Throughout the speech, Wallace cultivates southern pride by evoking images of the Old South which further highlights its timeless connection to southern identity. While Wallace uses references of the Founding Fathers and the Civil War era to create an urgent lamentation for Alabamians to restore the former glory of the region, those references also enhance the theme of memory and pride in southern history and heritage. Initially, Wallace highlight the importance of Southerners and Southern values in founding the United States as he references George Washington and Thomas Jefferson who “played a most magnificent part in erecting this great divinely inspired system of freedom” (Wallace). Furthermore, Wallace references famous figures of the Even though the course heavily focuses on the formation and importance of Southern identity, Wallace and his speech is a prime example of how and why the past is deeply ingrained in the present. After almost every reference to religion or the Civil War, there are loud cheers and rebel calls from the audience which signifies their deep connection to those values. It demonstrates the importance of remembering and celebrating the past because it is an integral part of Southern identity. Furthermore, this shows how references to the Old South have always resonated deeply with Southerners throughout time. These images also influences “what it means to be from or in the South” because the overwhelming response from the audience demonstrates how part of their identity is forever associated with the Civil War and traditional Southern values like freedom and religion. It is also used to explain the struggle and evolution between Southern pride and blame. As many of Wallace’s supporters later denounce him and his ideology, they often wrestle with celebrating their past as defenders of freedom and states’ rights while remembering images of racial violence and social trauma (Settin ' the Woods on Fire). This also demonstrates how Wallace and his action are forever seared Much like the modern day Donald Trump, Wallace was a “tell it like it is” politician who tapped into the anger and emotions of voters. Wallace’s vehement delivery of the speech along with his folksy style has passed on to many modern Southern politicians like Lindsey Graham. However, one of the biggest impacts of his speech is its contribution to the decline of
Appealing to both people of the North and South, Reed accurately describes many traits and qualities of Southerners in his opening paragraph, “You’re in the American South now, a proud region with distinctive history and culture” (17). He effectively employs pathos throughout his introduction and captures the reader’s attention from the beginning by saying, “Where churches preach against, ‘cigarettes, whiskey, and wild, wild women’ and American football is a religion” (17), thus immediately appealing to peoples traditional values. While cigarettes, whiskey, and wild, wild women have values in the Southern culture, not all churches in th...
Both Lee and Lincoln had a rather emotionally detached deliverance in the content of their texts. It was for the best interest of the diverging country for Lincoln to remain impartial to the current state of the Civil War. If he were to so much as hint at blaming the North or the South for the demolition of the country and its people, it would only further divide the nation’s people. His speech is highly acclaimed for its academically influenced under...
Imagine a historian, author of an award-winning dissertation and several books. He is an experienced lecturer and respected scholar; he is at the forefront of his field. His research methodology sets the bar for other academicians. He is so highly esteemed, in fact, that an article he has prepared is to be presented to and discussed by the United States’ oldest and largest society of professional historians. These are precisely the circumstances in which Ulrich B. Phillips wrote his 1928 essay, “The Central Theme of Southern History.” In this treatise he set forth a thesis which on its face is not revolutionary: that the cause behind which the South stood unified was not slavery, as such, but white supremacy. Over the course of fourteen elegantly written pages, Phillips advances his thesis with evidence from a variety of primary sources gleaned from his years of research. All of his reasoning and experience add weight to his distillation of Southern history into this one fairly simple idea, an idea so deceptively simple that it invites further study.
When students across the United States study the 1940’s, one main topic is focused on, World War II. Students learn that during the forties, Europe was war torn and America sent its troops overseas to fight in some of the most infamous battles of the twentieth century. But what is left out of history lessons is what was going on American soil when the battles across the ocean were raging on. This decade was a racially charged time in American history, even though this fact is over shadowed by the Nazis of Germany in history books. Several race riots occurred in the forties. Even though they were equal in violence to the riots of the Civil Rights Movement in the sixties, many Americans forget the riots of the forties. The biggest and bloodiest race riot of the 1940’s took place in Detroit, Michigan, in June of 1943. Several publications covered the riots, and none of the printed facts ever matched up until years later. This rioting resulted from a rumor that flowed through city streets. The rumor and the riot that it caused destroyed an entire city and many human lives. James Baldwin emphasizes the historical significance of rumors and uses this theme in his essay, “Notes of a Native Son,” to highlight the struggle toward equality.
David W. Blight's book Beyond the Battlefield: Race, Memory and the American Civil War, is an intriguing look back into the Civil War era which is very heavily studied but misunderstood according to Blight. Blight focuses on how memory shapes history Blight feels, while the Civil War accomplished it goal of abolishing slavery, it fell short of its ultimate potential to pave the way for equality. Blight attempts to prove that the Civil War does little to bring equality to blacks. This book is a composite of twelve essays which are spilt into three parts. The Preludes describe blacks during the era before the Civil War and their struggle to over come slavery and describes the causes, course and consequences of the war. Problems in Civil War memory describes black history and deals with how during and after the war Americans seemed to forget the true meaning of the war which was race. And the postludes describes some for the leaders of black society and how they are attempting to keep the memory and the real meaning of the Civil War alive and explains the purpose of studying historical memory.
