Martin Luther King Jr was born on January 15, 1929. He was an American clergyman and a prominent leader of the African-American civil rights movement. In 1964 he became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and discrimination.

By the time of his assassination on April 4, 1968, he had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and opposing the Vietnam War.

In 1986 Martin Luther King Day was established as a national holiday in the United States. At the start of his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, King, like many fighting for the cause of fairness in society, stated his case boldly and for all levels of society to hear and understand. He highlighted the fact that America’s founding fathers “were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir”. He pointed out that this note guaranteed that all men would be granted the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and that America had defaulted on this promise.

There several key lessons that we can learn from Martin Luther King Jr, and they include:

Whatever your stage skills (and we all have some), hone them.

King had a physically commanding presence. Strong, energetic, tall and broad, he possessed a deep, sonorous voice that had the power to project his message with clarity and authority across America. He was well-placed to do this as he regularly (if inadvertently) honed his rhetorical skills as part of his work as a Southern Baptist preacher. He looked and sounded inspiring and very much in charge on stage and also on television. He sounded (and still sounds) excellent on radio and in recordings.

Build a powerful rhythm and cadence, using tone and language. King’s speeches had a strong, driving rhythm that was almost musical. It drew the listener in. It comforted and then excited. This came from his speeches’ structure, the tone and use of language. For example, “I have a dream today” is one of several sentences that are repeated at regular intervals in the speech. Like a chorus in a song, it becomes a familiar refrain that people can, and want to, repeat and remember.

Repetition is useful as a device.

King, like other great speakers, knew the reinforcing power of repetition. “I have a dream”, “Now is the time”, “We cannot be satisfied”, “Go back”, “Free at last” — these are all phrases that are repeated in bursts throughout the speech. Perhaps because they become familiar and understood, they seem to result in energy and expectation — even participation — from the audience, much as would happen in a Baptist church. King turned a speech into a participative event — no mean feat.

Provide a specific, compelling, exciting but truthful vision of the future. King was inclusive, with a message that had an appeal as wide as it was deep. The images and vision of the future invoked by him were powerful and universal.

Know and respect your audience. King understood that his audience passionately wanted progress and change and that they were peaceful, ordinary people. He projected this normality as a stirring and virtuous stand, for example by saying: “Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.”

Use metaphors and familiar, appealing images. King dipped into the natural world as well as the Bible to find stirring, evocative popular images.

For example: “Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.” And: “We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream”. The images express power: the energy of the Sun, the force of a torrent. The point he is making is that his ideas are both natural and inexorable. The language is superb and soaring.

The Legacy King’s legacy has several elements. In practical terms, he hastened the civil rights legislation passed during President Johnson’s Administration; this finally signalled an end to institutional racial discrimination in the United States. Perhaps even more significantly, he inspired people and encouraged them, through his actions and his words, to fight subsequent battles against injustice and discrimination.

A less widely recognised legacy is what he did for the art of rhetoric and communication. He showed that millions of people could be moved in peacetime to fight for social causes and social justice; he highlighted the power of public opinion when it is on the march. King was honoured in his lifetime and even more so afterwards. His words still bring heart to many.

The 100

This is the first in a series of ten extracts from The 100: Insights and lessons from 100 of the greatest speeches ever delivered by Simon Maier and Jeremy Kourdi (published by Marshall Cavendish on November 12, price £12.99).

In the coming weeks we will learn what great orators from Napoleon Bonaparte to Barack Obama to Socrates can teach us. The authors say: “It has become normal for words and expressions to become ubiquitous and devalued, with a belief that communication is easy, when the opposite is true. If anything, communication is at a premium: words are amplified through modern technology. They are more immediate. Yet the skills of the great orators risk being lost or forgotten. Our aim is to encourage greater consideration of the art of communication. While people won’t always agree with our choices, we hope they will agree that great speeches show us words are powerful and vital for success.”

Times readers can order The 100 at a 10 per cent discount (£11.69), plus free postage, by phoning 0845 271 2134 or visiting www.timesonline.co.uk/bookshop

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