A Dream Realized-Pratt and King, Jr.
In Mary Louise Pratt's article "Arts of the Contact Zone," her "contact zones" are referred to as "[spaces] in which peoples geographically and historically separated come into contact with each other and establish ongoing relations, usually involving conditions of coercion, radical inequality, and intractable conflict [. . .]" (Bartholomae and Petrosky 605). In other words, it is a location where two cultures meet and, frequently, clash. For my historical documents, I chose among Frederick Douglass' "What to A Slave Is the Fourth of July?", Chief Seattle's "How Can One Sell the Air?" (usually referred to as the "Speech of 1854"), and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speech "I Have A Dream." However, Chief Seattle's speech was translated into variable forms, and some web pages hinted that the speech was unreliable for several minute reasons (refer to links on Chief Seattle's Thoughts). I also disregarded Douglass' speech because I did not find it as emotionally enticing as King's speech. It was an excellent autoethnographic text, but I did not feel as stimulated by his words. I therefore chose Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a Reverend who was famous for his stirring and poignant speeches. In these speeches, he
Pratt's essay helped me appreciate the text more, for I surprisingly saw the underlying message of interconnectedness between all people, saw that King's skillful use of allusions to American documents echoed the sentiments embodied in fights for freedom. He introduces things familiar to white Americans and addresses the condition of blacks in "ways that engage with representations others have made of them" (Pratt 608). Also, by illustrating that he is a religious man, he perhaps obtains more respect from whites, thus adding strength and authority to his words. In addition, he Gettysburg Address was written during the Civil War, which was fought for black independence. ] an image of themselves that they often suppress and will therefore surely recognize" (Pratt 610). King adds that "the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination [. Though the limitations of Pratt's essay-the lack of detail and use of generalized concepts-cripple this utilization, I believe that the possibilities are limitless of finding texts that were previously not considered autoethnographies. At the beginning of the speech, King points out the Lincoln Memorial, "in whose symbolic shadow [they] stand [. protested the prejudice and racism suffered African Americans in 1960s America. One dream is of a nation where "[his] four children will [.
Common topics in this essay:
Declaration Independence,
God Almighty,
Washington DC,
Proclamation Negro,
Crow Laws,
Negros York,
Chief Seattle's,
African Americans,
Civil War,
Contact Zone,
king 217,
contact zone,
king 219,
autoethnographic text,
blacks whites,
pratt 608,
king 217,
king's speech,
literate art,
created equal,
conditions blacks,
whites pratt 608,
king reminding whites,
words negro spiritual,
blacks engage representations,
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Acceptance Essays