As we can only imagine, one can not erase the vivid images, of the Civil War from their memories, after seeing the fallen bodies and the fields of ash and smoke. The lasting images we view through photographs reminds us of the war that divided the nation, during tumultuous times. As the war came to an end, President Abraham Lincoln was elected for his second term in office. During, Lincoln's second inaugural speech he persuades his audience, to understand that the war was a catastrophe for all. The healing that is needed from this catastrophe will not begin, until the reformation of the once standing brotherhood, in order to, maintain peace and prosperity as a nation. To help persuade the audience, Lincoln's use of rhetorical strategies, evokes the audience to consolidate as one.
When Barack Obama ran for presidency, there were a lot of questions about his race, color, and whether he was born in the U.S.. The comments from his pastor Jeremiah Wright put him in an awkward situation, so he decided to give this speech to prove the point that we are all the same and live in the same country, so there shouldn’t be any discrimination among anyone. In his speech, Obama uses rhetorical devices to explain how race discrimination is affecting our country and us in every way possible. The use of rhetorical devices in this speech has strong effects on the audience. The use of allusion, symbolism, optimistic tone, and repetition of words gives the speech a strong argumentative tone. He argues the fact that to be able to achieve such big goals and how out country was supposed to be from the beginning, we need to stay united and rely on younger
Eric Foner is able to dissect racial issues from an historical perspective, and show how these issues remained at the heart of the controversy surrounding the period of Reconstruction. By blending historical fact with such emotionally charged issues as race and polit...
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech may have many differences with George Wallace’s “Segregation Now, Segregation Forever” speech but they share some similarities as well. They both share a need for freedom. One wants freedom from segregation and the other wants freedom from being told what to do. Also they discuss religion and what it means for them. One uses it as slander and the other uses it to promote peace among people. Insert third point. Commentate here. Comparing and contrasting both speeches will show how alike and dislike both are.
As “The Champion of the South”, John C Calhoun often threatened the unity of the nation.
“It was like a Nazi rally. Yes, it was just that way Nuremberg must have felt.” (Lambert, 114) The Nazi rally was referred to the public address Governer Ross Barnett gave at half time during the football game between Ole Miss and the University of Kentucky. Nazi’s as well had rallies lead by Hitler. They had a notion that Jews were an inferior race, based on the idea of Eugenics. The Nazi’s and the South were alike in that aspect. The South saw African Americans as an inferior race and the only race that could be superior was the white race. In, The battle of Ole Miss: Civil Rights v. State Rights, the author Frank Lambert presents historian James Silver’s idea that Mississippi was a “closed society,” therefore diminishing any other views besides their own. Before one could consider Mississippi as a “closed society,” one must look at the history of what created Mississippi to become a “closed society,” to have strong beliefs of white supremacy and why they tried to sustain those beliefs at all cost. In this novel, Lambert address the issue that made a significant impact on Mississippi and its people. The issue of James Meridith, an African American who sought for high education from a prestigious school, Ole Miss. White Mississippians beliefs of white supremacy towards African Americans extreme. What caused Mississippi to become this society dates back to the civil war, the fear on African Americans surpassing them, and the politics.
Of the many truly inspirational speeches given by African Americans, Booker T. Washington’s The Atlanta Exposition Address is one of the few that intends to achieve compromise. In his speech, Washington is trying to persuade an audience composed significantly of white men to support African Americans by granting them jobs and presenting them with opportunities. His goal is to convince his white audience that African Americans will be supplied with jobs lower than those of white men, allowing white men always to be on top. Booker T. Washington’s The Atlanta Exposition Address adopts a tone of acquiescence and compromise to persuade a predominantly white audience to accept his terms.
In this paper I am going to discuss the rhetorical appeals, as well as the argumentative structure, audience and purpose set forth by George W. Bush in his September 27 speech in Flagstaff, Arizona. More specifically I will refer to the rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos and logos, and explain how they are used to gain the support and attention of the audience and further the further the purpose of the speech. As I explain these appeals I will also give an insight into the argumentative structure and why it is apparent in this particular speech.
The commencement speech given by David Foster Wallace in the autumn of 2005, is a very deep speech that examines the whole idea of a Liberal Arts education at an extremely deep and intellectual level. In the 22 minute long speech Wallace talks about how higher education not only teaches you to think but “how to exercise some control over how and what you think.” (Wallace). Wallace later in his speech stresses the importance of this level of thinking by saying “if you cannot exercise this kind of choice in adult life, you will be totally hosed” (Wallace) What he means by saying this is that if you cannot think at a higher level and make sense of real world problems your life will become meaningless and you will become dead inside your head.
Nothing translates the modern depiction of southern literature quite like the novel, Forrest Gump. Set in the deep south of the fictional town of Greenbow, Alabama, Winston Groom’s Forrest Gump gives the audience an adequate insight into how the southern way of life was in the late fifties through the seventies. The majority of the movie shows important events during American history at the time. Although this is an essential part of the storyline, the novel itself gives readers a much more in-depth look into southern life. Forrest Gump notes the racial references related to that time period, the portrayal of classic southern culture, and allows southern stereotypes to be apparent throughout.