, religion, sex, nationality, or language. And through their skillful use of pathos and ethos respectively, Martin Luther King Jr. and Eleanor Roosevelt made that abundantly clear in two different but similar speeches.

Works Cited

“Eleanor Roosevelt.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 6 Oct. 2017,

www.biography.com/people/eleanor-roosevelt-9463366. Accessed 6 Nov. 2017.

King, Martin Luther. “I Have a Dream.” American Rhetoric, American Rhetoric, 14 Nov. 2017,

www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm. Accessed 28 Nov. 2017.

“Martin Luther King Jr.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 29

June 2017, www.biography.com/people/martin-luther-king-jr-9365086. Accessed 6 Nov.

2017.

Roosevelt, Eleanor. “The Struggle for Human Rights.” American Rhetoric, American Rhetoric,

24 Sept. 2017, www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/eleanorroosevelt.htm. Accessed 28

Nov. 2017.