Social Movement Rhetoric
Mini-Analysis
Mini-analysis activities are an opportunity for you to engage with our module readings and resources and apply key concepts from rhetorical theory to real-world speeches and texts.
For this mini-analysis you will need to find a text related to either the civil rights movement or the women’s rights movement. This text can be a speech, a letter. a newspaper editorial, or something else, as long as you are able to analyze it through the lens of either feminist or civil rights rhetorical theory.
Assignment
Here are some resources to get you started in your search:
The American Rhetoric Online Speech Bank. Top 100 Speeches. The 1961.1970 section contains several civil rights speeches, and there are women’s rights speeches in both the 1911-1920 and 1921-1930 sections. . Women’s Rights Movement collection. U.S. National Archives e . Women’s Suffrage Digital Collections. Iowa State University e . Women’s Liberation Movement Print Culture. Duke University Libraries e . The Civil Rights Movement Archive e (use “The Movement’. dropdown menu to view documents and speeches) . Civil Movement e U.S. National Archives • Civil Rights Digital Library e
Once you have selected your text. complete a minimum 750-word analysis that does the following:
- Briefly describes the context in which the text was created and the speaker/author’s purpose and goals (one paragraph)
- Identifies elements of feminist rhetoric (e.g.. feminine style, invitational rhetoric, foreground/background strategies) or civil rights rhetoric (e.g.. reinventing classical rhetorical terms. strategic identity construction, symbolic demonstration) present in the text
- Explains the significance of those rhetorical elements in supporting the speaker/author’s purpose and goals
- Discusses how the text exemplifies feminist or civil rights rhetoric
