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Beacon Light and Penumbra African American Gospel Lyrics and Martin Luther King, Jr. s "I Have a Dream" KEITH D. MILLER Before James Farmer founded the Congress of Racial Equality and led the Freedom Rides, he earned a master's degree in religion at Howard University. There he studied with Benjamin Mays and Howard Thurman, who later served as two of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s most important mentors . Like Mays and Thurman, Farmer's father was an ordained minister. The senior Farmer had completed a Ph.D. in religion at BostonUniversity , where, years later, King also graduated with a Ph.D. in religion. Yet, when James Farmer graduated from Howard, despite his rich religious background and training, he declined to be ordained as a minister. When I asked Farmer why he refused ordination, he explained that he did not think that the African American church would ever contribute significantly to the struggle for racial equality. He admitted that his analysis proved incorrect.1 How did certain African American churches—which Farmer and others considered extremely otherworldly and apolitical—become a potent political force during the 1950s and 1960s? Scholars have not seriously addressed this question. Here's a preamble to another question. King's "I Have a Dream" is easily the most popular speech included in anthologies used in freshman and sophomore English courses in colleges and universities. In fact, King's famous oration is often the only example of public address included in such collections. Imagine. In their college English courses, many students encounter no speeches by MalcolmXor John Kennedyor BarbaraJordan. They read no orations by George Washington or Thomas Jefferson or Abraham Lincoln or Sojourner Truth or Franklin Roosevelt or Clarence Darrow or Cesar Chavez. None by Elizabeth Cady Stanton or Helen Keller or Margaret Sanger or Mary McLeod Bethune or Chief Joseph. None by any other American. And not only that. They also read no addresses by Winston Churchill or Queen Elizabeth I or Cicero or Pericles or any 55 56 Gospel Lyrics and King's "I Have a Dream" other European, ancient or modern. And no speeches from Africa, China, India, or South America. Instead, many anthologies represent the entire panorama of oratory through a single speech—"I Have a Dream." While English professors grade students' writing, they invariably correct students' cliches, prodding them to coin original expressions instead of mindlessly repeating shopworn phrases. But—here comes the question—if "I Have a Dream" can exemplify the total, historical cavalcade of speeches, why does "I Have a Dream" feature somanycliches? Andfeature them it does. During the twentieth century , anyone who attended almost any Sunday worship service in any African American Baptist church almost certainly heard about "trials and tribulations." No set of words is more routine among black Protestants. Why does King insert "trials and tribulations" into "I Have a Dream"? Why does he also employ such utterly familiar expressions as "beacon light of hope," "joyous daybreak," "dark and desolate valley," "sunlit path," and "valley of despair" to mention a few? Why would any gifted orator sprinkle such triteness into his most acclaimed speech? And by what magic would the cliches appear not to harm King's eloquence, but somehow to enhance it? While students often raise such questions about "I Have a Dream," no one has tried to answer them in print. In this essay I explain how, in "I Have a Dream," King transmutes traditional African AmericanProtestant languagefor political ends. I do so by makingtwo new claims. First, a single systemofmetaphors underlies a large number ofAfrican Americanspiritual and gospel lyrics. Second, this system of metaphors structures much of "I Have a Dream" and largely accounts for King's majestic cliches. Understanding these previously unexamined metaphors is crucial to understanding "I Have a Dream." I build my argument in four steps. First, adapting the metaphor theory of George Lakoff and his co-authors, I identify the network of metaphors in African American spiritual and gospel lyrics. Second, I examine the value and function of the metaphors for churchgoers. Third, I analyze King's use of the metaphors prior to "I Have a Dream." Fourth, I explore the value and function of the tropes in "I Have a Dream." George Lakoff and Mark Johnson explain that systems of metaphors structure everyday speech, often reinforcing each other. Such metaphors include LIGHT/DARK and UP/DOWN, LIGHT signifying good and DARK indicating evil, UP representing good and DOWN designating evil.2 [3.135.246.193] Project MUSE...

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