Slavery is the smudge that cannot be forgotten in the American history. The slaves were brought from their native Africa and forced to work in the plantations in the South. They stripped out from their human rights because they were considered as properties to their owners. In this paper, I'll try to name some female writers who contributed in the abolitionist movement and how their works raised an awareness around people about the savagery of slavery. The writers are Lydia Maria Child, Angelina and Sarah Grimké, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Benjamin Banneker Rhetorical Analysis In his sentimental, yet candid letter, Banneker reminds the reader of their past with the British Crown and his oppression in order to relate the reader to the struggles faced by a hopeless slave. In lines 1-25, Banneker makes strong use of past experiences faced by colonists in order to connect his reader to slavery. Banneker starts off with reminding the reader of when, “the British Crown exerted every powerful effort in order to reduce you to a state of servitude.” The use of this concrete detail leads the reader to remember a time when they suffered a form of slavery in order to help the reader understand the struggles faced by slaves. The reader is then brought to remember when, “every human aid appeared unavailable.” Although this may be a hyperbole, it is successful in emotionally attaching the reader to the hardships of slavery. The hyperbole doesn’t come off as over- dramatization, but rather shows the negative significance of slavery.
Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth, both are notable figures of speaking for African- American and women’s rights. Douglass was born a slave, who had taught himself how to read and write, after the wife of his owner stopped giving him reading lessons. He eventually managed to escape slavery, and moved on to become an abolitionist, an amazing orator, and during the Civil War became a consultant to President Abraham Lincoln. Sojourner Truth was also born a slave but managed to escape to freedom. She too was an abolitionist, and she was an activist for women’s rights.
“One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination (1).” In this quote, King compares segregation and discrimination to the manacles and chains because they both held something down. Segregation and discrimination fastened colored people to the lower levels of society, like the manacles and chains that bonded slaves to the land of their masters. This is an example of pathos, as King uses this simile to evoke the emotions of sympathy and empathy out of his audience. Though slavery had end by this period, colored people still felt as if they were being controlled by the effects of segregation and discrimination. The usage of the quote shows how important accomplishing the task of making the audience fully understand the
In Steele’s examination of race relations in America, he states that, “the long struggle of blacks in America has always been a struggle to retrieve our full humanity. But now the reactive stance we adopted to defend ourselves against oppression binds us to the same racial views that oppressed us in the first place” (34). It is this statement that is the basis for Steele’s arguments that show us how Americans have become trapped in this never ending cycle called racism. Innocence Innocence and guilt are two elements of racial conflict that Steele presents. He explains how the motives of blacks and whites have been dominated by a desire of innocence.
Jacobs uses logos and pathos to appeal to the sentiment of her readers. Hence, her autobiographical narrative appeals to white audiences, especially potential abolitionists, who had the political authority to combat slavery. Indeed, Harriet Jacobs devotes her life to become an abolitionist speaker to fight for what she and other slaves around her deserve: physical and mental
The author uses great and wonderful details to describe the way a Negro slave looks at himself. “One ever feels his two-ness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.” (Page 45). He really had a very sad tone when describing the American Negro slave. He starts off the statement by asking “One ever feels his two-ness.”. He was trying to explain how hard and harsh for a human being to feel not just a slave, not just what we see, but its like two persons in one.
A family is a family, and the love between one is unbreakable. Green motivates blacks by a reminder of their “brethren” down south. He claims they are “oppressed” and are in need. He portrays slavery with “a tyrant system”, giving African American’s even more motivation to serve and fight against the injustice in the South. Finally, Green uses his ability in diction to motive African American’s.
Thesis for “A Black Man Talks of Reaping” Thesis statement: In the poem, “A Black Man Talks of Reaping,” Arna Bontemps, the author, uses negative diction to express the hardships of the African American race. Negative diction is word choice recounting a situation in an off-putting way. This way of portraying the suffering African Americans faced was used in the poem by the author. The man in this poem is in fear that the generations following will be faced with hardships due to being discriminated against just like he was. “I planted deep, within my heart the fear…” this partial sentence from the text helps to confirm the above statement.
STILL I RISE BY MAYA ANGELOU- She is speaking to her audience of oppressors about how she has overcome racism, criticism, sexism, and personal obstacles in her life with pride and grace. this poem is also historically rooted with the mentions of slavery. HARRIET TUBMAN BY ELOISE GREENFIELD. LANGSTON HUGHES- MY PEOPLE, I TOO SING AMERICA.- this poem describes the pain felt by an african in a world dominated by the whites. lansgton expresses the agony with a hope that tomorrow will definitely bring a change( whites will treat blacks with equality in all the aspects of life) AFRICAN AMERICANS HAVE PLAYED AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNITED STATED AND ALSO THE WORLD.