Passage 1 is from a 2003 book that examines the famous
“I Have a Dream” speech delivered by Martin Luther
King, Jr. at the historic March on Washington in August
1963. Passage 2 is from a 2000 biography of Martin Luther
King, Jr. written by an African American scholar.
Passage 1
The ability of the “I Have a Dream” speech to highlight
King’s early career at the expense of his later career
accounts for the tone of impatience and betrayal that often
appears when modern-day supporters of King’s agenda talk
5 about the speech. Former Georgia state legislator Julian
Bond said in 1986 that commemorations of King seemed to
“focus almost entirely on Martin Luther King the dreamer,
not on Martin King the antiwar activist, not on Martin King
the challenger of the economic order, not on Martin King
10 the opponent of apartheid, not on the complete Martin
Luther King.” One King scholar has proposed a ten-year
moratorium on reading or listening to the “I Have a Dream”
speech, in the hopes that America will then discover the
rest of King’s legacy.
15 This proposal effectively concedes that King’s magnificent
address cannot be recovered from the misuse
and overquotation it has suffered since his death. But
it is not clear that this is so. Even now, upon hearing the
speech, one is struck by the many forms of King’s genius.
20 Many people can still remember the first time they heard
“I Have a Dream,” and they tend to speak of that memory
with the reverence reserved for a religious experience. At
the very least, reflecting on the “I Have a Dream” speech
should be an opportunity to be grateful for the astonishing
25 transformation of America that the freedom movement
wrought. In just under a decade, the civil rights movement
brought down a system of segregation that stood
essentially unaltered since Reconstruction. King’s dreams
of an America free from racial discrimination are still some
30 distance away, but it is astounding how far the nation has
come since that hot August day in 1963. Segregation in
the South has been dismantled; there are no longer
“Whites Only” signs; segregationist governors do not
try to prevent Black children from entering public schools.
35 Toward the end of his life, King preached a sermon entitled
“Ingratitude,” in which he called ingratitude “one of the
greatest of all sins,” because the sinner “fail[s] to realize
his dependence on others.” The annual Martin Luther King
holiday is properly a day of national thanksgiving, a time
40 for the nation to recognize the immense debt it owes to
King and the thousands of heroes of the civil rights
movement for saving the soul of America.
Passage 2
Martin Luther King was at his best when he was
willing to reshape the wisdom of many of his intellec45
tual predecessors. He ingeniously harnessed their ideas
to his views to advocate sweeping social change. He
believed that his early views on race failed to challenge
America fundamentally. He later confessed that he had
underestimated how deeply entrenched racism was in
50 America. If Black Americans could not depend on goodwill
to create social change, they had to provoke social
change through bigger efforts at nonviolent direct action.
This meant that Blacks and their allies had to obtain
political power. They also had to try to restructure
55 American society, solving the riddles of poverty
and economic inequality.
This is not the image of King that is celebrated on
Martin Luther King Day. Many of King’s admirers are
uncomfortable with a focus on his mature beliefs. They
60 seek to deflect unfair attacks on King’s legacy by shrouding
him in the cloth of superhuman heroism. In truth, this
shroud is little more than romantic tissue. King’s image
has often suffered a sad fate. His strengths have been
needlessly exaggerated, his weaknesses wildly over65
played. King’s true legacy has been lost to cultural
amnesia. As a nation, we have emphasized King’s
aspiration to save America through inspiring words
and sacrificial deeds. Time and again we replay the
powerful image of King standing on a national stage
70 in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial mouthing perhaps
the most famous four words ever uttered by a Black
American: “I have a dream.” For most Americans, those
words capture King’s unique genius. They express his
immortal longing for freedom, a longing that is familiar
75 to every person who dares imagine a future beyond unjust
laws and unfair customs. The edifying universality of those
four words—who hasn’t dreamed, and who cannot identify
with people whose dreams of a better world are punished
with violence?—helps to explain their durability. But those
80 words survive, too, because they comfort folk who would
rather entertain the dreams of unfree people than confront
their rage and despair.
1)The author of Passage 1 mentions the “sermon”
(line 35) primarily in order to
(A) show King’s effectiveness as a public speaker
(B) demonstrate the broad range of King’s interests
© illustrate an important trait that King possessed
(D) question King’s ability to empathize with others
(E) remind readers of a significant obligation to King
2)The author of Passage 2 would most likely characterize
the view of King expressed in lines 38-42 of Passage 1
(“The annual . . . America”) as
(A) contradictory
(B) insightful
© atypical
(D) simplistic
(E) arrogant
3)Lines 76-79 in Passage 2 (“The edifying . . .
durability”) are best described as
(A) contesting the notion of King’s historical
importance that is advanced by the author
of Passage 1
(B) providing an explanation for the view of
King’s speech that is expressed by the
author of Passage 1
© challenging the portrait of the civil rights
movement that is presented by the author
of Passage 1
(D) offering a humorous anecdote that supports
a statement made by the author
of Passage 1
(E) dismissing a perspective that is similarly
rejected by the author of Passage 1
4)The author of Passage 2 would most likely argue
that commemorations focus on “Martin Luther King
the dreamer” (line 7 of Passage 1) because people
find this aspect of King to be
(A) courageous
(B) unpretentious
© reassuring
(D) provocative
(E) unexpected
5)Which best characterizes the overall relationship
between the two passages?
(A) Passage 2 rejects the political goals that are
described in Passage 1.
(B) Passage 2 helps account for the responses to a
speech discussed in Passage 1.
© Passage 2 romanticizes a person who is
objectively depicted in Passage 1.
(D) Passage 2 recounts the history of a national
holiday that is celebrated in Passage 1.
(E) Passage 2 reflects on a figure who is
denounced in Passage 1.