As you have learned, Public Speaking requires many elements for success. Interestingly, much of public speaking is from a European-Western perspective and often leaves out the dynamic public speakers from social justice movements such as Chattel slavery era, emancipation, civil rights, and present day social movements. These speakers are often overlooked or removed from rhetorical research. This removal and/or invisibility dismisses the work that has been done and continues to be done by people of color, African American/Black communities, and indigenous activists in America. As a student of public speaking, you will be introduced to a few historical figures that used their voice to inform, persuade, and call for justice for all people(s). Their persuasive strategies are key – as a student, you should consider incorporating their strategies of ethos, pathos, and logos into your own speeches.

African-American rhetoric as an oral tradition, area of study, and discipline has been taken up by many colleges and universities. When students enter a public speaking course, they rarely consider culture, and more specifically, oral traditions of co-cultures such as the African-American culture. There are several theories, methods, practical applications, and gestures within African-American rhetoric that intertwine to push normative thinking about public speaking and discourse.

Call and response pattern: 

“The widespread use of the call-and-response discourse mode among African-Americans illustrates the importance placed on dialogue. Composed of spontaneous verbal and nonverbal interaction between speaker and listener in which all of the speaker’s statements, or “calls,” are punctuated by expressions, or “responses,” from the listener, this Black discourse mode pervades African-American culture. The fundamental requirement of this interactive network is the active participation of all individuals (Smitherman 1977, 108). For ideas to be tested and validated, everyone in the group must participate. To refuse to join in, especially if one really disagrees with what has been said, is seen as “cheating” (Kochman 1981, 28).” (Collins, 2000 p. 261). The call and response pattern has been utilized by other communities today but has roots within the African-American culture and remains a vital component of rhetoric within the Black and African American community at-large.

Here are a few speeches that implement Black and/or African American rhetorical strategies to inform and persuade their audience:

Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister and a leader of the Civil Rights Movement in America. His promise to America, more specifically African-Americans, was to fight against injustice and racial discrimination in America. He did so through non-violent protesting, the written word, and rhetorical strategies. Although his lens was non-violence; he encouraged civil disobedience and a call to action. His famous address: “I Have a Dream” speech is often times recounted as his only speech; yet, Dr. King spoke often formally and informally to advance the status of African Americans in America. Here is an example of his rhetorical strategies:

Sojourner Truth’s Famous Speech “Ain’t I a Woman” Performed by Kerry Washington.

Truth is best known for her extemporaneous 1851 speech “Ain’t I a Woman” delivered at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. This speech became known during the Civil War. Truth was born into slavery and successfully escaped with her infant daughter. She became an abolitionist and civil rights activist for women’s rights. She argued that Black women were equal and vital to abolition work and women’s rights. It is cited in her biography “At a time when most Americans thought of slaves as male and women as white, Truth embodied a fact that still bears repeating: Among the blacks are women; among the women, there are blacks” (Nell Irvin Painter, 1997).

Frederick Douglass “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro” Performed by Brian Jones.

Frederick Douglass was born into slavery around 1818; he became a key leader of the abolitionist movement. Douglass was asked to speak to a group of Americans on July 5th 1852 in Rochester, NY. He delivered a revolutionary speech addressing what it meant to be a “negro” during the July Fourth celebrations in North America. He delivered this speech to an audience of the Rochester Ladies Anti-Slavery Society.

Latino/a/x communities have also engaged in social movements and used their own cultures rhetorical strategies to implement change and demand social justice within America. During the Civil Rights Movement (1964), The Farmworkers Movement (1966), and East LA Student Walk Outs (1968) – the Latinx community demonstrated their use of rhetorical strategies to illustrate the ways in which dominant society was oppressing their communities and/or taking advantage of their labor. Additionally, during these years high school students began utilizing their role models success to implement change within the K-12 educational system and demanded access to resources, equitable hiring of Mexican-American educators and administrators, as well as a pipeline to post-secondary education. The 1960’s were foundational to the advocacy and rhetorical strategies that continue in America today.

Click the link to see a LIVE clip from the Chicana social movement:

https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/bundles/185999

Gloria Anzaldúa “To Live in the Borderlands” performed by Nancy Rodriguez

Gloria Anzaldúa was an American scholar, poet, lesbian feminist, and activist. She wrote about Mestiza Consciousness and linked her work to that of WEB Du Bois Double Consciousness. She was a leading feminist scholar during the early 1980’s and wrote a ground breaking anthology with Cherrie Moraga entitled “This Bridge Called My Back”. Her poetry and inclusion of English and Spanish intertwined within her work demonstrates the ability to connect with multiple types of audiences. Nancy Rodriguez is performing/speaking Anzaldúa’s work “To Live In The Borderlands”. Listen closely to the rhetorical strategies utilized to connect to a diverse audience and incorporate visual imagery and pathos throughout the speech.

Reference

Written by Amber Green, M.A.