RA Revision 1
Rhetorical Analysis Revision: Maria W. Stewart
In 1832, Maria W. Stewart, an African American educator and writer, gave a powerful and moving speech in the streets of Boston. Although during this time the North was successfully leading the abolition movement in America, there was still a great divide between the freed blacks and northern whites. Stewart wanted to show the northern whites that African
Americans and whites are one in the same. Through the usage of figurative language and effective rebuttals of criticisms leveled towards African Americans, Stewart is able to reveal to the northern whites that the racial barriers that are oppressing the freed blacks are meaningless because like the whites, blacks are “true American.” In her writing, Stewart employed a great deal of figurative language to carefully create a vivid image reflecting the hardships many freed African Americans faced during this time. She clearly highlight the despair and hopelessness that comes from being bound to “servile labor” by using strong imagery. For an example, Stewart wrote that the daily duties of African Americans are degrading them as a people. By forcing the African Americans to do such jobs as “washing windows, shaking carpets, brushing boots, or tending upon gentlemen’s tables,” the northern whites are tightening the chains of opposition and misery. Because Stewart listed in such great detail daily duties of African Americans, the primarily white audience cannot help but feel a sense of guilt for causing this misery. After she was able to make her point about the misery that mean labor brings about, she then moves on to talk about how the same mean labor is limiting the growth of African Americans. This “continual hard labor...like the scorching sands of
Arabia…” allows African Americans to “[produce] nothing” with their mind. Instead of letting the freed blacks enrich themselves and letting their mind grow, this “continual hard labor
In 1832, Maria W. Stewart, an African American educator and writer, gave a powerful and moving speech in the streets of Boston. Although during this time the North was successfully leading the abolition movement in America, there was still a great divide between the freed blacks and northern whites. Stewart wanted to show the northern whites that African
Americans and whites are one in the same. Through the usage of figurative language and effective rebuttals of criticisms leveled towards African Americans, Stewart is able to reveal to the northern whites that the racial barriers that are oppressing the freed blacks are meaningless because like the whites, blacks are “true American.” In her writing, Stewart employed a great deal of figurative language to carefully create a vivid image reflecting the hardships many freed African Americans faced during this time. She clearly highlight the despair and hopelessness that comes from being bound to “servile labor” by using strong imagery. For an example, Stewart wrote that the daily duties of African Americans are degrading them as a people. By forcing the African Americans to do such jobs as “washing windows, shaking carpets, brushing boots, or tending upon gentlemen’s tables,” the northern whites are tightening the chains of opposition and misery. Because Stewart listed in such great detail daily duties of African Americans, the primarily white audience cannot help but feel a sense of guilt for causing this misery. After she was able to make her point about the misery that mean labor brings about, she then moves on to talk about how the same mean labor is limiting the growth of African Americans. This “continual hard labor...like the scorching sands of
Arabia…” allows African Americans to “[produce] nothing” with their mind. Instead of letting the freed blacks enrich themselves and letting their mind grow, this “continual hard labor