Rhetorical Techniques Used In Alfred M. Green's Speech

Liberty or death was a phrase that was used by a young patriot by name of Patrick Henry during the revolutionary war. “The Ballot or The Bullet” by X was a challenge to blacks to practice black nationalism. He wants black people to practice their constitutional right to vote. It makes his audience more enthusiastic about X’s subject matter. In the speech “The Ballot or the Bullet”, by X, uses pathos as an appeal and explores black nationalism as a rhetorical strategy to bring recognition to racial inequality, voting rights, and civil rights.

In Ellison short story “Battle Royal” he shows us readers his view on the American society and the black struggles that are inscribed in it. In the Beginning of the story Ellison shows that during his time period there were some black people that felt regret on not taking a stand against the white people and instead just live a life of inequality. The narrator grandfather gave him a long speech on his deathbed that was full of real thoughts of the black people of Ellison time. In the short story “Battle Royal”, the grandfather proclaims, “I never told you, but our life is a war and I have been a traitor all my born days, a spy in the enemy's country”. Clarifying the fact that the life he lived was not a life he intended to but the only way he thought he could survive was to live it in that manner.

This gives the reader a first hand look into what it was like to be an African American during the Revolutionary era. These people were viewed as a lesser race only because of the color of their skin, or as Wheatley states, the speaker’s “diabolic

In the 1960s the African Americans were freed, but did they really have all the rights they were promised? Racial conflicts were everywhere. Lyndon B. Johnson was current president and was trying to encourage congress to pass a bill called The Voting Rights Act. To influence the vote he gave the speech “We Shall Overcome.” In “We Shall Overcome” President Lyndon Johnson used ethos, pathos, logos, and other rhetorical devices such as allusions, repetition and appeals to authority to persuade congress to pass the act.

Although a century apart, Martin Luther King Jr’s Letter from Birmingham Jail and Frederick Douglass’s What to a Slave is the fourth of July are kindred spirits. Notwithstanding the many differences in their respective writing styles, deep down the essence of the message conveyed is still very much the same. Both Martin Luther King Junior and Frederick Douglas had similar beliefs and concepts related to the treatment of the African American community. They both describe a tough yet heart breaking situation that makes them question their moral values and doubt the system and its ability to change for better.

Paradox, parallelism, personification, repetition, rhetorical question, pathos. You may ask yourself: what importance do these words have? These words are rhetorical devices used to develop a claim. A person who used these important devices was Elie Wiesel. In his 1986 Nobel Peace Acceptance Speech, Elie Wiesel develops the claim that remaining silent on human sufferings makes us just as guilty as those who inflicted the suffering and remain guilty for not keeping the memory of those humans alive.

For example, when he states, “It is true, the brave deeds of our fathers have failed us,” he backs it up with, “our duty is not to cavil over past grievances.” Also, he expresses the idea that although people are saying they shouldn’t, they should fight for the Union anyway, which is another reason they might be against enlisting. Alfred M. Green’s speech encourages African Americans to prepare to enlist because of the many different methods he uses. He uses themes in his speech, patriotism and religion, to appeal to their emotions because he knew that African Americans wanted to be treated as American citizens and most of them were Christians.

One minute and thirteen seconds. The last entry on the flight transcript: LOSS OF ALL DATA. On January 28, 1986, the Challenger Space Shuttle exploded 73 seconds into its flight. Aboard were five astronauts, one of whom, Christa McAuliffe, was ready to become the first school teacher in space. Sadly, none of the five survived.

“We shall overcome” is a speech by Lyndon Baines Johnson on March 15, 1965. This speech took place one week after Selma. “We shall overcome” was created to convince the Members of Congress, into joining him in his fight against racism by approving a bill meant to abolish racist voting restrictions. Lyndon Johnson’s speech to convince Members of congress to help him pass a bill to abolish racist voting restrictions by using a strong tone to create the sense that what he was saying was important, and in his speech he used Pathos and Logos to make the crowd feel sympathy for the black community because of the harsh truth.

In the 1960’s during the era of the Civil Rights movement, America had been divided by the voting rights that were not given to the African Americans. Although, a decade ago the African Americans had been freed from slavery, but they were still not considered “equal” because they weren't able to vote. The discrimination in the area even had political leaders affected, therefore many of those political leaders during that time attempted to put an end to the several agonizing events going on. Lyndon B Johnson, a white persistent president speaks out to the lawmakers using compassionate encouraging appeals about voting for Civil Rights, in order to unify the nation “to build a new community”. President Johnson utilizes many devices in his speech such as anaphora, emotional appeals, and

5. Identify an example of logos in the speech. Explain why it fits the parameters of logos. “The orderly implementation of the Supreme Court decision, therefore, cannot be left solely to those who may not have the economic resources to carry the legal action or who may be subject to harassment.” Kennedy explains that from the situation, Americans cannot expect that African Americans can fight for their rights through legal action on their own.

On August 28th, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr gave us one of one of the most rhetorically moving speeches ever given. Titled as the “I Have a Dream Speech,” he read this speech to the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom”. As a civil right mover he gave this great speech to all Americans (black and white) so that he could give off the idea of equality on the same level. Because of his crowd of mix races King made sure to make his speech imploring to all no matter what the race that they may be. He uses metaphorical imagery, powerful diction,and symbolism to create an impact on the audience.

In early America, freedom came with a price. This price was especially unfair and targeted the African American community specifically. To help relieve those that had been treated unfairly because of their race, those like Richard Allen stood up to fight for justice and equality so that freedom could be enjoyed by all, no matter the color of a person’s skin. A young African American man named Richard Allen was born on February 14, 1760 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Frederick Douglass, born a slave and later the most influential African American leader of the 1800s, addresses the hypocrisy of the US of maintaining slavery with its upheld ideals being freedom and independence on July 4th, 1852. Douglass builds his argument by using surprising contrasts, plain facts, and provocative antithesis. Introducing his subject, Douglass reminds his audience about the dark side of America for slaves, in sharp, surprising contrasts with the apparent progressivity within the nation. He first notices “the disparity,” that “the sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and deaths to me,” as an African-American former slave. It is surprising for the audience to hear that the Sun does not bring him any prosperity, that the Sun, the source of life on earth, brings him destruction.

After the abolishment of slavery, the American Civil War broke out, which Paul Dunbar wrote about to model the fight for equality for African Americans. Dunbar utilized a key individual to write by the name of Robert Gould Shaw, an American soldier in the Union Army during the Civil War. He served as the commander of the first-all black regiment, 54th Massachusetts, where he encouraged blacks to refuse pay until the standards for all had reached. The meaning of war for African Americans exhibited a “hot tear of a hopeless fight” (“Robert Gould Shaw” 11) as a result of battle much larger than the war implied. Instead, it implied a disturbance in ignoring color barriers, but rather noticing a person for who he or she actually embodied.