MLK Outline

Thesis: In order to convince everyday white Americans of the necessity of the Civil Rights Movement, MLK manipulated his audience by selecting erudite language and references, shaming his audience, and insisting on innate human rights.

Topic Sentence 1: MLK uses formal diction and scholarly references that illustrate his education to force his audience to see him and the movement as credible.

Topic Sentence 2: Dr. King makes his audience feel shame about not living up to both their religious and moral obligations to the movement.

Topic Sentence 3: By employing his discussion of just and unjust laws, MLK attempts to convince readers of the rationality of the movement.

Rhetorical Analysis Outline: Martin Luther King and Malcolm X

THESIS: In their effort to improve the lives of African Americans, MLK and Malcolm X employ the rhetoric of innate human rights and guilt in their texts, while putting forth competing visions of the American narrative and crafting their diction and symbolism to very different audiences.

TOPIC SENTENCE 1: Within the letter and the speech, both leaders appeal to their audience’s sense of justice by discussing innate rights.

TOPIC SENTECE 2: While MLK’s letter addresses white moderates and Malcolm X’s speech addresses members of the African American community, they each attempt to engender guilt in their audience.

TOPIC SENTENCE 3: Recognizing the importance of the American Dream to American citizens, MLK treats the idea positively while Malcolm X is critical in hopes to stir their audiences to action.

TOPIC SENTENCE 4: The diction and symbolic references within each text foster different relationships between the author and the audience.