Question

Q. who does Dr king refer to by epithet “great American”?
[ref; FSc Part-II English book]

Answer 1

Answer:

The “great American” who is referred to by Dr. King was Abraham Lincoln, an American president. King makes an oblique reference to Lincoln's Getty's burg Address. He says that it was “Five Score Years Ago” that the “great American” lived.

Answer 2

Answer:

The "great American" that Martin Luther King refers to at the beginning of his speech is Abraham Lincoln.  

Explanation:

There are two ways that you can see this.  First, King makes an oblique reference to Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.  He says that it was "Five score years ago" that the "great American" lived.  This is a reference to Lincoln's phrase "four score and seven years ago" in the Gettysburg Address.  Second, King then says that what happened 100 years previous was the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.  This was signed during the Civil War by President Lincoln, thus committing the Union to the idea of freeing the slaves.