preview

A Rhetorical Analysis Of Oprah Winfrey's Speech

Decent Essays

Oprah Winfrey’s speech about the racism and sexism women have had to overcome for the past hundreds of years; has impacted a lot of people across the world, not just in the entertainment industry. Not only was this speech powerful and strong, it perfectly relates to the ‘times up’ campaign that was promoted throughout the night. There is no better person to deliver this speech than Oprah as she herself has faced and overcome all the issues stated throughout her speech, her publicity made certain the speech was heard. It would not nearly be as powerful nor as widely celebrated if it came from anyone but Oprah herself.

Racism was something Oprah has dealt with before in her early and current career. Oprah begins her speech with a memory of her as a child watching the first black male actor Sidney Poitier win the best actor at the 36th Academy Awards, then her mother coming home after another day of cleaning houses, as her mother was a housemaid. However many years later Oprah becomes the first black woman to receive the same award, explain how their will be young girls watching this looking up to her as she did to Sidney Poitier. Further on the speech Oprah recited a story of a women named Recy Taylor a woman abducted and raped by six white men. Her story was not …show more content…

Thanking the media saying that she “values the press more than ever before”. Oprah states how proud she is of the women that chose to stand up for themselves and encouraging them to tell their stories, mentioning how this isn’t limited to just the entertainment industry. This effects women of all culture, race, religion and geography. Touching on the “me too” campaign that swept across social media, she hopes that “nobody ever has to say “Me too”

Get Access