The author has built one of America's most distinguished careers among defenders of free speech and civil liberties. Cancel culture, presented in this essay, is not a new phenomenon. In this essay, the author marshals a wealth of survey data to show the scope and depth of the growing crisis: Americans feel more pressure to conceal their viewpoints…

This dissertation provides a comprehensive critical analysis of six main arguments for religious accommodation, with a specific focus on fundamentalist religious groups and the accommodation of their practices within liberal democratic societies. This analysis reveals that the types of practices that these arguments aim to accommodate primarily…

The theme of this symposium was the classic concern about the rhetoric-poetic relationship as applied to modern communication problems. In the first paper, "The 'Vision' of Martin Luther King," Edwin Black postulates that Dr. King contributed to the development of a "revolutionary literature" because of his impact, not only on…

Analyzes selected speeches by feminists active in the early Afro-American protest, revealing differences in their rhetoric and that of White feminists of the period. Argues that a simultaneous analysis and synthesis is necessary to understand these differences. Illustrates speeches by Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, and Mary Church Terrell. (JD)

Discusses the effective rhetoric of Dr. King's "Letter" in terms of his use of refutative logic to address two audiences simultaneously, using one to provide a focus through which the other could be addressed. The "Letter" is adapted to both audiences on structural, logical, and stylistic levels. (JMF)

Contributes to scholarship on rhetorical theory and political judgment theory by examining how the rhetoric of Reconstruction congressional actors expressed divergent modes of political judgment regarding the civil rights of African Americans. Contends that proponents and opponents enacted adverse norms of discursive practice and competing…

Contributes to scholarship on rhetorical criticism and the civil rights movement by interrogating the memory of the 1963 March on Washington. Analyzes remarks delivered by John Lewis. Compares Lewis's prepared speech with the speech he delivered. Reveals a synecdochic struggle over the rhetoric of the civil rights movement and what was sayable in…

Using rhetorical and historical approaches, this paper examines speech excerpts of four speakers active during the civil rights movement in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The paper's first section discusses Malcolm X and a speech delivered two months before his assassination; the second section studies James Allen speaking on…

Identifies and assesses the values displayed in Lyndon Johnson's communication about the riots during his term of office. (PD)

Argues that the success of 'The Letter' can be attributed to the confluence of three distinct rhetorical traits: King's heritage of the highly emotional Negro preaching tradition, his shrewd sense of political timing and polemical skill, and his conscious literary ability, and notes that 'The Letter' is one of the most frequently collected items…

Studies the nature and effect of the rhetorical strategies of Sarah Winnemucca, a Paiute Indian (1878-1884), and Bright Eyes, "the Ponca Girl" (1879-1882) who both served as spokeswomen for their tribes' struggles for Indian rights as citizens and human beings in post-Civil War America. (MH)

Argues that President John F. Kennedy's civil rights discourse evidences an important evolutionary pattern marking a transition from legal argument to moral argument. Highlights two speeches as exemplars of this change. Asserts that this analysis is useful in the study of contemporary presidential discourse during times of domestic crisis. (MM)

This essay examines Jefferson's Summary View of the Rights of British America as evidence of his craft as a storyteller. Specifically, I argue that Jefferson deploys a series of narrative renderings, the rhetorical effect of which is to eliminate the possibility of any genuine reconciliation with the English government. On the basis of this…

This monograph examines the way in which ideas emerged and grew in the rhetorical process of creating an American people, and the ways in which the ideas were transformed into fundamental symbols that have exerted their influence throughout United States history. The first chapter analyzes certain discourses of the American Revolution to show the…

Many theoreticians have indicated that a major task of the nonpresumptive rhetor is to gain presumption, thereby shifting the burden of proof to the opposition. Rhetorically, Martin Luther King, Jr., sought to effect this shift in the burden of proof through the use of hierarchies of values. At the top of his value system was the love of God. The…