Bowie Commencement Speech Analysis

In this powerful speech, Calhoun argues that African Americans are better off living in the United States as slaves, rather than they were as free people in Africa  This is because, he says, that African Americans are naturally in a lower class.  They are so inferior that it is better for them to be cared for by upper class whites.  As he exclaims, “Never before has the black race of Central Africa, from the dawn of history to the present day, attained a condition so civilized and so improved, not only physically, but morally and intellectually. It came among us in a low, degraded, and savage condition, and in the course of a few generations it has grown up under the fostering care of our institutions ... to its present compara­tively

Thesis Statement: In “The Atlantic Exposition Address” by Booker T. Washington and “Of Mr. Book T. Washington and Others” by W. E. B. Du Bois three points of contention are civil rights, political rights and higher education.

He wants his readers to imagine the pain and humiliation of the ill treatment that African Americans endure on a daily basis. King writes of vicious mobs lynching people’s mothers and fathers, policemen killing people’s brothers and sisters, a man and his wife not receiving the proper respect they deserve because of their skin color, and the notion that African Americans feel insignificant within their communities; this is why these peaceful demonstrators of whom the clergymen attack “find it difficult to wait” (King, 20). However, King believes that soon, injustice will be exposed, like “a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up” (King, 30). This vivid description helps arouse an emotional response, driving shame into the hearts of his white readers.

In America, we are told that it is the land where everything and anything is possible. For many years, it wasn’t like that for African American. With many hard work, strength, and courage African American manage to earn the right to an education. To the African American community education became more of a need than a want. We’ve learn that education is such a powerful asset that with it you are unstoppable. You can do so much if you put your time and energy to it. Having an education to African American is the one hope for a brighter and better

Wilson, President of Morgan State University delivered the keynote address. The focus of his speech was the importance of all lives, Morgan State University, and education. He explained how valuable our education is not just to us but to the millions of those who came before us and those to follow after. He explained how our success contributes to the success of the institutions around us. Moreover, he explained that it’s not just black lives that matter at Morgan State University, but all lives despite their variations. Dr. Wilson spoke directly to the students throughout the presentation. He encouraged the student body to take pride in our education through study. He noted that it is vital that students take pride in their school because of the potential and faith they have in our success. Finally he impressed upon these collegiate youth the importance of self-worth. It is not okay to come to class in street attire with a street mentality because that is not who one aspires to be nor who those of this institution settle on

In the beginning of his speech, Obama discusses his family and their past, how his grandfather served the United States and was a veteran of World War II. He speaks about the name that was given to him, Obama, as being African and how his parents felt that it isnt your name that takes you places and makes you who you are, it your character, strength, and personality. He also descibes his encounters with that he

One of the finest commencement speeches was given by David Foster Wallace at Kenyon College. Wallace’s speech can be viewed as enlightening to those who are often blindly single-minded. It forces the audience to take a look at the way they approach everyday situations, rather than being self-centered, consider others before yourself. However, many overlook Wallace’s impeccable rhetorical maneuvers, focusing on the constant clichés and fictional anecdotes used. What people don’t realize is these clichés and fictional anecdotes are what make Wallace’s speech effective and reinforce the basic principles we were taught as a child, to share and think of others before ourselves. Overlooking Wallace’s flawless technique is doing a disservice to

Today I have chosen two speeches which are critical to the growth and development that our nation has gone through. Two men from different backgrounds and different times with one common goal, equality for all. The Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” and Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” both address the oppression of the African-Americans in their cultures. Though one hundred years and three wars divide the two documents, they draw astonishing parallels in they purposes and their techniques.

This theme helps illuminate how black people came to be treated in America both when slavery existed and beyond into today’s society. The theme that black people are disposable bodies within American society. Because of the tradition of treating black people as objects or whose value strictly came from their ability to make profit, the idea of what it means to be black in America is imbedded in the danger of losing one’s body. Although slavery has ended, the racism remains as a violence inflicted on black people’s bodies. Coates is more than happy to emphasize that racism is an instinctive practice.

Blacks in the United States have had to persistently fight against torture, racism, and segregation and still do. For years, in the United States people of color were not given the same rights as white men. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr., “Graduation” by Maya Angelou and “A Homemade Education” by Malcolm X, the authors discuss their experiences and fight against inequality. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Maya Angelou were just a few of the hundreds of thousands of blacks who restlessly fought for civil rights. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Maya Angelou showed that in the face of adversity to persevere you must always remain strong and steadfast if you wish to succeed. Even with Malcolm X and Maya

They were afraid to open schools and felt they did not have any protection for themselves in their town. “There have been houses broken open, windows smashed and doors were broken down in the dead of night”... “colored men have been knocked down and beaten for no reason and yet the police do not notice it at all”... “We have no protection for life or limb.” The African Americans did not feel safe.

He acknowledges that the resentments of the black and white communities “aren’t always expressed in polite company,” but these resentments are manifested within our society in destructive ways, like racism (Obama, par. 31). The audience feels that he is knowledgeable and credible on the immediate topics affecting our future and our daily lives.

The election of President Obama marks the most noteworthy political accomplishment for African Americans in the United States during the post-civil rights revolution, thus bringing about a change in the country’s social and political landscape that was steeped in racial discrimination since the founding of this great nation. Because social and political conditions are subject to constant change, President Obama’s

With the election of Barack Hussein Obama, our nation’s first African-American president, a sense of liberation swept across the African-American community, as they finally have someone in power who can genuinely speak about issues plaguing their subpopulation. Hopes were high for Obama; quite frankly, “colored parents everywhere were [finally] able to tell their

Presidential Candidate Senator Barack Obama, an African-American gave a speech on his presidential campaign behalf. He stood across the street from the hall where men stood 221 years ago. Those men came to an agreement of signing an important document for their declaration of Independence, but ultimately unfinished. Within the Constitution, it is promised liberty and justice to the people. Americans of this union need to be willing to do their part and grasp the ideal of not treating others different because of their race, color of their skin , or gender. Reality be known, disobedience of such inequality can lead to hatred and part this union as a whole; when really in order to be stronger we should come together as a whole. Obama strongly uses rhetorical devices in his speech to demonstrate his literal education in response of race equality and relations in the United States of America.