Martin Luther King delivers the main idea in his speech at the very end. King says, “When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’”(p43). Freedom is the focus of the entire speech from beginning to end. King wishes to bring all African Americans together as brothers and sisters to fight for their freedom. Freedom is the foundation of the U.S., it is what we fought for in the American Revolution, and King wishes to bring about equal freedom for all people, black and white. By analyzing the purpose, structure, and diction of King’s speech we may achieve a better understanding of the black movement, and the harsh reality of the times.

The evident purpose of the speech is to bring together all blacks and unify them, with faith in a fight for freedom. King’s hope was that blacks would flock toward his messa